Havlat Set to Return

On Thursday night, the San Jose Sharks are going to welcome forward Martin Havlat back into their line-up after being out since Christmas time with a torn hamstring.  The original time frame for his return was 6-to-8 weeks, but he has been out for about 12 weeks now.  The return of Havlat should be a boost to a team that hasn't had many turns of good fortune, as they are now out of the Western Conference playoff picture, going into Thursday's action.

Havlat has been limited to 26 games this season, because of the injury, and his production had not been what was expected of him, since the trade from Minnesota, 2 goals and 13 assists.  There is no guarantee that he'll boost the Sharks into the playoffs, but he certainly shouldn't hurt their chances.

This is also a pretty big lift for Allan S., who already has the hottest team in the draft pool at the moment.  Allan's team has found their way into the money and is right in the thick of everything, so the race gets a bit more interesting with this return.

When Allan lost Havlat, he was down in 12th spot in the standings and things were looking like they were going to get much worse.  That didn't happen at all, actually it was quite the contrary.  Allan's team now sits in 5th place, thanks to a tie-breaker with Stacey C. for the last money spot and is only 8 points out of 4th place.

Havlat is on the first draft of the playoff pool as well, so he could be one to consider as more of a sleeper pick. He'd be a really good pick if the Sharks were to get hot all of a sudden and maybe make a 1st round upset.