Simmonds is on the ice for the third straight day, so there is a great chance that he will be in the lineup for the season opener after being injured last week. He is expected to skate with Sean Couturier and Matt Read.

Simmonds will open the season on a line with Sean Couturier and Matt Read as he looks to build off of his career-year from a season ago. Simmonds had 29 goals and 31 assists and played a huge role on the Flyers PP, scoring 15 of his goals with the extra man. Despite starting on the third line, there is no doubt that he will be on the top PP unit.

The TEAM RANKINGS have been updated for thestart of the season. See where your favorite team stacks up against the rest of the NHL in the PrimePucks Team Rankings located in the right margin in the TOP RANKINGS Section. ***Check out our new daily feature where PrimePucks gives you what we believe are the top fantasy players for the night. The section is entitled "Daily Roto Hockey Value Picks" and will be updated each and every day that there are NHL games being played. Remember that these are the best "value" picks for that night's games.  We hope you like our changes. Four games on the NHL slate debut the 2014-15 season, which feature several interesting fantasy-worthy matchups. All eyes will be on the Vancouver Canucks and whether they can recapture the glory days under new coach Willie Desjardins. Gone is former All-Star goalie Roberto Luongo and taking his place is perennial Vezina hopeful Ryan Miller. The Sedin brothers looked poised for a comeback year as they will have newly acquired Radim Vrbata flanked on their right side to start the season. All four players are premium value picks in daily fantasy leagues for tonight's matchup against Calgary. I would pack my lineup with the key Canucks.. If you are looking for a short-term value pick, Boston's Ryan Spooner might fit the bill. While the prospect was initially sent packing back to the AHL, a supposedly minor injury to top center David Krejci might have him skating between Milan Lucic and Loui Eriksson in tonight's game against the Philadelphia Flyers. On the other side, LW Wayne Simmonds has skated the last two days and should be available tonight. He looks safe to insert into your starting lineup, but monitor the situation leading up to game-time. Toronto's RW Phil Kessel is probable for tonight's rival clash with Montreal. His linemate James van Riemsdyk is coming off a spectacular pre-season which can catapult him in the upper-echelon of scoring left wingers. He flashed his brilliance with a solid 30-goal/ 61-point campaign last season but can he click with Kessel on a more consistent basis? If he does, here comes 75-80 points. Look for the two to start the season strong. In Los Angeles, the Cup champs will raise the banner while facing a team they own in the playoffs- the San Jose Sharks. Something tells me that fantasy owners will get serious returns in 2014-15 on spurned star forwards Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau who were stripped of their leadership roles in the off-season. While ...

Four games on the NHL slate debut the 2014-15 season, which feature several interesting fantasy-worthy matchups. All eyes will be on the Vancouver Canucks and whether they can recapture the glory days under new coach Willie Desjardins. Gone is former All-Star goalie Roberto Luongo and taking his place is perennial Vezina hopeful Ryan Miller. The Sedin brothers looked poised for a comeback year as they will have newly acquired Radim Vrbata flanked on their right side to start the season. All four players are premium value picks in daily fantasy leagues for tonight's matchup against Calgary. I would pack my lineup with the key Canucks.. If you are looking for a short-term value pick, Boston's Ryan Spooner might fit the bill. While the prospect was initially sent packing back to the AHL, a supposedly minor injury to top center David Krejci might have him skating between Milan Lucic and Loui Eriksson in tonight's game against the Philadelphia Flyers. On the other side, LW Wayne Simmonds has skated the last two days and should be available tonight. He looks safe to insert into your starting lineup, but monitor the situation leading up to game-time. Toronto's RW Phil Kessel is probable for tonight's rival clash with Montreal. His linemate James van Riemsdyk is coming off a spectacular pre-season which can catapult him in the upper-echelon of scoring left wingers. He flashed his brilliance with a solid 30-goal/ 61-point campaign last season but can he click with Kessel on a more consistent basis? If he does, here comes 75-80 points. Look for the two to start the season strong. In Los Angeles, the Cup champs will raise the banner while facing a team they own in the playoffs- the San Jose Sharks. Something tells me that fantasy owners will get serious returns in 2014-15 on spurned star forwards Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau who were stripped of their leadership roles in the off-season. While the duo will play with something to prove, don't expect huge stats in tonight's game as King's starting goalie Jonathan Quick should be the best player on the ice. A solid sleeper pick to insert in your daily lineups is King's center Tyler Toffoli. The second line could be involved in a few goals if all defensive attention is diverted on the Anze Kopitar/Marian Gaborik unit.

