Afternoon Roster News

Here are some notes and tidbits that may be of interest to fans and poolies:

• Peter Schaeffer (shin) is close to returning to the Boston line-up.
• Aaron Ward (throat) is going to be re-evaluated today and his availability for Saturday night's game is currently undetermined.
• Nikolai Zherdev (knee) didn't skate at Columbus practice but is expecting to play on Friday night.
• Sergei Fedorov (concussion) skated at practice today, but didn't take part in any contact drills.
• Patrick Marleau (groin) is a game-time decision for tonight's game against Edmonton.
• Joe Thornton (flu) will suit up tonight.
• Paul Stastny (groin) hasn't skated in the past couple days and his return date is unknown. (Writer's note: It looks like Stastny got injured while rehabbing from his appendectomy.)
• Brett Clark (shoulder) is out for the season.
• Brian Rafalski (groin) will miss Friday night's game.
• Kevin Bieksa (lacerated calf) skated with his teammates on Thursday but his return date is yet to be determined.
• It looks like Tim Gleason (flu) and Joe Corvo (flu) will miss tonight's game for Carolina.
• Brett Hedican (lower-body injury) is also out for Carolina.
• Niklas Backstom will start for the Wild tonight.
• Sean Hill (healthy scratch) will not be in the line-up tonight for Minnesota.

For Illegal Curve, I'm Richard Pollock.

Nightly Recap: Kane Continues to Lead Rookies in Scoring

-Chicago 3 - Detroit 2. Rookie leading scorer Patrick Kane had a goal and an assist and Jonathan Toews, second in rookie scoring had one goal. Robert Lang had two assists against his former team. Kane and Toews now have 21 and 14 points, in their rookie campaigns. Boy do they look like the West's version of Crosby and Malkin.

-Colorado 4 - Minnesota 2. Paul Stastny had two goals and one assist, he now has 100 career points in 99 career games, becoming the sixth player in franchise history to have 100 points in less than 100 games. Wojtek Wolski and Ryan Smyth had two points each for the Avs in the win.

NHL Morning Papers (Saturday Edition)

Here are the national morning papers:

• Dave Shoalts of the Globe & Mail compares and contrasts the managing success (or lack thereof) of Toronto's John Ferguson Jr. with Montreal's Bob Gainey.
• Eric Duhatschek discusses the upcoming Hall of Fame class and their inability to get away from the game they love in his Saturday notes column.

Here are the Western Confernce morning papers:

• Eric Francis of the Calgary Sun profiles Al MacInnis just prior to his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday.
• The Blackhawks defeated the Blues 4-2 last night in Chicago and one of the reasons for the Hawks' success can be attributed to their defense's offensive output. Ed Sherman of the Chicago Tribune explains the expectations that Comcast has for its home broadcasts this season.
• "They're the measuring stick and we're trying to catch up," is what Ken Hitchcock said about the Red Wings after they defeated the Blue Jackets 4-1 on Friday night. Meanwhile, the Jackets face the Predators on Saturday night and coach Hitchcock says the Jackets won't have a rivalry with the Predators unless they stop losing to them all the time. Here are the Jackets' probable lines for tonight's game.
• The Stars are striving to be more consistent writes Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News.
• Both the Red Wings and their star forward Henrik Zetterberg kept their streaks going last night in Detroit as they defeated the Blue Jackets 4-1. Wings' youngster Jiri Hudler appears to be on a similar career course as current Detroit first-liner Tomas Holmstrom.
• Sheldon Souray thinks he will be back in the Oilers' lineup for Wednesday's game versus the Canucks writes Robert Tychkowski of the Edmonton Sun. Oilers' defenseman Alan Rourke will make his team debut on Hockey Night in Canada tonight versus the Flames.
• Flames' center Daymond Langkow will not dress for tonight's game versus the Oilers due to a concussion he suffered at the hands of Matt Cooke on Thursday night. Asked yesterday whether he would share his beliefs of why the Flames had been struggling, coach Mike Keenan responded, "I think that's information that should stay in the locker-room. It's something you try to protect with the team and deal with them."
• Marian Gaborik has joined his teammates on their trip to Colorado for Sunday's game against the Avalance, but his linemate Pavol Demitra was left behind due to his more serious groin injury.
• The Kings are hoping to have enforcer Raitis Ivanans back in the lineup next week, however, Kyle Calder is still a couple weeks away from a return to the lineup.
• The Predators have to make sure they are prepared for tonight's game versus Columbus because the Jackets were beat by Nashville in all eight meetings last season and are very much stressing the importance of beating the Preds this season.
• While the Sharks are not where they want to be in terms of their play, they feel like last night's 3-2 shootout loss to the Ducks was a step in the right direction.
• "It's difficult for us to win a hockey game when, in our opinion, I don't know if we had five of our forwards play average or above," said Blues' coach Andy Murray after the team was defeated by the Hawks 4-2 at the United Center. Meanwhile, the Blues' face-off percentage has been falling off for the past couple weeks writes Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
• The Canucks got their third win in a row last night and are now back at .500 after they defeated the Avalanche 2-1 in overtime. Jim Jamieson of the Vancouver Province has a feature on Paul Stastny.

