NHL Morning Papers: Special Post-Draft Edition

Here are the morning papers from the Central Division:

• The Red Wings got one of the 20 players they coveted last night when Thomas McCollum fells to them at number 30. Read McCollum's bio here.
• A couple of old friends from Winnipeg were both drafted by the Predators last night, writes John Glennon. Before drafting twice in the first round, the Predators traded Chris Mason and re-signed Dan Ellis.
• It wasn't a big splash, but Scott Howson accomplished exactly what he wanted to at the draft last night. Howson hit a solid double last night, writes Aaron Portzline.
• The Blues just couldn't pass on taking the talented Alex Pietrangelo last night, writes Jeremy Rutherford. Earlier on draft day, the Blues add a nice to compliment to Manny Legace with their acquisition of Chris Mason from Nashville.
• The Blackhawks used their selection last night on controversial forward Kyle Beach.

Chris Mason traded to St. Louis

From TSN:

St. Louis Blues have acquired goaltender Chris Mason from the Nashville Predators in exchange for a 4th round draft choice, 111th overall, in the 2008 Entry Draft.

"Acquiring Chris really solidifies our goaltending position which was one of our goals going into this weekend," said Blue general manager John Davidson.

Read the entire story here.

That is not a high price to pay for a NHL caliber netminder. While Mason did struggle last season, he is certainly an upgrade over what the Blues had in net behind Manny Legace. This could be a perfect fit as Legace clearly wore down at the end of the 2007/08 season. I am just wondering why the Predators would trade Mason within the division?

News You Can Use Late in the Day

1. A Q and A with Martin Brodeur.
2. Patrice Brisebois says the Nichol suspension was warranted.
3. A profile on Jordan Eberle of the Regina Pats.
4. The Philadelphia Flyers have recalled Steve Downie. They must be a little short on suspensions this week.
5. A recent spate of healthy scratches due to disciplinary problems have led some to speculate that the Pats have a dressing room problem.
6. Trevor Linden no longer fits into the Canucks' plans.
7. Eric Duhatschek notes that the size of goaltender's equipment is of issue.
8. The Central Division is back from the brink of mediocrity.
9. In case you missed it, check out this excellent piece on how Canadian teams draft.
10. A round up of all things CHL at Taking Note.
11. The Weekly Release from the USHL.
12. The Penguins have placed Mark Recchi on waivers.
13. Observations from Stan Fischler.
14. Al Strachan feels the NHL has gone back to its pre-lockout product.
15. Mike Ilitch and Charles Dolan top the list of wealthiest NHL owners.
16. The Junior Report from NHL.com.
17. Erik Cole has changed his style of play since his neck injury.
18. The Thrashers' Tobias Enstrom has been named the NHL's Rookie of the Month.
19. Details of the story of Chris Mason's rise to the starter's position in Nashville.
20. The Power Rankings from Sports Illustrated.
21. SI looks at the junior aged talent in the USA.
22. Claude Julien's strategy of coaching to the Bruins' strengths have brought early success.
23. Sam Gagner, Shootout Specialist.
24. The door remains open for Sam Gagner and David Perron to play for Team Canada.
25. Hockey News looks at the Hot Prospects.

For Illegal Curve, I'm Kyle Kosior

Nightly Recap: Leclaire Earns 5th Shutout

-As well as Henrik Lundvquist has been playing lately, you can't overlook BEAST of the night Pascal Leclaire. He recorded his league leading 5th shutout of the year, stopping 21 shots tonight vs the Blues. Rick Nash is having a great season as he scored his 10th goal tonight. Columbus is now 5-0-1 in their past six games. Columbus 3 - St. Louis 0.

-After beating Boston at Scotiabank Place last night, Ottawa won tonights rematch from the TD Banknorth Garden. Antoine Vermette scored Ottawa's only goal in regulation, and after scoring two goals last night Chuck Kobasew popped in another tonight. Tough loss(es) for Tim Thomas who stopped 77 of 81 total shots in consecutive nights. Daniel Alfredsson and Vermette scored the Senators two goals in the shootout. Ottawa 2 - Boston 1 (SO).

