Oh, the life of Daniel “Danny” Briere – it’s just one injury after another these days, isn’t it? If you’re a fantasy manager, you were stoked to see Briere finally back, then pissed to see him get hurt yet again. If you’re Flyer GM Paul Holmgren, you’re probably slapping your forehead after just clearing a whole buttload of cap space at the trade deadline. But wait, it’s not as bad as we thought. It’s just a lot grosser than we thought. From Canadian Press:

“Briere was examined Friday morning, and his surgeon told him the adhesions broke from his last groin surgery and there was some internal bleeding. Briere said his surgeon told him that was common and Briere could possibly play Tuesday against Buffalo.”

Common? I hope my groin adhesions never break. In any case, don’t shut down Briere from your lineup just yet.

As for that whole trade deadline issue, the big fantasy winner is Olli Jokinen, but you knew that, right? Jokinen popped in a pair of goals in his first game skating alongside Jarome Iginla (guess which guy got to wear No. 12?) and everything’s sunshine and rainbows in Calgary, or as sunshine and rainbows as Darryl “Bitter Beer Face” Sutter can be. However, the knock on Jokinen has constantly been great start, poor finish. Will this happen up in Calgary? One would hope that having the playoffs around the corner would actually motivate the dude, but when you have someone who occasionally wears a porn star ’stache during the regular season, you don’t know what to expect.

The New York Rangers revamped their lineup to go along with their revamped coaching staff. Derek Morris becomes the de facto power play point man on Broadway despite having just a handful of points. He’ll certainly get his opportunities, so if you need some help on defense, it’s worth a gamble.

Hey, remember Martin Gerber? He’s back in the NHL thanks to the wacky folks over in Toronto. No, he’s not just there to serve Brian Burke pizza; Gerber’s actually got a hold of the starting position because Vesa Toskala’s been shut down for the year. You need starts to finish out your fantasy season? Gerber’s your man. Just don’t expect a ton of wins.

Erik Cole returns to the scene of the crime in Carolina. If you’ll recall, Cole was on the cusp of being one of the league’s best power forwards when a broken neck — yes, a broken neck — got in the way. Since then, he hasn’t put up goals at the same pace, but now he’s reunited with regular linemate/BFF Eric Staal. We’ll see if there’s any magic left over from 2005.

The other component of the Cole deal finds oft-injured Justin Williams in Los Angeles and underachieving Patrick O’Sullivan in Edmonton. For O’Sullivan, the key will be how much ice time he gets skating with talented Ales Hemsky.

Sidney Crosby’s linemates in his first game back from injury: Chris Kunitz and Bill Guerin. It’s like Crosby woke up from a bad dream where he was surrounded by soft over-the-hill wingers (Miroslav Satan, say hello to the AHL). While Guerin’s numbers haven’t been anything to write home about this season, he still does love to shoot the puck and his aggressive style will work well with Crosby’s playmaking skills.

Brendan Morrison’s long strange journey across the NHL continues. Remember, at one point, this guy was a point-per-game player. Claimed off waivers by Dallas, he’ll be given every opportunity to thrive as the Stars remain depleted up front due to injury. Morrison probably won’t break up Mike Ribiero/Loui Eriksson, which means that he won’t have much scoring talent to work with. In other words, don’t look for a return to form from Morrison.

Antoine Vermette’s move to Columbus means that Ken Hitchcock has a few more offensive options, especially with Fredrick Modin coming back from injury soon. However, the combination of Rick Nash/Manny Malhotra/Kristian Huselius has found a pretty good groove, so don’t look for Hitch to tinker with things too much until it appears necessary. The Blue Jackets are filled with second liners like Vermette and R.J. Umberger that show first-line potential…whether they get there or not can make or break their playoff hopes.

And while this wasn’t a trade deadline move, the return of Martin Brodeur has provided the Devils an even bigger kick than making a big deal would. We sure hope you took our advice and picked him up if he was available, because good old Marty is 4-0 since returning from a 50-game absence and you can pretty well guarantee that he’s no longer on anyone’s wire. Brodeur is about to make history, currently sitting a mere four wins shy of passing Patrick Roy and becoming the NHL all-time leader in wins.