Here are the Eastern Conference morning papers:

• Don Waddell improved his record to 7-3 behind the bench this season for the Thrashers as they defeated the Panthers 4-1 on Friday night. Ilya Kovalchuk is arguably playing the best hockey of his career right now and is maturing into a leader writes Craig Custance of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
• Bruins' defenseman Aaron Ward will be out of the lineup indefinitely with a concussion. It is going to be a battle for the Bruins to fill Ward's void in terms of leadership and minutes-played writes Rich Thompson of the Boston Herald.
• The Sabres offense is struggling so much right now that they couldn't even breakout versus the lowly Leafs' defense as they were defeated by Toronto 3-0 on Friday. The breaks just aren't going the Sabres' way right now writes Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News.
• Lorenzo Perez of the News Observer previews the Hurricanes' game at Atlanta tonight.
• The Panthers outplayed the Thrashers last night but couldn't bulge the twine and it cost them as they were defeated by Atlanta 4-1 at home. "We're in a big hole now. There's no question about it. We have to be better, no doubt about it," said goaltender Tomas Vokoun after the loss.
• This season's version of the Flyers are definitely not on equal footing with the Broad Street bullies writes Red Fisher in this morning's Montreal Gazette. Francis Bouillon of the Habs said his collision with Bruins' defenseman Aaron Ward was completely by accident and that he didn't even see Ward coming.
• For the first time since last season, the Devils had their full healthy roster at practice yesterday. Both Colin White and Jamie Langenbrunner are now able to practice but they won't be in tonight's lineup versus the Islanders.
• Former Ranger Mark Messier will be watching from the stands as the Rangers are in Toronto tonight to face-off against the Leafs in the Hall of Fame game. The Blueshirts will attempt to secure their first road victory tonight.
• One of the keys to the Islanders' success is the goal-scoring of veteran Miroslav Satan writes Mark Hermmann of Newsday.
• With the way things are going for Martin Gerber, the netminder is not about to change to his new helmet anytime soon. According to Bruce Garrioch, the Senators may open the 2008/09 regular season in Sweden. The aforementioned Gerber will get the start this afternoon versus the streaking Habs.
• It looks like Simon Gagne may have returned too soon from his concussion, so don't expect him or the Flyers to make that same mistake twice.
• Ray Shero made it clear yesterday that he is not replacing Michel Therrien with a new head coach and he is not replacing Marc-Andre Fleury with a new number one netminder. Ryan Whitney is slated to return to the Penguins' lineup tonight after missing the last four games with a sore groin.
• Both Bryan McCabe and Andrew Raycroft got redemption last night in the Leafs' 3-0 win in Buffalo. With all the panic and outcry over the Leafs' play, the team reached the .500 level after Friday's win over the Sabres.
• Carter Gaddis of the Tampa Tribune has an interesting piece on the relationship between Tampa coach John Tortorella and GM Jay Feaster

For Illegal Curve, I'm Richard Pollock.

Dirty Little Recap

Very smart for the NHL to not even try and compete with the NFL on Sundays. Only one game tonight.

• Paul Stastny is the Illegal Curve MONSTER of the night with a goal and four assists. This brings his season total up to 8 points in 3 games. A pace for 218 points this year, should be enough for the Art Ross. All kidding aside, Ryan Clowe scored the Sharks only two goals. The Avs put a spear through the fin of the San Jose Sharks 6 - 2.

More news to sink your teeth into

• Johan Franzen is out 3-4 weeks with a knee. Poolies looking for a quick fix, look for a veteran such as Dan Cleary or Kris Draper to take his spot on the line with Datsuyk and Holmstrom.
• Vesa Toskala impressed last night in his victory over the Habs
• Richard Park signs a 2 year extension with the Islanders
• Montreal Canadien Chris Higgins is ready to take his game to the next level
• USA Today's Kevin Allen looks forward to the week ahead
  
• The Carolina Hurricanes have signed defenceman David Tanabe to a two-year deal.
• Sean Avery will be out 4 weeks with a shoulder separation
  

On Schedule for Tomorrow (all times Eastern)

Washington @ New York Islanders 2pm
New Jersey @ Ottawa 3pm
Edmonton @ Detroit 730pm

Happy Thanksgiving to all Canadians. Gotta love afternoon hockey.

Fantasy Watch: Last Night's Recap

F Saku Koivu, Montreal Canadiens
2 G, 15:37 TOI, 4 SOG

Koivu had a great debut last night notching the game winner. Owners should expect a steady output of power play points from Koivu, as Montreal's powerplay unit was tops in the league last year.