Simmonds has been on the ice for the last two days which is a good sign that he will be in the lineup tomorrow vs. the Bruins. Simmonds is coming off of a career-year and appeared to be a candidate to replace Scott Hartnell on the Claude Giroux line, but it looks like he will start the year with Couturier and Read.

Simmonds was listed as day-to-day last week, but getting back on the ice this morning suggests that he might be ready to go in the Flyers' season opener on Wednesday. Simmonds is coming off of a career-year and will be a crucial member of the Flyers' offence again this season.

Simmonds' injury does not to be of the serious variety and he should be fine for the start of the regular season. Simmonds is coming off of a career-year and could record 30-plus goals this year. Monitor his status as the season approaches, but he should be good to go.

Does anyone realize just how close the Philadelphia Flyers had come to being where the New York Rangers ended up? Everyone remembers the horrific start to the season the Flyers had, and especially Claude Giroux, but Giroux ended up 3rd in league scoring and the Flyers lost to the Rangers in the opening round in game 7 by a score of 2-1 or we may have seen the Flyers up against the LA Kings for the right to hoist Lord Stanley's Cup. Will things be different this year?  Steve Mason proved his worth to the Flyers especially during that 2-1 loss to the Rangers where he played lights out in a must-win situation. GOALIES The Philadelphia Flyers, who always seem to have a problem with maintaining a true Number 1 net minder, took a stab at Columbus' Mason in a April 2013 trade. Mason, who couldn't seem to recapture his rookie year magic when in Columbus, was expendable because of the play of ex-Flyer goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky who was acquired the year prior. How ironic is that?  Well, Mason has proved to be the Number 1 goalie the team has been searching for, and he is only 26-years old.  Philadelphia just may be his cup of tea as he posted similar numbers last year as he did in his rookie season, except for the shutout totals.  Expect Mason to be Philly's guy for the foreseeable future. DEFENSE Losing a veteran presence like Kimmo Timonen is tough to replace, but the prior season;s signing of Mark Streit should ease that loss a little bit. The team also signed Michael Del Zotto to a contract hoping that they can light the fire in MDZ's belly after his promising career derailed in New York and then Nashville. Del Zotto still needs to prove that he can play at the NHL level night-in and night-out. The offense will come mainly from Streit with hopes MDZ can contribute something as the rest of the blueliners are more suited to playing a defensive style. FORWARDS It is amazing that with the start that Giroux had last year that he ended up 3rd in NHL scoring. That was an incredible pace and you could possibly see Giroux leading the league in scoring this year if he can play at that level from Game 1.  Jakub Voracek has found a home playing alongside Giroux and that shouldn't change a bit. Wayne Simmonds finally got some recognition with the year he had, scoring 39 goals with a career high also in points with 60. He can do it again. One player that will be on everyone's lips this season is Brayden Schenn who is set to breakout in a big way. 70 is not out of ...

