This article is part of our The Daily Puck series.
Around the Rink
Did you see Jarome Iginla score his 600th career goal on Monday? If you did, you saw a fluky, boring goal. Iginla was happy, I am sure, but one imagines a player would like to have it be a truly memorable moment. I was reminded of Wayne Gretzky's goal that broke Gordie Howie's career goal record. It wasn't as fluky, but it was a pretty run-of-the-mill goal.
It got me racking my brain trying to think of a milestone hitting goal that was truly memorable. I couldn't come up with one, and I watched those Red Wings teams that had a million future Hall of Famers that seemed to notch a milestone goal every night. I'm sure there have been some. I probably just don't remember them, or I didn't see them. I certainly can't recall any of them being "iconic," however. I suppose that's the way it goes. Most goals aren't flashy, and logic dictates, most milestone goals won't be flashy. However, Alex Ovechkin is closing in on 500. Maybe he will give us a goal worth remembering for more than accounting purposes.
Projected Goalie Starters (all times Eastern)
Devils (Cory Schneider) at Canadiens (Mike Condon*), 7:00 PM
Penguins (Jeff Zatkoff) at Blackhawks (Scott Darling), 8:00 PM
Blues (Jake Allen) at Avalanche (Semyon Varlamov), 10:00 PM
Hurricanes (Eddie Lack*) at Canucks (Jacob Markstrom), 10:00 PM
Maple Leafs (Jonathan Bernier*) at Ducks (John Gibson), 10:00 PM
For updates on the projected goalies later in the day, check out our Projected Goalies Grid.
Injury News For Teams Playing Wednesday
Devils
Michael Cammalleri, LW (upper-body) – Day-to-day
Patrik Elias, LW (knee) – Not yet ready to return
Jacob Josefson, C (lower-body) – On injured reserve
Canadiens
Tom Gilbert, D (lower-body) – Day-to-day
Carey Price, G (leg) – Out indefinitely
Dale Weise, RW (upper-body) – On injured reserve
Penguins
Beau Bennett, RW (upper-body) – Out 4-6 weeks
Blackhawks
Marcus Kruger, C (wrist) – On injured reserve
Blues
Steve Ott, C (hamstring) – Out three months
Jaden Schwartz, LW (ankle) – Not returning soon
Avalanche
Reto Berra, G (ankle) – On injured reserve
Erik Johnson, D (lower-body) – Day-to-day
Ben Street, C (chest) – On injured reserve
Brad Stuart, D (back) – Close to returning
Jesse Winchester, LW (concussion) – On injured reserve
Hurricanes
Phil Di Giuseppe, LW (concussion) – Out indefinitely
Nathan Gerbe, LW (lower-body) – Likely to return in mid-January
James Wisniewski, D (knee) – Out six months
Canucks
Sven Baertschi, LW (upper-body) – On injured reserve
Dan Hamhuis, D (face) – Out two months
Ryan Miller, G (muscle cramps) – Day-to-day
Brandon Prust, LW (leg) – Day-to-day
Luca Sbisa, D (hand) – Out indefinitely
Brandon Sutter, C (abdomen) – Could return next week
Maple Leafs
Byron Froese, C (lower-body) – Day-to-day
James Reimer, G (undisclosed) – Day-to-day
Stephane Robidas, D (knee) – No timetable for return
Nick Spaling, C (upper-body) – Expected to miss extended time
Garret Sparks, G (lower-body) – Expected to miss extended time
Hot
Jason Spezza, C, DAL – A hot forward on the Dallas Stars. What a shocker. While Spezza isn't quite on the level of Jamie Benn or Tyler Seguin, he's having a fine season in his own right. With two assists on Tuesday, Spezza now has a five game point streak going on, and he has eight points in those games. Fantasy owners don't need much prompting to buy into somebody on this offense, but don't forget about Spezza among other names, especially at this moment.
Evgeny Kuznetsov, C, WAS – Kuznetsov, speaking of players on excellent offenses, has a goal and an assist in back-to-back games, and he had two assists in another recent game to give him six points in his last four contests. He's averaging almost a point a game, and while he doesn't have a long NHL track record yet, the talent is obvious, and he has yet to slow down this year.
Cold
David Backes, C, STL – It's been nine games without a goal for Backes, who managed 10 before this cold snap, and he only has three assists in that time. Only one of those helpers has come in his last five games, and he's been a minus-1 in four of those five contests. He's not even picking up penalty minutes these days, which has been part of his game, too. However, he was doing reasonably well early in the year, and while he's no longer the player he once was, there's probably some life left.
Jason Pominville, RW, MIN – Pominville has taken a fair amount of shots this year, nigh 100, but they have only yielded five goals. None of those have come in his last six games, and he has no assists in that time as well. Based on his shooting percentage, things will turn around, but he's not finding the net right now, and he really hasn't all season.
Recommended Pickup
Reilly Smith, RW, FLA – Smith has only been in the league for a few years, but he's already had quite a few ups and downs in his career. He started off in Dallas, got traded to Boston in the Tyler Seguin deal, where he made a splash in his first season, scoring 20 goals and posting a plus-28 rating. Last year, he was a little less impressive, so much so that he was traded to Florida. Now, on a young team on the rise, he's able to really establish himself. He's playing almost three more minutes per game than he did last season, and he has 11 goals and 10 assists so far. He could easily end up matching, or besting, his numbers from his first year in Boston.
