Ryan Whitney Could Return Tuesday

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting that Ryan Whitney may return as early as next week vs. the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Fantasy Impact: If you have been waiting patiently as a Whitney owner, your wait may be over soon. Whitney will most certainly help the already offensively strong Penguins, especially on the power play. The Pens have been without Whitney (and Gonchar) the entire season, essentially, and that has meant that young D-men Letang and Goligoski have had to carry the load from the back-end.

Expect Whitney to possibly start off a bit slow but he will surely get back to form and should put up some stud-like numbers from the Pens’ blue line. The Penguins are used to Whitney and Gonchar running the power play and getting shots through so Whitney’s return will certainly help the PP open up more opportunities, which is scary for the opposition considering they already have some ridiculous talent up front, as well.

If you’ve been holding onto Whitney on your IR then it should be safe to activate him next week. If you’re so inclined, it won’t hurt too much to leave him on IR for a couple games and wait until he adjusts. It’s possible, though, that he may come back strong or he may take a little while get back up to speed. Use your own discretion when dealing with players returning from injury.

If Whitney is available on your league waiver wire then you better pick him up. Unless your defense is stacked like in the defense emphasis experiment team, then you will certainly be doing yourself a favor. If anything, you can trade Whitney if you don’t need him, anyway. He is a valuable fantasy producer. Grab him ASAP if he’s available. If you’re really in the market for a D-man and Whitney is alredy on someone else’s roster, try to make a trade for him before he comes back. The timing is critical here as the trade window will be a short-lived one so make it very quick, the next couple days at the latest.