-Chris Mason ended his seven game losing streak, making 30 saves in the Predators win. Alex Radulov and Jason Arnott had two points each. After losing five of six, Nashville has now won three straight. Nashville 5 - Chicago 2.

Tomorrow's Games (All times Eastern)
7:00pm WSH@CAR, PIT@NJ, PHI@NYR,
7:30pm BUF@MTL, TB@FLA,
8:00pm EDM@MIN,
9:00pm CGY@COL,
10:00pm DAL@ANA

Fantasy Watch: Goaltender Starts

November 5th - 11th

Anaheim Ducks (3) – Giguere and Bryzgalov are continuing to split time.

Atlanta Thrashers (3) – With Lehtonen still sidelined with a groin injury, and Hedberg struggling, expect to see more of rookie Ondrej Pavelec

Boston Bruins (3) – Fernandez is day-to-day with a knee sprain, so Thomas will be getting most of the starts this week.

Buffalo Sabres (4) – With a busy schedule, Thibault should see playing time in at least one game.

Carolina Hurricanes (3) – Ward has been playing phenomenal and will most likely receive all three starts this week.

Calgary Flames (3) – Recently resigned to a long term deal, Kiprusoff will look to continue his string of consecutive starts.

Chicago Blackhawks (3) – Khabibulin has struggled to begin the season, but is still Chicago’s #1 goaltender.

Columbus Blue Jackets (3) – Leclaire has been fantastic so far but Columbus may elect to rest him due to two games back-to-back

Colorado Avalanche (3) – Theodore has been getting some starts, but Budaj is still #1

Dallas Stars (4) – Expect Dallas to give Turco a rest with back-to-back games this week.

Detroit Red Wings (3) – Backup goaltender Chris Osgood is currently 6-0-0.

Edmonton Oilers (3) – Roloson has not played well this year, but backup Garon isn’t much of an upgrade.

Florida Panthers (3) – Vokoun has been up and down this season but should appear in all three games this week.

Los Angeles Kings (1) – LaBarbera has been getting the nod as of late, but things can change with an extended layoff.

Minnesota Wild (2) – Backstrom is currently day-to-day with a groin injury but may be able to make one start as Minnesota has five days off in between games.

Montreal Canadiens (3) – Huet is currently riding a four game win streak.

Nashville Predators (2) – Mason has struggled but the Preds are still sticking by him.

New Jersey Devils (3) – Brodeur had his best game of the year this past week, surrendering only one goal on 22 shots.

New York Islanders (2) – Expect to see DiPeitro in both games this week.

New York Rangers (4) – Lundqvist's goals against average and save percentage are up there with the best, but unfortunately the wins aren't coming.

Ottawa Senators (3) – Both Emery and Gerber have only yielded one loss combined on the year.

Philadelphia Flyers (4) – With four games on the schedule, Nittymaki should appear in one game.

Phoenix Coyotes (3) – With Aebischer gone, Tellqvist and Auld will be splitting the starts.

Pittsburgh Penguins (4) – Expect Sabourin to get a start as Pittsburgh plays back-to-back games this week.

San Jose Sharks (3) – The Sharks may give backup Dimitri Patzold his first start as the team will not want to use Nabokov on back-to-back games.

St. Louis Blues (1) – Legace is the #1 goaltender in St. Louis and should receive the lone start.

Tampa Bay Lightining (4) – Holmqvist is the #1 in Tampa but expect Denis to start once this week with back-to-back games.

Toronto Maple Leafs (3) – Toskala is gaining #1 status but Raycroft should make an appearance in one game as Toronto plays on Friday and Saturday.

Vancouver Canucks (2) – Due to back-to-back games, Sanford may make his second start.

Washington Capitals (4) – Washington may give Kolzig a break this week with a rather busy schedule.


For Illegal Curve, I'm Jonny Remis

Morning Musings

After an exciting Saturday night of hockey, which included an inordinate amount of high-scoring games, there is much to read about this Sunday morning.

