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NHL Skinny: Status Changes

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GOALIE HOT SEAT

OTTAWA SENATORS RED HOT
1st Chair: Martin Gerber
2nd Chair: Ray Emery
Skinny: Coach John Paddock told the Ottawa Sun that Gerber started Saturday in New Jersey because it was "his turn." The coach says that, for now, the right thing to do is alternate starts. Get used to a job share here unless either goalie falters. Emery should go Thursday.

PHOENIX COYOTES RED HOT
1st Chair: Alex Auld
2nd Chair: Mikael Tellqvist, David Aebischer
Skinny: Aebischer has been banished to the AHL. He stopped 34 of 38 shots he faced in his San Antonio debut, but is pretty much out of the picture here. Auld has been busier of late, but coach Wayne Gretzky says he's been happy with both goalies. He told the Arizona Republic that Tellqvist was the best player on the ice in his last start, a 5-2 loss to Detroit.

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS HOT
1st Chair: Vesa Toskala
2nd Chair: Andrew Raycroft
Skinny: Embattled acquisition Vesa Toskala suddenly has more wins (4) than Henrik Lundqvist, Marty Turco and Martin Brodeur. Toskala is coming off road wins in Pittsburgh and New York. He stopped 55 of 58 shots. The Globe and Mail expects Toskala to start a fourth straight game Monday.

ATLANTA THRASHERS WARM
1st Chair: Johan Hedberg
2nd Chair: Ondrej Pavelec, Kari Lehtonen
Skinny: Pavelec has yet to make his first start, but if interim coach Don Waddell is true to his word, the rookie will get the call in one of Atlanta's next three road games. Hedberg has been pretty solid is winning two of his last three starts. Barring a sparkling debut by Pavelec, Hedberg makes a decent short-term add (available in 87 percent of Yahoo! leagues).

NASHVILLE PREDATORS WARM
1st Chair: Chris Mason
2nd Chair: Dan Ellis
Skinny: Coach Barry Trotz told the Tennessean that Ellis still has "a ways to go" to prove he's capable of being a No. 1 in the NHL. His progress so far: two wins in two starts this year, including a shutout of Florida Thursday. Mason has lost six straight and was pulled early in half those six starts. Mason owners should consider an insurance move.

MONTREAL CANADIENS WARM
1st Chair: Cristobal Huet
2nd Chair: Carey Price
Skinny: Price got the best of the Penguins in a shootout Saturday to improve to 2-1 on the season. He turned aside Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Mark Recchi and five other Pens in the extra-extra period. The kid has lived up to the hype, but don't forget that Huet has won three straight and has better numbers across the board.

LOS ANGELES KINGS LUKEWARM
1st Chair: Jason LaBarbera
2nd Chair: Jean-Sebastien Aubin
Skinny: Available in about 65 percent of Yahoo! leagues, LaBarbera is at least a short-term fantasy bargain. The NHL's first star last week, the Kings netminder was 3-0 with a 0.67 goals-against average and a .976 save percentage. Nobody in the Pacific is scoring &ndash first-place Dallas only averages 2.8 goals per game – so the time is right to give LaBarbera a test drive.

BOSTON BRUINS LUKEWARM
1st Chair: Tim Thomas
2nd Chair: Manny Fernandez
Skinny: Thomas has yet to allow more than two goals in a single game and his worst one-night save percentage is .929. That's the kind of consistency the Bruins would love to see out of Fernandez, who followed up a shutout by allowing six goals on 20 shots last Monday.

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS LUKEWARM
1st Chair: Marc-Andre Fleury
2nd Chair: Dany Sabourin
Skinny: Trade rumors won't go away as long as Fleury keeps up his inconsistent play. The latest scuttlebutt from the Ottawa Sun has the Pens inquiring about Montreal property Jaroslav Halak. Owners in deeper leagues might want to take a chance on Halak, but this deal is far from done.

Position eligibility changes are in. The bulk of them landed in the Oct. 20-26 range. From the 'Players' page, you can click 'Status Changes' and then 'Position Eligiblity' to view the latest updates. The impact for fantasy owners is twofold. First, you may find that a position weakness on your roster can now be addressed by a guy you already own. Second, a free agent that was previously worthless to you because of position depth may have some appeal. Take some time to reevaluate your roster with these updates in mind.

