Rolling out the Welcome Mats

So the latest news on Mats Sundin is that his agent says he'll "make a decision between the Rangers and Canucks by the end of the week." It's curious that he specifies between those two options, as if Sundin retiring is out of the question. I may have missed somewhere along the way where Mats announced that, but my gut feeling on the situation is that he's just as likely to hang up the skates as he is to play for the Canucks or Rangers. But what's it all mean to you? Unless you're in a very deep league, I wouldn't have recommended holding Sundin as dead weight on your roster this whole time (as many have). But if you're in the 55% of leagues where he's available, by all means drop your 4th defenseman and pick him up just to see what happens. Worst case scenario, you lose your 4th D and probably pick up someone comparable. Best case scenario, you get a PPG and pentiful powerplay points and SOG from Sundin on his new team. Make no mistake that if Sundin does return, he'll be coming back to play, and the guy is the model of consistency. I just wouldn't count on it too hard.

Danny Briere - Finally received IR eligibility in Yahoo leagues. If you're lucky enough to be in a league where he was dropped, pick him up and stash him. I don't expect his recovery from the groin strain to be easy, but he could be a big contributor to your fantasy playoffs.

Erik Ersberg - Out at least 2 weeks with a groin strain. Unless LaBarbera plays exceptionally while he's out, I still like Ersberg when he comes back. The MRI results came back negative and the strain sounds relatively minor. In the meantime though, if you own him you should probably drop him for another goalie.

Richard Park - 1 G, 2 A, +1, 1 PPP, 4 SOG last night in a narrow loss to the Caps. The NHL's resident Korean is putting together a respectable season, and at the shallow RW position he's worth consideration in very deep leagues.

Scott Hartnell - An assist, +1, and a fight. He also could (and supposedly did) make claim that Joffrey Lupul's goal deflected off his stick. With points in 4 straight games, as I've said before, I would not let him sit on FA.

Kimmo Timonen - Sometimes I write about players that just seem silly. It goes without saying that Timonen shouldn't be available in any leagues. And yet there he is, sitting unowned in 34%. With 20 points through 30 games. FOURTEEN of which came on the powerplay. Unbelievable.

Scott Clemmensen - I admit to being completely wrong on my prediction that Weekes would take the starting job with Brodeur out. Clemmensen has played well and is still available in a lot of leagues. He shouldn't be.

Todd White - 1 G, 1 A, 3 SOG last night. Granted the goal was in an empty net, but White now has 26 points on the season and is only owned in 15% of leagues. He's also somehow even on +/- on the Thrashers. He may be the most boring player in hockey (I wonder if anyone's nicknamed him White Bread), but he still shouldn't be available in that many leagues. Man, imagine a team with Todd White on the top line and Scott Clemmensen at goalie. Spine tingling.

Ilya Bryzgalov - Stopped 28 of 30 shots but the Yotes still lost in OT. Like I said, Bryzgalov is a confident start from now on. But that doesn't mean he'll be getting you many wins with the struggles his team has had this season.

Chris Mason - Even with Legace out, I don't think he's worth owning in almost any leagues. Expect Ben Bishop to get some starts soon.

Patrik Berglund - His goal and -1 last night brought his stats to perfect symmetry on the season: 10 G, 10 A, +10. If that's not a sign from above that you should pick the big rook up, I don't know what is.

Troy Brouwer - His stats for the season look decent now after notching 2 G, 1 A in the blowout against the Oilers last night. Keep in mind that before last night his 3 G, 7 A on the season weren't exactly lighting the world on fire. Wait and see if he can put a few more good games together before considering him as a RW option in deep leagues.