D Andrei Markov, Montreal Canadiens
2 A, 21:15 TOI, 1 SOG

Markov is picking up right where he left off, assisting on two goals in Montreal's 3-2 OT win over Carolina. Although none of his assists came on the powerplay, owners should not be discouraged as there will be several opportunities for Montreal's top defenseman.

F Dany Heatley, Ottawa Senators
2 G, 1 A, 24:38 TOI, 4 SOG

After signing a contract extension earlier in the day, Heatley came out firing, tying the game up in the 3rd period and sealing a victory with his goal in OT. As long as Heatley is paired with Spezza and Alfredsson, another 100+ point season should be easily attainable.

F Paul Stastny, Colorado Avalanche
3 G, 16:40 TOI, +3, 4 SOG

Quickly putting to rest any talk of a sophomore slump, Stastny scored a hattrick on Wednesday, leading the Avs to 4-3 victory over Dallas. Although Stastny is on the second scoring line, there should be no shortage of opportunities for the second year player.

F Andrew Brunette, Colorado Avalanche
3 A, 16:43 TOI +2, 1 SOG

After getting bumped from the first line, many thought Brunette would return to his usual 60 point self. Following Wednesday's game that may not be the case as Brunette set up all three of Stastny's goals. Although their won't be the same opportunities as there would playing Sakic, Brunette owners can breath a sigh of relief knowing he has linemates that can get it done.


Honorable Mention:
F Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit Red Wings
F Todd Bertuzzi, Anaheim Ducks
F Jaroslav Hlinka, Colorado Avalanche



For Illegal Curve, Im Jonny Remis

Morning Musings: Public criticism of Hockeytown

Earlier this week I wrote my preamble on the myth of Detroit being "Hockeytown USA" and interestingly enough, Drew Sharp took the opportunity to call out Red Wings fans for their lack of passion in this morning's Detroit Free Press. Red Wings' star defenseman, Nicklas Lidstrom wasn't impressed at all, calling the lack of fans at Wednesday's home opener, "more than a little disappointing." There are lots of great hockey towns in the U.S., and Detroit is still one of them, but the title of Hockeytown USA just can't go to a team that has trouble selling out home openers and playoff games. I bet fans in Colorado, New York and San Jose have just as good, if not a better claim to that title.

Update: Apparently Colorado couldn't sell out its home opener either. WOW. Can Gary Bettman please stop calling the game as healthy as it has even been?

In any event, it was great to have regular season hockey back last night, and the action didn't disappoint with three games going into overtime. Looks like we have a great season of hockey ahead of us.

On to the morning papers:

• It is not so much what's on top of the jersey, but rather what's under it says Ilya Kovalchuk in this morning's Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
• The Ducks were outshot a staggering 42-15 last night in their 3-2 shootout loss to the Red Wings. Jiri Hudler explains his thought process during his shootout winning goal on Iyla Bryzgalov on Wednesday night. While, Mike Babcock says that is exactly what Hudler has to do to contribute to the team.
• Damien Cox of the Toronto Star says the Leafs need more saves. Period. While they were defeated by the Sens 4-3, Mats Sundin doesn't believe there was any aspect of the game that they were outmatched.
• Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe previews the 2007/08 season in this morning's paper.
• Craig Julien believes P.J. Axelsson can be a calming force on his young linemates writes Rich Thompson of the Boston Herald.
• The Flames are beginning the season at the Saddledome for the first time in five years and hope the friendly confines gives them a jump start to the season. According to Steve Macfarlane of the Calgary Sun, Flames' players shouldn't become too comfortable with their linemates. Here are the Flames' lines heading into the season opener versus Philadelphia.
• With the loss of both Chris Drury and Daniel Briere, Dan Vogl of the Buffalo News says that Tim Connolly and Drew Stafford have pressure on them to fill the void. Meanwhile, the Buffalo News provides readers with five reasons to be optimistic about the Sabres and five reasons to be pessimistic.
• The Canes got a great performance from Cam Ward and had more than enough chances but were defeated by the Habs 3-2 in overtime last night. Cory Stillman was a late scratch for last night's contest because he injured his torso in a car accident Tuesday afternoon.
• Tom Reed of the Columbus Dispatch has a terrific piece on the road Scott Howson took to become an NHL general manager. On the ice, it appears Mike Peca will be held out of game action through this weekend because of an ailing back.
• Denis Savard is not worried about throwing Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews into the fire writes Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune.
• The Stastny-Brunette-Hlinka line demonstrated terrific chemistry in leading the Avs to a 4-3 victory over the Stars Wednesday night. Coach Joel Quenville was happy with Peter Budaj's play when it counted writes Terry Frei of the Denver Post.
• According to Stephan Robidas, the Stars have to have hunger the entire game.
• With all the young faces in the Oilers' lineup, nerves will be abound tonight versus the Sharks. Everyone and their brother is predicting the Oilers will miss the playoffs this season but the players themselves remain confident that the team can surprise some people writes Robert Tychkowski of the Edmonton Sun.
• The Panthers have come to the realization that talk is cheap writes Steve Gorten of the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
• As Lonnie White of the L.A. Times explains, after the team's trip overseas, Saturday's home opener feels like the real start to the season.
• Michael Russo has a great piece about Wild youngster Mikko Koivu in this morning's Star Tribune.
• Meanwhile, Mikko's brother Saku was terrific in leading the Habs to their 3-2 victory over the Canes last night. Perhaps the Habs would have an easier time of it if they stayed out of the box writes Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette.
• As Rich Chere writes in the Newark Star-Ledger, Patrik Elias is handling the loss of his captaincy like a man. With Brent Sutter leading the ship, the days of the trap in New Jersey are in the rear-view mirror.
• Alexander Radulov will start the season on the Predators' number three scoring line. (Writer's note: It is only a matter of time before he is moved up to one of the top two lines. The article points to the fact that he didn't have great chemistry with either of the top two line combinations but once the Preds realize Jed Ortmeyer can't score, the logical switch will be made.)
• Larry Brooks previews the Rangers in detail in this morning's NY Post. Rangers' leader Jaromir Jagr realizes that games aren't played on paper.
• Dany Heatley loves Ottawa and with a new $45 million contract in hand, the back-to-back 50 goal scorer had 2 goals and 1 assist in his team's 4-3 victory over the Maple Leafs on Wednesday. (Writer's note: For $45 million, I think I'd love Ottawa too.)
• Chris Stevenson of the Ottawa Sun speculates that the Heatley signing will be followed by a Jason Spezza signing which will be followed by Wade Redden's departure.
• Due to the fact that Bryan Berard was running the powerplay in practice yesterday, Greg Logan of Newsday believes he will be signed sooner rather than later.
• Mike Knuble hopes last year's struggles are motivation for the Flyers to not play that way again.
• Mikael Tellqvist has earned the start in between the pipes for the Coyotes' season opener against the Blues tonight. Unfortunately for the Coyotes, Zbynek Michalek broke his left hand at practice on Wednesday and will be out of the lineup 4-6 weeks.
• Sidney Crosby's Penguin counterparts are holding off on making statistical predictions for the reigning MVP. (Writer's note: I won't hold off. He'll get 140+ this season)
• Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Dispatch wonders whether the Blues are playoff bound. Here are the Blues' lines heading into the season.
• Patrick Marleau and coach Ron Wilson appear to be doing their best to improve their rocky relationship writes David Pollak of the San Jose Mercury News.
• Erik Erlendsson of the Tampa Tribune gives his full preview of the Bolts heading into 2007/08.
• With a higher skill level on the roster than last season, Capitals' coach Glen Hanlon believes his team won't take as many penalties in 2007/08.
• Barry Macdonald of the Vancouver Sun believes the Canucks have a boatload of potential heading into the season.

For Illegal Curve, I'm Richard Pollock.

Opening Night

The NHL season officially opened tonight, and it was an exciting one. Three of the games went to overtime and one game was within a goal. Hockey's back baby!

New visitors: This is last nights news post. This morning's Morning Musings can be found here.


In the news

• TSN Insider Bob McKenzie lists who is on the "hot seat" for this season
• The full details on Dany Heatleys new contract. Next up, Jason Spezza
• Gary Bettman is very busy at this time of year. Winnipeg is singled out as a city in which Bettman has had the most discussion for expansion. Notable quote by Commissioner Bettman: "It's always fun to come to a game at the Air Canada Centre. It makes you feel like you're in the centre of the universe." He's absolutely right Toronto IS the centre of the universe.
• Speaking of Gary Bettman, here is a nice Q&A with him via CBC.ca
  
• Nashville could be looking for a new buyer...again. Jim Balsilile have your blackberry ready, a call may be coming your way.
• Flyers GM John Stevens was active tonight as he inked Jim Dowd and Jesse Boulerice to one year deals.

Can I Get a Recap?

• Dany Heatley proves he was worth the cash, he scores 3 points including the OT winner in a victory over the Leafs. The Leafs top line of Blake, Sundin and Antropov was solid in their first regular season game together.
• The Red Wings failed to sell out their first regular season game since 1996 as they defeated the Anaheim Ducks on Jiri Hudlers shootout winner
• The Habs powerplay success of last year carries over in their 3-2 OT victory over the Carolina Hurricanes. Saku Koivu scored 2 PP goals including the OT winner.
• Paul Stastny shows no effects of a sophomore slump. He makes it rain hats in Denver as the Avs win a close one over the Stars 4-3.