The Week Ahead

• How much can Jokinen ignite the Flame offense? We’ll find out as Calgary hits the road against Carolina (Friday), Atlanta (Sunday), New Jersey (Tuesday), and Detroit (Thursday).
• While a lot of Western teams are taking road trips out east, there are still key head-to-head match-ups for the playoff race: Minnesota at LA (Saturday), Minnesota at Anaheim (Sunday), Vancouver at LA (Monday), and Vancouver at Anaheim (Wednesday).
• Alexander Ovechkin is suffering from a bruised foot, but he should be in the lineup for the big game against Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday. Don’t forget that the last time these rivals clashed sparked a war of words between the stars, and now even Don Cherry’s weighing in. All eyes will be on Crosby and his new linemates Kunitz and Guerin.

The trade deadline (it’s Wednesday, so mark your calendar) can be great for fantasy teams, since sometimes a player just needs a change of scenery or a different situation to blossom. Sadly, trades often turn solid players into total duds. It seems that for every Joe Thornton to San Jose there’s a Sergei Samsonov to Edmonton. That’s just the way it is.

The first big deadline deal was Penguin defenseman Ryan Whitney to Anaheim for forwards Chris Kunitz and Eric Tangradi (a minor leaguer). Whitney missed the start of the season and never really found a rhythm. After putting up almost 100 points in the last two seasons, he has just two goals and 11 assists so far this year. A less prominent role in Anaheim might actually open up his game, although I’m not sure I would necessarily dump a successful player for Whitney. At least not yet. Kunitz has basically been a 20-goal scorer his entire career, but he already had accumulated 16 goals and 19 assists for the Ducks this season. If he winds up on a line with Sidney Crosby, which is expected, he could presumably end the season with 30 goals. He’s definitely worth a look if he’s available.

Of course, trades aren’t the only agent of change in the NHL. There are a lot of factors. For instance, the return of goalie Martin Brodeur to the Devils sent shockwaves through the fantasy world, as Scott Clemmensen, who filled in ably for Brodeur and as a fantasy goalie (2.39 goals against, .917 save percentage) was unceremoniously sent down to the AHL, ruining not just Clemmensen’s day, but also many rosters. Brodeur put up a shutout his first game back, so if he’s still available, you might want to mirror real life and use him to replace Clemmensen.

A new coach can also be a huge change. For instance, earlier this week the New York Rangers fired coach Tom Renney and hired coach John Tortorella. If you have any Rangers on your roster, you know they’re not scoring, which was a symptom of Renney’s hyperdefensive style. Now, with Tortorella, you can expect a much more aggressive, uptempo style with important players getting major minutes. Fantasy duds like Scott Gomez, Chris Drury, and Nikolai Zherdev might actually start performing. It won’t be instantaneous, but it’s worth keeping an eye on these guys to see how they do under Tortorella. And while you’re doing that, keep an eye on goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who should see a lot more action now that the guys in front of him won’t be playing five men back the entire game. His numbers might suffer because of it.

According to ESPN, Boston’s David Krejci, the NHL’s +/- leader, isn’t universally owned across leagues, so if he’s available, you need to grab him and his 20 goals and 39 assists.

Another guy that might not be owned is Jason Arnott, who, after potting two goals and an assist in the last two games, is on pace for his first 30-goal season as a Predator. He ripped home the game-winner Thursday as Nashville improved its playoff chances with a third straight win. The Preds are in 11th place in the West, but are just one point behind the Minnesota/Dallas/Edmonton/Anaheim logjam who are all tied with 65 points.

The Week Ahead

• Saturday, Anaheim plays Dallas, as the two teams fight to remain in the playoff picture. Anaheim is hoping Whitney will help, but it might need to make a few other moves to firm up a playoff position.
• Monday, the Avs play the Islanders. It just doesn’t seem fair that those teams have to play each other. It’s like making two sick chickens fight each other.
• Thursday, Pittsburgh plays Florida. The Eastern Conference playoff picture is so crowded, games like this — between teams that are so close together in the standings — are huge. So if you want to keep Crosby out of the playoffs, tune in and wish hard.

The Atlanta Thrashers, a team that’s mostly been a thrashee as opposed to a thrasher this season, have suddenly woken up, winning three of their past four including the first two games of their four-game Western road swing – their longest road trek of the season. Where has this been all season? And why the hell would it emerge during perhaps the toughest stretch the team faces all year long?

