Sharks' Tomas Hertl: Moving closer to return

Hertl's return from a knee injury is imminent, the San Jose Mercury News reports.

Analysis:

Hertl has been cleared for contact drills and that should be viewed as a major step as he rounds out his recovery. "I think it's almost day-to-day now," the winger said. "... I think I'm pretty close but we'll see how it goes the next couple days. I believe it'll be playing soon now." The 23-year-old has already missed 29 games, so there could be a large number of fantasy poolies unaware that he's on the verge of a return -- consider taking advantage by scooping him off the wire, if available. He's a skilled scoring winger who had been working at slightly better than a half-point-per-game pace (0.53) before sustaining this significant ailment.