Here are the morning papers:

• The Rangers allowed three goals in 52 seconds in the second period and were defeated by the defending Eastern Conference champion Senators 3-1. The Rangers don't face the Senators again until December and John Dellapina of the New York Daily News wonders if New York will be up to the challenge of competing with the Senators. Larry Brooks of the NY Post previews the new look NHLPA under soon-to-be-named leader Paul Kelly in his Sunday Slap Shots column.
• With last night's win over the Rangers, the Senators finished off a stretch of seven games in eleven days with a 6-1 record. Martin Gerber was terrific for the Sens last night, turning aside 35 of 36 shots.
• Even though Sidney Crosby was the star of the Leafs/Pens games with two goals, the most exciting moment of the night, without question, was seeing Jason Blake score his first goal of the campaign. Even though Crosby had "struggled" to start the season, it wasn't something he was overly worried about writes Rose Dimanno of the Toronto Star. Some good news for Leaf fans, second-line center Kyle Wellwood is approximately a week away from returning to the team's lineup after undergoing hernia surgery three weeks ago.
• As Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette explains, Sidney Crosby will score many goals before his career is over, but none may be easier than the winning goal he potted last night versus the Maple Leafs. Penguins' coach Michel Therrien believes Marc-Andre Fleury can play better than he has so far this season.
• The Canucks, unsurprisingly, were led to victory last night by Roberto Luongo and the Sedin twins writes Ben Kuzma of the Vancouver Province. Iain MacIntyre of the Vancouver Sun affirms the fact that Luongo was on top of his game in the team's 4-1 victory over the Oilers.
• So far this season, the Oilers have allowed the opponent to score the game's first goal in five of their six contests writes Robert Tychkowski of the Edmonton Sun. Youngster Robbie Schremp has improved his defensive game which is one of the reasons he is up with the big club attempting to carve out a consistent roster spot at the NHL level. Meanwhile, Jim Matheson has a great piece about the out-of-work John Muckler in this morning's Edmonton Journal.
• The Flames inserted Eric Goddard into the lineup for toughness, yet the hulking winger made the move pay off offensively as he scored the game's winning goal early in the third period. Martin Gelinas wanted to sign with the Flames this past summer but Darryl Sutter waited too long to make a move, prompting Gelinas to sign in Nashville; Steve Macfarlane of the Calgary Sun has the story.
• The Predators have been turning the puck over too much writes John Glennon of the Tennessean. Although Chris Mason hasn't exactly helped matters with his poor play in between the pipes these past three games.
• The Bruins demonstrated strong character in their last second 2-1 victory over the Sharks last night. Manny Fernandez is confused as to why he can't stop the puck these days writes Stephen Harris of the Boston Herald.
• It's not a Sunday without Kevin Paul Dupont's usual notes column which can be found here.
• Marc-Edouard Vlasic's clearing attempt hit a stanchion that separates the plexiglass and that indirectly led to the Bruins' game-winning goal with under fifteen seconds remaining in the game.
• The Sabres thoroughly dominated the visiting Capitals last night winning the game 7-3 at the HSBC Arena writes John Vogl of the Buffalo News.
• Capitals' coach Glen Hanlon was unhappy after the Capitals second straight loss and explained that this is "the third game in a row where we've been embarrassingly outshot."
• The Devils are relieved to have finally registered their first victory of the season, narrowly averting matching the 1983/84 Devils' team that had only one win in its first five games. Patrik Elias was the hero, scoring with under 30 seconds left in regulation time to give the Devils the 6-5 victory over Atlanta.
• As Craig Custance of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes, Bob Hartley is not worried about his job security, he is worried about his team.
• Olli Jokinen proved why he is captain of the Panthers on Saturday night leading the team to a 6-4 victory over the rival Lightning.
• The Lightning just can't seem to win in South Florida writes Erik Erlendsson of the Tampa Tribune. Injured Dan Boyle appreciates the different perspective a player can get while watching games from the press box.
• The Hurricans accomplished the impressive feat of going 3 for 3 on their Eastern Canadian road trip; Luke Decock of the News Observer has the story. Meanwhile, with the way the Canes have been playing, Decock wonders if the team's five day break in their schedule could come at a worse time.
• Aside from Cristobal Huet, the Habs didn't impress anyone in their home debut writes Red Fisher in this morning's Montreal Gazette. Kevin Mio of the Gazette provides readers with a Q & A with Habs' defenseman Mike Komisarek.
• The Wild were lucky to be facing a young Coyotes squad on Saturday night because they somehow squeaked out a late victory against Gretzky and Co.
• Only 12,000 fans were on hand to witness the Coyotes blow their third period lead to the undefeated Wild writes Jim Gintonio of the Arizona Republic. (Writer's note: But don't worry, the NHL doesn't have an attendance problem...)
• The Flyers defeated the Islanders 3-1 and proved to their home crowd that they can forget about 2006/07 because this is a whole new season.
• The Islanders got bad news yesterday when they learned that forward Jon Sim will undergo complete reconstruction of his knee and miss the entire 2007/08 season.
• Joe Sakic doesn't age, at least not to our knowledge, as the veteran scored a hat trick last night in leading the Avalanche to a convincing 5-1 victory over the Blue Jackets. In other Avs' news, Jordan Leopold has missed the team's past two games with a minor hip injury. (Writer's note: Jordan Leopold is missing time? I think it is at the point where he has become the Martin Havlat of defensemen).
• The Blue Jackets didn't match the Avs' sense of urgency writes Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch.
• The Blackhawks scored two powerplay goals in their 2-1 overtime victory over the Stars on Saturday night.
• Stars' rookie Tobias Stephan was starting his first ever NHL game and after facing an amazingly high total of 40 shots, it can only be described as baptism by fire.
• With all their defensive injuries, Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Dispatch wonders if St. Louis defensemen are cursed?
• After their debacle against the Bruins on Friday night, the Kings have been focusing on improving their penalty kill.
• Readers of the Detroit Free Press give their answers as to why there is a lack of buzz surrounding the Red Wings.