The Thrashers have really been in free fall since the 2006-07 season, when they approached 100 points, won their division and made the one and only playoff appearance in franchise history. Last season was a fiasco, as the team’s offense and defense where both near the bottom of the league. In fact, they finished tied for last in goals against average. This season, while the offense has bounced back, the goaltending has been even more horrific, and if it weren’t for the laughable Leafs, Atlanta would be dead last in GAA. Despite the improved scoring, the Thrashers have completely bottomed out, and currently have the second worst record in the entire NHL.

So now that the pressure of making the playoffs is a thing of the past – Atlanta has already started focusing on the future by dealing away veteran defenseman Mathieu Schneider to Montreal for a pair of draft picks – the team is putting up some Ws. The Thrashers are now closing in on Tampa Bay as they attempt to crawl out of the division cellar. And Thursday night, they could easily continue the roll as they face off against the NHL’s coldest team in Phoenix, losers of six straight at home.

However, expecting the club to continue winning the way they have this week – 8-4 over Anaheim and 7-6 in a shootout over LA – is a stretch. I mean, come on, the last time the Ducks gave up eight goals against anyone was March 21, 2001, the second longest current streak in the league. Atlanta better tighten up its lackluster defensive play if it hopes to continue to show improvements down the stretch. But one bright sign has been the play of rookie defensemen Zach Bogosian and Nathan Oystrick, who have been paired together since the Schneider deal. These two youngsters (well, Oystrick isn’t that much of a youngster, but he’s still a veritable NHL neophyte) have been drawing rave reviews, and Bogosian’s emergence is definitely something to watch. He logged three assists and went +2 in the win over LA, drawing some fantasy traction in the past couple of days. If you’re in a deep league, it may be time to consider last season’s No. 3 overall pick. He’s been rushed to the Show, but for a good reason. This 18-year-old has fans around the league buzzing.

With the trade deadline coming soon and Atlanta clearly falling under the seller umbrella, more house cleaning may be in order soon for the Thrashers. The most likely candidates to be moved now that Schneider has been dispatched are Ilya Kovalchuk and Colby Armstrong, the later of which is enjoying his finest season, and appears headed for his first 20-goal campaign. A move to a contender could definitely provide a nice boost for Armstrong, making him a waiver wire possibility. If your league is deep enough that you can stash him, now might be the time to consider it. Otherwise, wait and see how this situation plays out. One prominent rumour has the Leafs offering a package centred around Nik Antropov that will land both Kovalchuk and Armstrong in Toronto.

As we alluded to, expecting these kind of offensive fireworks from the Thrashers on a regular basis is unwise. Consider that they have potted 13 goals in the first two games of this road trip. Then consider that in the previous eight games, they had totaled just 12 goals. Can you say unsustainable? And even with the goal explosion, the Thrashers still almost found a way to blow it against the Kings on Monday. They frittered away a 6-3 lead, allowing LA to score three times over the final 12:30 to force overtime before the Thrashers pulled out the two points in the shootout.

After topping 50 goals for the second time in three seasons in 2007-08, Kovalchuk has been a major disappointment this year. In fact, he’s been so bad that he earned a not-so-coveted RotoRob Award as our 2008 Fantasy Dud of the Year. However, perhaps the thought of escaping Atlanta has him frothing at the mouth, because he sure looks like a different player lately. He’s scored goals in five straight games, totaling eight scores with three assists during this stretch. The team’s leading scorer (29 goals, 61 points) has five goals and two assists in the last two games alone. Can you can blazing? Kovalchuk is suddenly back on pace to nearly match last season’s point total and is definitely upping his trade value with each passing game. There’s talk he could wind up in Boston, although the Bruins aren’t known for bringing in high-priced talent, and at $7.5 million per year for this season and next, Kovalchuk is one of the top-paid players in the NHL.

Another tremendously hot Thrasher is Slava Kozlov. He potted a pair of assists Monday to run his point-scoring streak to five games, totaling two goals and five assists during this run. Kozlov was slumping for a while, but is clearly past that, and he’s someone we identified as a major target should Kovalchuk be sent packing. The 16-year veteran, who passed the 800 career point mark with his two helpers Monday, stands to be the stud in Atlanta once Kovalchuk is dealt, so if he’s still unowned in your league, you better add him now.

Centre Todd White’s finest NHL season has continued, as he’s got three points in the last two games. His goal Monday was his 15th of the season, already more than he scored all of last season. He has a good chance of recording his first ever 70-point season and you’ve got to figure this is another veteran who stands to gain more responsibility after the trade deadline. Given that he’s currently owned in just over a third of the leagues out there, White makes a great player to target.