Thursday, September 20, 2007

Last Night's Notable Preseason Players (Sep 20)

This is gonna be the last night for the Opiated Sherpa to drop any hints on who's hot and who's not in the pre-season. September 20th is his draft and well, once the draft happens... the real work begins. All the toil and trouble is gonna pay off.

In a 6-3 win over Los Angeles, the Colorado Avalanche had themselves a few players that made waves on the scoresheet. Paul Statsny had 2 goals and 2 assists in the win, while Andrew Brunette had a goal and 3 assists. Prospect T.J. Hensick had himself a good game with 2 goals and an assist. If the Avalanche get that sort of scoring all year, they will be a great team for the pool and yet another tough team in the Northwest Division.

Prospect goaltender, Thomas Greiss, threw his hat into the ring for Evgeni Nabokov's back-up on Wednesday night. Greiss made 19 saves in a 1-0 shutout win over the Anaheim Ducks and possibly made a strong case for himself to have a job in October. Greiss, 21, was a 3rd round pick in 2001 and might have another look before the cuts come down. Scoring the only goal in the game for San Jose was Danny Packard. The Sharks also had Thornton and Cheechoo in the line-up and Joe Thornton had himself an assist in the game as well.

In a losing effort on Wednesday, Yanic Perreault had a pair goals and added an assist for the Blackhawks against the Blue Jackets. Perreault, who is going to be used in a leadership role, had himself a great game to build his confidence for the coming season. One of last season's all-stars will have the job of teaching kids like Toews and Kane the ropes of the big league. Also having a good night for the Hawks was Robert Lang who had a goal and an assist.

Brad Richards led the Lightning past the Stars in their preseason debut on Wednesday night. He had three assists in the game as Tampa beat Dallas 4-3 in overtime. Richards spot is all but solidified and should have a bit of a rebound season from a bit of lacklustre season of only 70 points. Richards should have some better help this season with Michel Ouellet likely playing on his line.

For the winning Blue Jackets Wednesday night, it was Jason Chimera who had a goal and two assists as he's nailing down a full-time spot with the fledgling Columbus team. He was a +3 in 15 minutes of ice-time against the Blackhawks and should have himself a good position heading into October. Also having a good night for Columbus was Manny Malhotra, who scored a pair of shorthanded goals in the win.

Jon Sim scored a pair of first period goals to help lift the Islanders past the Canadiens in preseason action. Sim, a career third-line forward, will try and increase his standing in the league with the Islanders, but for right now, still stands in the third-line position. The last team update for the Islanders have Sim making the team, so he could very well show up on a list or two. But will this really be his breakout season?

Roberto Luongo stopped 14 shots and Cory Schneider stopped 7 and shared a 4-0 shutout of the Calgary Flames. Since it was a shared shutout, none of them would have picked up the 4 points. Both Michael Grabner and Alexander Edler had a goal and an assist to lead the Canucks in scoring last night and they are both vying for a job for in the club. Grabner a former 1st rounder may be able to bring some much needed scoring to the line-up and may be a good fit right away, while Edler saw quite a bit of time last season because of injuries and may be the front runner to take Sami Salo's position while Salo nurses an injury.

The big scorer in the Toronto/Phoenix game in Winnipeg on Wednesday was defenseman Hal Gill. A couple of assists for the veteran rearguard was the big showing of the night. Alex Steen, Jason Blake and Chad Kilger each potted goals for the buds, but Gill was the big star of the game. Andrew Raycroft stopped 20 shots in the win and maybe is better suited for the player of the game. But I'm still giving it to Gill.

A couple players for the Stars picked up a pair of assists in their loss to Tampa Bay on Wednesday night. Antii Miettinen and Perrtu Lindgren each picked up points in the loss. Miettinen is pretty much a lock for the squad again this season and Lindgren might have an outside chance to knock off guys like Todd Fedoruk off the regular side.


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