For Illegal Curve, I'm Richard Pollock.

Morning Musings

Here are the morning papers:

• The Sabres dominated the special teams battle versus Atlanta on Thursday and defeated the struggling Thrashers 6-0. Sabres' winger Ales Kotalik made his season debut last night after returning from a sprained MCL and ended up scoring on his first shift.
• Sometimes you can take positives from a loss, but as Craig Custance of the Atlanta Journal Constitution explains, there were no positives to be taken from their loss to Buffalo for the Thrashers.
• The Bruins need to improve their even strength goal output writes Fluto Shinwaza of the Boston Globe. In addition to their even strength scoring, the Bruins also need to improve on their faceoff percentage which is 27th overall in the NHL. In a bizarre turn of events on Wednesday, Brandon Bochenski dressed for the Bruins' game versus the Ducks yet never saw the ice. In other Bruins' news, Marc Savard is listed as questionable for tonight's game versus the Kings but is expected to suit up.
• Mike Keenan says there needs to be "a level of desperation" to the Flames' game after their disappointing start to the season.
• As Luke Decock of the News Observer explains, the Hurricanes made a statement last night in their 5-3 victory over the defending Eastern Conference champions in Ottawa. Chad Larose has been a pleasant surprise for the Canes playing alongside Rod Brind'Amour and Justin Williams.
• The Senators didn't look like their usual selves last night writes Chris Stevenson of the Ottawa Sun. As Don Brennan of the Ottawa Sun tells us, after going on a long second half run of success last season, the Senators realize that it is easier to win games earlier in the season rather than later. Many Senators players came to camp in the best shape of their lives and coach John Paddock believes that has a lot to do with the team's successful start to the season.
• According to Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Tribune, there are positives that can be taken from Rocky Wirtz's first move as chairman of the Blackhawks.
• With Stars backup goaltender Mike Smith out with a bruised arm, Marty Turco does not mind taking on the extra work writes Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News.
• Michael Arace of the Columbus Dispatch attempts to clarify the comments made by Adam Foote to Adrian Dater of the Denver Post about leaving Colorado a few years ago. In other Jackets' news, Ken Hitchcock worked on the team's breakout extensively at training camp and that hard work has paid off to start the season. Speaking of coach Hitchcock, he has been very impressed with the play of defenseman Jan Hejda so far this season.
• According to Terry Frei of the Denver Post, Jose Theodore will get the start between the pipes tonight for the Avalanche in St. Louis.
• Dominik Hasek's knee is fine and the veteran goaltender will start tonight versus the Blackhawks. Wings' legend Steve Yzerman says that sustained success of the Notre Dame NCAA hockey program, "could bring a lot of exposure to the sport."
• Two angry teams will be facing off Edmonton tonight as both the Oilers and Canucks are coming off frustrating losses. Sheldon Souray doesn't want anyone to jump to conclusions regarding the Oilers' early season struggles on the powerplay writes Joanne Ireland in this morning's Edmonton Journal.
• It is taking newcomer Michal Handzus some time to get comfortable in his new surroundings writes Lisa Dillman of the L.A. Times.