A nice hot cup of coffee in my hands on a nice chilly Spring morning! If the Flyers didn't get off to such a terrible start, they could be fighting for the President's trophy. Keep that in mind for next season. Boston is a perfect 10 after last night's come-from-behind win over Phoenix. Jarome Iginla is insanely hot, and I've only used that term once before. Scott Hartnell and Claude Giroux were just made for each other. Voracek is definitely not acting like the third wheel on that line. He does fit in! Wayne Simmonds is probably the most underrated player in the NHL. Well, there are a lot of them, but he is near the top, if not at the top.  S0, maybe my first thought is the best. Malkin has come alive this week. Maybe he just needed some green beer and corned beef. The New York Rangers are still waiting for Martin St. Louis to arrive from that deadline trade. He's nowhere to be found. The Devils are sinking just when they had played themselves into the race. Tough emotional strings being tugged this time of year. On one hand, I would like to see Detroit continue their post-season appearance streak.  On the other hand, I kinda want to see Columbus make the playoffs for just the second time in club history.  Then there are the Washington Capitals who have Ovexhkin, Backstrom, & Co. with Adam Oates at the helm. But not at the cost of the Rangers missing the playoffs, who I think can win the Cup this year. Getting David Legwand was a stroke of genius by Detroit, especially getting him from the Nashville Predators, heir longtime Western Conference rivals. I'm gonna love watching Nyquist even more next season. Ottawa literally has just imploded. Perhaps getting Hemsky turned them into the Oilers-East?  I think if I were the Western Conference (WC) playoff teams, I wouldn't want to face the LA Kings. Those WC playoff matchups are going to be fun to watch. There are some very sick teams in the West. Gaborik hasn't done much in LA, huh? Maybe in the little things because he hasn't come up with a big game yet. Carey Price is getting back to form after his Olympic-games injury. The Habs need him if they are to make any noise in the playoffs. Henrik Lundqvist is back! Derek Stepan is back too! Baby's got back! Winnipeg is not back, in the playoffs again this year I mean. Phoenix deserves a spot in the playoffs. Dallas and the others fighting for the last spot should just fuhgeddaboutit. They will have to face either, St. Louis or San Jose or Anahem or Chicago ...

Happy Super Bowl Sunday & Happy Groundhog Day! Wow, a double shot!  Need lots of coffee today! Steve Mason had 2 shutouts this week! He had also signed a contract extension recently.  I guess he likes playing in Philadelphia. Semyon Varlamov also signed an extension, He also is having a great season.  I guess goaltenders signing contract extensions in the middle of a season doesn't affect their performance like when a forward signs an extension. Wayne Simmonds is so under-rated. He really is. It's a shame what's going on with Edmonton again this year. When??? Ryan Callahan isn't going anywhere. Please. Jarome Iginla has always been a second half player. Always. Did David Krejci turn it up a notch this week or what? Torey Krug with another PP goal. This kid is amazing. At least Taylor Hall came to play yesterday. Carey Price deserved a 1-0 shutout victory over Tampa Bay instead of a 2-1 overtime loss. Subban had part in two goals in that game. One, a tipped pass between two Lightning players past Price.   And the other, an assist on the tying goal.  A game I think he would rather forget about. Buffalo got buried by the Avalanche yesterday, 7-1. They haven't been that bad all year long even thought they are bad. Nathan MacKinnon had some game. A goal, 2 assists, +3, 4 SOG, 1 BS, 1 HT and 8/12 faceoff wins. Kessel with the hat trick and assist. This is the Kessel the Leafs need. Kadri & Lupul. Lupul & Kadri. They keep this up and they will get a nickname like, Kadpul.  Ewwww! Now you see how important Tyler Bozak is to the Leafs offense. Columbus is not going to go away. They have arrived in the East. Writing Blue Jackets all the time is tough on writers who look for witty shortcuts or catchy monikers, but in this case, I would be wise to stick to Blue Jackets otherwise I might hear some complaints. Why couldn't they be called Yellow Jackets? With Nathan Horton being a main cog in the Columbus offense, Marian Gaborik's days may be short and few. Bobrovsky, last year's Vezina winner, has been playing great, but not "lights out" like last year's run. If Nashville can get a little closer in the Western Conference playoff race, and Rinne comes back after the Olympics, they may have a chance, which would be an amazing feat IMHO. Another team that is hanging around even though their starting goaltender has been anything but his usual self this year is the Phoenix Coyotes. Maybe Greiss getting 2 starts in a row will awaken the slumbering giant. The Calgary ...