We're not done, by the way. As was mentioned here last week, Yahoo! is working on putting a system in place that works long-term – so we'll try to keep on top of additional changes in the future. In the meantime, here's a quick fantasy update, and, as always, keep the Big Board hate mail coming:

WEEKEND UPDATE: Need-to-know info from the past few days
Things to do Monday: Check out the Stars-Sharks game at 8pm ET. You've got Mike Modano making a run at Phil Housley's all-time points record for an American and Jeremy Roenick's ongoing pursuit of 500 goals. Fantasy relevance there is minimal, but beneath the headlines you'll have the NHL debut of Sharks winger Devin Setoguchi. He was recalled Sunday along with forward Lukas Kaspar. According to the San Jose Mercury News, Setoguchi practiced with Torrey Mitchell and Patrick Rissmiller. Kaspar lined up with Patrick Marleau and Steve Bernier. Lineup-wise that gives Kaspar the edge, but Setoguchi, San Jose's leading scorer in the preseason, could see time on the power play.

For the record, Jonathan Cheechoo is again off the Joe Thornton line. It looks like he'll hit the ice with Marcel Goc and Joe Pavelski as linemates. Roenick will team with Milan Michalek on the Sharks' top line.

Forget what I said about: Brett Sterling. He got some time with Atlanta's top two lines, but Sterling was a healthy scratch Saturday. Interim coach Don Waddell is still tinkering, so keep Sterling on your radar, just not on your roster. Right wing Darren Haydar has seen time on Ilya Kovalchuk's line. His short term value soars as long as that experiment lasts.

Also it might not be time to give up on Ladislav Nagy just yet. The Skinny wrote him off last week, but Nagy is on a slightly better-than-modest run with two goals and five assists in six games. He's been known to respond favorably to motivational tactics, so it's not a huge surprise that this resurgence followed being a healthy scratch. I'd still like to see more consistent productivity from the Kings' left wing, but at a position as shallow as LW, he still merits a roster spot.

One-timers: The Tampa Tribune is reporting that Dan Boyle will return to action Monday against the Rangers. Time to get him off your IR. … According to the Detroit News, Wings goalie Dominik Hasek could "possibly" play again on Nov. 7. Start Chris Osgood with confidence until then. … Caps captain Chris Clark has two goals and two assists in his last two games and is looking like a 70-point scorer on Alexander Ovechkin's line.

BARGAIN BIN: Top player available in 50 percent of Yahoo! leagues
Mikael Samuelsson, RW, Det – Detroit's roster is stocked with overachievers, so it should be no surprise that Samuelsson, a seven-year veteran with his fifth team, is churning out points at nearly a point-per-game pace. He'll bring a three-game point streak into Tuesday meeting with Edmonton.

MARKET MOVERS: Charting player values

Tobias Enstrom, D, Atl – New coach Don Waddell is throwing plenty of minutes – special teams included – his way, and so far Enstrom has responded with three points in five games. Nothing too startling there, but to date he has twice the points of preseason fantasy favorite Alexei Zhitnik.

Valtteri Filppula, C, Det – He's still not shooting enough for Detroit's liking, but the Wings' super-soph has a goal and two assists in his last two games.

Ales Hemsky, RW, Edm – Hemsky (available in 33 percent of Yahoo! leagues) has three goals and three assists in his last six games. Linemate Shawn Horcoff, who barely registers in ownership percentage, has three goals and seven points in the same span. These guys have been known to be magic together.

Joffrey Lupul, RW, Phi – Lupul replaced Mike Knuble on Daniel Briere's wing. He was clicking quite nicely with Mike Richards, but you can't help but get excited about the prospects of a Simon Gagne-Briere-Lupul line.

Mark Bell, LW, Tor – He's still about a week away from being reinstated following his alcohol-related suspension. Bell was a bust in San Jose, but could find a spot on one of Toronto's top two lines.

Mark Streit, D, Mon – This sometimes-forward (available in 85 percent of Yahoo! leagues) had a nice week with a goal and three assists in four games. All six of his points have come on the power play.

Brad Boyes, RW, Stl – Boyes recently picked up wing eligibility, an addition that transformed him from just another productive center to a tie for the lead among RW-eligible players in goals.

Brian Pothier, D, Was – Five points in five games deserves better than five percent ownership.

Jason Williams, RW, Chi – Another guy who benefits wing eligibility. Williams has points in six of seven games, four goals included.

Marian Gaborik, RW, Min – Minnesota is saying the groin injury that kept Gaborik out of action Sunday isn't serious. Yeah right.

Patrik Elias, LW, NJ – He was called out publicly by coach Brent Sutter, who has shown through words and actions that he's not a big fan of New Jersey's long-time leading scorer. Elias picked up an assist Saturday, but finished a minus-1 for the fourth straight game.

Martin Biron, G, Phi – Nothing wrong with the numbers at this point, but one has to be concerned with the workload. In his last four starts, Biron has faced 38, 44, 42 and 39 shots. Numbers like those will catch up with Biron eventually.

Yahoo! Friends and Family League
Rotowire's McLarney entry bolts into the league lead. Who would have thought with Evgeni Nabokov and Miikka Kiprusoff on the roster that it would be Jason LaBarbera leading the charge up the standings.