• The Panthers finally recorded their first win of the season last night over the struggling Devils. Tomas Vokoun served as a calming influence during the Panthers' 0-3 start and proved his worth last night closing the door completely on the Devils' attack.
• Devils' coach Brent Sutter realizes the season is only four games old and, as such, doesn't want his team to get down on themselves. Sutter actually took a bench minor penalty for arguing a penalty call last night which led to Olli Jokinen's powerplay goal. Meanwhile, soon to be traded Richard Matvichuk believes his exclusion from the Devils' defensive starting roster was pre-determined by coach Sutter prior to training camp.
• Wendy Sheppard is awfully proud of her son James and is looking forward to travelling with the Wild for the team's mother-son road trip through Phoenix, Los Angeles and Anaheim.
• As Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette explains, even with a goaltending controversy on the horizon, Cristobal Huet and Carey Price still have a great relationship.
• Jessica Hopp of the Tennesean believes Predators' goaltender Chris Mason may have lost his mojo after he posted his second poor performance in as many days losing 6-3 to Phoenix on Thursday. Meanwhile, Jordin Tootoo is angry that Craig Weller gave him a clothesline when Tootoo was unaware he was there. (Writer's note: Tootoo took a blatant run at Coyotes' forward Daniel Winnik prior to Weller going after him. If Tootoo had connected on his hit on Winnik, the league may have had another Dean McAmmond situation on its hands.)
• It looks like Dave Scatchard will slide into the 3rd line center role for the Rangers. However, don't expect to see the veteran in the lineup over the weekend.
• Mats Sundin became the leading scorer in Maple Leafs' history last night in his team's 8-1 victory over the Islanders. Damien Cox of the Toronto Star says the Leafs were almost perfect last night.
• Islanders' coach Ted Nolan says the team's performance in its 8-1 loss to the Maple Leafs last night was "almost laughable."
• Canucks' veteran Trevor Linden was impressed with the young pieces that the Flyers have in place writes Tim Panaccio of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
• Jesse Boulerice's hearing with the NHL will be held today. (Writer's note: Lets just hope the NHL gives him at least 25 games.)
• After Fredik Sjostrom's two goal game, it is evident that coach Wayney Gretzky sure motivated the young forward by making him a healthy scratch for the Coyotes' first three games.
• Even though he only has 2 points in 3 games so far this season, no one associated with the Penguins is concerned about Sidney Crosby writes Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
• Jeff Gordon of the St. Louis Dispatch provides readers with the St. Louis perspective of the Rob Ramage conviction.
• Mathieu Darce is grateful for another chance in the NHL and has impressed the Lightning brass while playing on the team's third line alongside Jason Ward and Chris Gratton.
• Tarik El-Bashir of the Washington Post says that the Jaromir Jagr shadow still lingers around the Capitals even after his departure four years ago.
• Roberto Luongo is currently wearing a knee brace to support his strained MCL writes Jason Botchford of the Vancouver Province. In other Canucks' news, Ryan Shannon was demoted to Manitoba of the AHL yesterday.

For Illegal Curve, I'm Richard Pollock.

Morning Musings: A busy Sunday

As usual, there are an exceptionally large number of articles today so I am going skip my morning preamble.

