Jonathan Bernier ALERT: Fantasy hockey owners of Los Angeles Kings prospect goaltender Jonathan Bernier will be pleased to know that the team has called him up from the AHL and plan to start him on Friday night against the Dallas Stars. Jonathan Quick has taken a personal leave of absence from the team to spend with his wife who is set to give birth to their first child. If you recall, I wrote about Bernier's NHL future here and I'm not a bit surprised that the team is starting him over backup Erik Ersberg. I would go so far as saying that the Kings may have a conundrum on their hands for next season, as both Quick and Ersberg are still under contract. It's unlikely the team would move Quick to make room for Bernier given the stellar season Quick has had in 2009-10. If they manage to move Ersberg, which shouldn't be difficult, it wouldn't be hard to imagine a scenario in L.A. next season not unlike the Tim Thomas and Tuukka Rask situation this year in Boston.
Ryan Whitney took two blows on Thursday night. The first was an Andrei Markov wrist shot off his leg that resulted in the Oilers defenseman having to leave the game. He will have x-rays and the extent of the damage is not yet known. The second blow Whitney took was from head coach Pat Quinn, who after the game told reporters, "He does have sparrow-type legs, so there's not much meat there. I always encourage guys like that to get out of the way." Ouch.
Patrik Berglund has had a terrible season but is playing better hockey as of late. Berglund scored on Thursday night to give him points in 6 straight games, (3 goals, 3 assists). He'll be entering his third full season next year and should be looked at as a potential breakout candidate. His value would be much higher though if he played one of the wings as opposed to center.
Vancouver Canucks winger Steve Bernier had sports hernia surgery on Thursday and will miss the rest of the regular season. Bernier has been a huge disappointment this season and was even demoted to the 4th line as well as being a healthy scratch for a few games. Fantasy owners don't take kindly to players who have stone hands and Bernier falls into that category.
It is confirmed, Los Angeles Kings forward Justin Williams will return Friday night. The good news for Williams' owners is that he will play on the Kings top line with Anze Kopitar and Ryan Smyth. This means bad news for Dustin Brown owners as Brown gets bumped to the second line with Alexander Frolov and Jarret Stoll. Williams could be a point-per-game player down the stretch.
The daily Steve Downie line: 1 goal, +1, 4 PIM's. He should hit 20 goals before the end of the season as he now sits at 17.
Union forward Mario Valery-Trabucco leads the Hobey Baker award voting after Phase I. Phase II voting starts on March 19th and college hockey fans can get involved then by voting at www.hobeybaker.com/voting
Colin Wilson rewarded his coach for moving him onto the top line by recording a goal and an assist in a losing effort against the Sharks. Wilson's 19:12 TOI was also the most he has seen this season.
I'm trying to decide if Nashville's farm system creates good goalies, if the team over-rates them, if it's just bad luck, or if the Preds simply don't have enough patience. In 2005/06 Chris Mason was looking like an NHL goaltender and had a breakout year in 2006-07 only to falter in 2007-08, giving way to Dan Ellis. The team dealt Mason and Ellis faltered the following season, giving way to Pekka Rinne. Rinne had a stellar 2008-09 but has been inconsistent in 2009-10. Based on this pattern, expect Ellis to be traded this summer and Chet Pickard to be the starting goalie in Nashville by mid-season in 2010-11. I kid of course...sort of...but it is interesting, isn't it? Fortunately for both Rinne and Ellis, Pickard has struggled at the AHL level this year and probably needs at least another season before moving to the NHL.
Roving defenseman P.K. Subban set a franchise record for the AHL's Hamilton Bulldogs for points by a dman on Thursday night. Subban now has 13 goals and 45 points in 62 games and should be a strong candidate to make the Canadiens out of training camp next fall.
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