The Anaheim Ducks continued cleaning house by dealing veteran defenseman, Sean O'Donnell to the Los Angeles Kings for a conditional draft pick. The Ducks have been trying to clean up some of the space around the salary cap ceiling to ensure they can field a full squad come opening night. The Kings, on the other hand, have been looking to acquire some more veteran talent for their blueline, as they have been rumoured for some of the other high profile veterans that have been moved of late.
| 2007-2008 Stats | 2009 | Point Projections | |||||
| To Los Angeles | Age | GP | Points | Cap Hit | THN | HTM | Score |
| Sean O'Donnell, D | 37 | 82 | 9 | $1.25 million | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| --- | |||||||
| To Anaheim | Age | GP | Points | Cap Hit | THN | HTM | Score |
| 2009 Conditional Pick | |||||||
This is a pretty good deal for the Kings, as they pick up a lot of experience for their youth and it's a good deal for the Ducks, as they already picked up Ken Klee for a little less than O'Donnell. O'Donnell doesn't bring a lot of fantasy value to the Kings, but his teachings may help kids like Jack Johnson and Drew Doughty progress a little bit faster.
It looks as though Michel Ouellet won't be starting the season with the Lightning, as he played himself into the minors. Ouellet cleared waivers on Tuesday and should be reporting to Norfolk in the AHL.
The Blues defense corps took another hit on Tuesday, as the team learned that they will now be without Jeff Woywitka for at least a month with a broken foot.
In my last poll, that finished this morning, Evgeni Malkin was a runaway third pick overall (if Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby were taken 1 & 2) in a theoretical draft. Malkin has been one of the sharpest players thus far in the pre-season and should be back in fine form for the regular season. In the running for the honour, both Vincent Lecavalier and Joe Thornton were thought to be running neck-and-neck for the lead for most of the poll's duration, but it was Malkin who picked up a late surge and powered by both of them. There is really a good argument to think that Lecavalier and Thornton will go four and five (not in any particular order) in the draft as well.
Plenty of questions surrounding Michael Nylander and his effectiveness in the Washington line-up this year. The Capitals have a couple good centres already in place for the first and second lines, but Nylander put his best foot forward, setting up the game-tying and winning goal for Washington in a 3-2 win over New Jersey. Rumours are abound that he could be moving before too long and if he is this healthy, teams could be knocking sooner rather than later. He should be a keeper.
The Maple Leafs got a big boost from new faces as Niklas Hagman scored a pair of big goals that helped the team to the shootout, while Luke Schenn scored the shootout winner. Hagman, acquired as a free agent in the summer, was placed on a line with a couple other new faces, Nikolai Kulemin and Michael Grabovski to score his second goal, so it will be a season of new faces and new combos in Toronto. Pick Leafs with caution, it's gonna be a crap shoot at the ACC this year.
The Coyotes are looking ready to be contenders for the last couple playoff spots after a big 5-1 win over their division rivals, the Sharks. Peter Mueller led the way with a hat-trick in the game, while new teammate Mikael Boedker scored the other two goals for the team. The desert dogs will be relying heavily on their youth to power them through this long season, but they'll have enough youth to always have at least one going, you'd think.
The Islanders claimed defenseman Thomas Pock off the waiver wire from the Rangers on Monday. Pock had to clear waivers in order to be moved to the minors today, but the Islanders thought he would be a good fit for their system right away.
It looks like the Blackhawks are having trouble moving the big contract of Nikolai Khabibulin. Things are coming to a boiling point in Chicago, as they 
The Rangers have also touched down in Europe, carrying 26 players on their roster. Before October 4th, they will have to cut two from their team, but they do get two more exhibition games against SC Bern and Metallurg Magnitogorsk before having to make any more decisions.
The Hurricanes have their back-up goalie in fine form. Michael Leighton made 21 saves against the Philadelphia Flyers, keeping a young Flyers team at bay. Leighton's worst foes were likely Jeff Carter and Joffrey Lupul, only stopping two shots between them. A good effort from the Hurricanes all around.
Chris Osgood played all 60 minutes, stopped 14 shots and earned the shutout against the Atlanta Thrashers. Henrik Zetterberg scored a goal and an assist and Jiri Hudler had a couple of assists in the win.
The Habs kept on rolling in the pre-season, beating the Panthers 3-2 in the shootout. Tomas Plekanec was the top forward, dishing out a pair of assists in regulation time. Young defenseman, Yannick Weber, scored his first goal of the pre-season as well.
It was another shootout in Buffalo between the Sabres and Wild, which the Wild took 2-1 with Andrew Brunette's shootout winner. Brunette was also the Wild's goal scorer in regulation time. 2:57 remaining in regulation to be exact. His return to the Wild seems to be a good idea for success for the regular season, so you might want to keep his production numbers about the same for your pool team.
Shootouts a plenty after a 4-4 draw in regulation in Anaheim, but it was the Canucks winning after five rounds. On the winning side, it was Sami Salo who opened up his offensive skills for a goal and two assists, while a trial of the new 'big line' of Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin and Steve Bernier seemed to be a success. The line combined for 6 points.
It was inevitable. Teemu Selanne has signed on with the Anaheim Ducks, but it was surprising to see that the deal was for two years and not just one. The deal is supposed to be worth about $2.625 million against the cap each year.
The Thrashers made cuts on Saturday, including a bit of a shock, seeing Angelo Esposito (Box 25 on the Sheet) head back to juniors for the year. Esposito looked to be having a very good camp, but it was all not to be this season, as he'll spend another year in Montreal in the QMJHL. It is fairly obvious to say, stay away from Esposito on the Sheet pool and don't draft him otherwise.
The Flyers played one last game in the Spectrum in Philadelphia and leading the memory march was forward Mike Richards, who made the most of the game with two shorthanded goals. Richards, who also played on a line with Daniel Briere and the recovered winger, Simon Gagne, should be leading the charge for the Flyers and should generate a lot of interest in the higher picks of the late first round or early second round. Richards shouldn't disappoint this year.
The Devils upended the Rangers in pre-season play on Saturday, 4-2, led by enigmatic winger, Patrik Elias, who sported a pair of goals and added an assist. Elias has been one tough nut to crack for poolies, as he hasn't provided a very consistant career to analyze. Last season, he did appear in 74 games for the Devils, scoring 20 goals, but he has been better. It is probably best to keep your expectations low on Elias when drafting him, because there is a good chance he won't see 80+ points again. There are several reasons why he possibly could, but his own numbers suggest that it would be a major bonus if he does.
The Senators used everyone in their win against the Canadiens on Saturday, as they close out their North American pre-season. The Sens