On to the morning papers:

• Damien Cox of the Toronto Star pronounces Vesa Toskala the Leafs' number one netminder for the foreseeable future. The Leafs fought back from a 3-1 deficit last night and prevailed in overtime over the rival Canadiens. Meanwhile, Mats Sundin is on a collision course with a couple Leafs' records writes Lance Hornby in this morning's Toronto Sun.
• It was only a matter of time before Brent Sutter had a tirade and put his mark on the team; Mark Everson of the NY Post has the details. If not for Kevin Weekes the result may have been different writes Rich Chere of the Newark Star-Ledger.
• When discussing the issue of head-shots, Larry Brooks of the NY Post stresses that the NHL needs to make sure if focuses on punishing the crime, not the criminal.
• The Rangers were outclassed by the Senators on Saturday night writes John Dellapina of the NY Daily News. To add insult to injury, the Rangers lost Sean Avery with an apparent separation or dislocation of his left shoulder.
• Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun is impressed with the Rangers' assortment of forwards but wonders if the team's defense is good enough to sustain a long playoff run. Garrioch says the team has the same concern which is why it is attempting to acquire Ed Jovanovski.
• The Senators are now 3-0 on this young season and have been a perfect 19-for-19 on the penalty kill.
• As Marc Herrmann of Newsday explains, the Islanders don't really have any star power in their lineup and that's perfectly fine so long as the team has a chance. The Islanders have waived Freddy Meyer making the way for the team to sign defenseman Bryan Berard.
• The Flyers had a weak first period versus the Oilers; couple that with a late second period goal by Geoff Sanderson and that was enough to propel the Oil to a 5-3 victory over Philadelphia.
• All the Oilers' off-season acquisitions have contributed in the team's first two wins and Craig MacTavish says that is awfully important; Joanne Ireland of the Edmonton Journal has the story. After explaining that he was "pretty embarrassed" by the way he performed for the Flyers last season, Geoff Sanderson was excited to be able to produce against his former teammates in Philly. With another solid game last night, Dustin Penner has impressed in his short career as an Oiler thus far.
• The Bolts defeated the Thrashers 5-2 on Saturday night and Lightning forward Brad Richards was awfully impressed by the team's overall performance. Tampa winger Vaclav Prospal has been quick to put his 2006/07 struggles behind him and that has been the key to his solid start to the 2007/08 campaign.
• Regardless of the amount of new players the Thrashers have brought into the lineup, according to Marian Hossa the team is being outworked.
• Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has the recap of the Pens' wild 5-4 victory over the defending champion Ducks.
• Ted Leonsis is awfully excited that his team has started the season 2-0 writes Tarik El-Bashir of the Washington Post.
• After losing 2-0 to the Caps, the Canes, to their credit, did not use the injuries to Cory Stillman, Mike Commodore and Bret Hedican as excuses last night. The Canes agreed to a 2 year, 2-way deal with defenseman David Tanabe before last night's contest in Washington.
• It looks like Johan Franzen may out for a while after he collided with Blackhawks' forward Tuomo Ruutu. After reading George Sipple's article in this morning's Detroit Free Press, it is clear that Robert Lang and Mike Babcock had their fair share of issues.
• It was quite a thrill for Buffalo native Patrick Kane to be able to score the shootout winner versus former Sabres' legend Dominik Hasek on Saturday night.
• The Bruins provided coach Claude Julien with much improved effort in their 3-1 victory over the Coyotes last night. Marc Savard left Boston's game versus the Coyotes last night with apparent abdominal discomfort but he hopes to be back on the ice Wednesday for the team's next game. In other Bruins' news, Aaron Ward is excited to be able to reacquaint himself with the point on the powerplay writes Fluto Shinwaza of the Boston Globe.
• The Sabres are hoping they can get Ales Kotalik back in the lineup from his sprained MCL for Thursday's game against Atlanta. Meanwhile, Kotalik's teammates improved on their performance on Saturday night but still have a long way to go, as they were defeated 3-2 by the Isles.
• The Flames' comeback effort was spoiled once again, this time with only four seconds remaining on the clock in overtime, as Calgary was defeated by the Canucks 4-3. Randy Sportak of the Calgary Sun runs down the key performers from last night's contest. According to coach Mike Keenan, Dion Phaneuf was the Flames' best player last night.
• Ben Kuzma recaps the Canucks' perspective of the team's 4-3 victory over Calgary in this morning's Vancouver Province. While Roberto Luongo did go down mid-game with an apparent injury, the tough netminder did not miss any time and looked fine finishing off the game.
• There are, once again, new line combinations in Colorado for tonight's game versus the Sharks.
• Ray Stein of the Columbus Dispatch has a Q & A on the Blue Jackets and other sports happenings.
• Wild coach Jacques Lemaire was very happy with the way his team played last night versus Columbus. In other Wild news, Michael Russo of the Star Tribune believes that it is ridiculous that Benoit Pouliot is currently playing in the AHL.
• Impressive rookie Torrey Mitchell took an unusual route to the NHL for a kid growing up in Quebec.
• The Panthers are off to a rough start having been beaten by a combined six goals over their first two regular season contests. The Panthers went through the motions in the second and third periods writes George Richards of the Miami Herald.
• The Kings did a poor job of protecting a 3-1 lead and it cost them as the Blues came back and defeated them 5-3 in the Kings' home opener.
• Blues' rookie Erik Johnson scored his first NHL goal on Saturday night and it turned out to be the game winner. In one of the more sentimental stories on this Sunday morning, Andy Murray coached against his son Brady last night and Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Dispatch has the story.
• Dallas defenseman Mattias Nortstrom wants to forget the team's performance versus Nashville on Saturday and focus on the team's solid performance versus Boston the night before.
• As John Glennon writes in this morning's Tennessean, goaltender Chris Mason was only seven minutes away from his second consecutive shutout.
• Coach Wayne Gretzky has been preaching to his young team to keep the powerplay simple writes Jim Gintonio of the Arizona Republic.

For Illegal Curve, I'm Richard Pollock.

Fantasy Watch: Last Night's Recap

F Chris Drury, New York Rangers
1 G, 2 A, 22:24 TOI, +3, 4 SOG

In his first game with the Rangers, Drury didn't disappoint, assisting on two goals, while netting the game winning goal himself. Look for an improvement on last year's 69 point output, as playing with Jaromir Jagr will yield a lot of opportunities.

F Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning
3 A, 24:38 TOI, +3

After posting two 90+ point seasons in the last four years, their are still some out there who are skeptical of St. Louis's talent. Scoring three assists in his first game should erase any doubt as the forward should be able to recreate last year's totals.

G Chris Mason, Nashville Predators
Stopped all 35 shots in Nashville's 3-0 victory over Colorado

Backing up Vokoun last year, Mason started in 48 games going 24-11-4 with five shutouts. Now that Vokoun is in Florida, Mason has become the Preds starting goaltender and could finish the year among the NHL's elite.

G Niklas Backstrom, Minnesota Wild
Stopped all 27 shots in Minnesota's 1-0 victory over Chicago

A reliable backup last year, Backstrom posted 23 wins in 36 games started. With the starting job all his, expect a steady output of wins.

F Daniel Briere, Philadelphia Flyers
2 G, 19:19 TOI, +2, 6 SOG

Scoring the game winning goal against a very talented Calgary team, Briere appears to have Philadelphia back on track. Owners should expect a similar point total for the former Buffalo Saber.


Honorable Mention:
F, Jason Arnott, Nashville Predators

Phoenix Coyotes (undefeated!)

F, Martin Havlat, Chicago Blackhawks (It was obvious the fragile forward would go down, but the first game? Really?)


For Illegal Curve, Im Jonny Remis

It's all about the recap: The new Legion of Doom?

• Chris Drury impresses the New York Fans fans with 3 points and Marek Malik adds 3 assists. The Rangers win their opener over the Panthers 4-2.
• The Sens begin at 2-0 with their second consecutive win over the Leafs. Daniel Alfredsson scores two including the game winner.
• Brent Sutter loses his first game as the Devils' coach 3-1 to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Vinny Lecavlier continues last years torrid pace. After the loss Martin Brodeur called him "the best player in the league.
  
• Chris Mason shines making 35 saves earning the shutout over the Avs.
• Niklas Backstrom and the Wild squeak out a 1-0 win over the Blackhawks. Marty Havlat left the game with a shoulder. Didn't see that one coming.
  
• Jarret Stoll pots the shootout winner for the Oilers, they win 3-2 over my pick for the ugliest new jersey, the San Jose Sharks
  
• Mike Keenan loses his Flames coaching debut 3-2. The Gagne, Briere, Knuble had two points each . The new Legion of Doom? Let the naming contest begin!
  
• Phoenix begins the year 1-0 with a 3-2 victory over the St Louis Blues. It was a two point night for former Winnipeg Jet Keith Tkachuk.