Tonight's Game

Tonight's only game will see the Leafs play host to Carolina. Vesa Toskala (Benson) and Cam Ward (Stuart) should be the starting goaltenders tonight for the Eastern Conference teams. The Leafs took the season series 3-1-0 against the Hurricanes, which is a small indication of how they styles of play worked between the two clubs.

There were 15 skaters taken between the two teams, but with Kyle Wellwood (John P.) and Carlo Colaiacovo (John P.) out with injuries, we won't get to see all of them. The Leafs will still be well represented with Bryan McCabe (Benson), Jason Blake (Clayton), Mats Sundin (John P.) and Tomas Kaberle (John P.) all still giving it their all tonight. It will also be interesting to see how the Leafs come out after the news of Blake's lukemia scare.

The Carolina Hurricanes also have seven players going tonight in the pool. Both Clayton and Ryan have a pair each going tonight... Clayton has Eric Staal and Frank Kaberle, while Ryan has Erik Cole and Jason Williams. If Cory Stillman (Dale C.) is to return tonight, the full compliment of drafted 'Canes will be playing, which will be a big relief to Dale, as some of his injuries start to come back.


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Injury Update

The Boston Bruins will likely miss forward Marc Savard (John P.) for a game or two as he's suffering from a groin injury. He was to have his groin pull looked at on Monday and is unsure if he'll be able to go on Wednesday night as the Bruins take on the Ducks in Anaheim.

Eric Brewer's (Peter) shoulder injury will keep the defenseman out of the line-up for about 3 weeks. It wasn't the worst injury that could have happened, but with a lot of swelling to go down and since they're still in the early part of the season, there is no sense in rushing him back.

Jonathan Toews (Chris) should be back in the line-up on Wednesday night when the Hawks host the Sharks. Toews has missed the first two games of the season with a broken finger and now seems to be ready for his home debut.

The Hurricanes will receive a big boost to their line-up tonight against Toronto. Both Cory Stillman (Dale C.) and Bret Hedican are set to return to the line-up. Stillman has been out with a torso injury after a small car accident and Hedican has been out with the flu. It should make Toronto's hopes of a road win a little bit smaller.



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Week Two Newsletter

Well, now that I have full registration for the Selection Sheet and the Draft, I can finally really roll with this Newsletter. Week Three will be the first full week of the season, so you'll get the full benefit of the NHL season and barring injury, your players should be playing three or four games a week.

Well, the Week Two Mover & Shaker in the Draft was Dale B.. He vaulted himself up to the top of the table with a huge 36 point week. Helping his cause during the week was Bill Guerin (5 points), Daymond Langkow (4), Brian Rolston (4) and Peter Budaj (4). Those were some big points from possibly some unlikely names, but I'm sure Dale will take 'em. I know I would. These players lifted him into first place in the draft and he opened up a 9 point lead on Jeff and Clayton, who sit second and third.

On the sheet side, Jeff managed to sneak in a team before the cut-off which vaulted him into the lead. That probably isn't quite what you might want to do at the start of the season, as you might hex some of the guys he picks. On his team that gave him 56 points and first place in the week; Paul Statsny (8 points), Dany Heatley (5), Daniel Alfredsson (5), Ruslan Fedotenko (5), Daymond Langkow (4) and Martin St. Louis (4).

In the basement in the draft over Week Two was Dale C.. The other Dale of the draft has had a tough time with a bunch of early injuries and some high expectations of players that just didn't click. Igor Grigorenko was sent to the minors by the Red Wings at the end of camp, which was somewhat of a shock to the system. Grigorenko was supposed to be the next Datsyuk or Zetterberg for those Red Wings. Unfortunately, he'll be a big zero for the next few weeks at least. Also not recording a point; Jordan Staal (active), Cory Stillman (torso injury), Dan Boyle (wrist injury), Mike Van Ryn (scratch), J-S Giguere (hernia) and Marc Denis (backup). This hasn't been the best of starts for anyone in any pool.

On the selection sheet, Greg took his rightful spot in the pool... down at the bottom. A sheet pool-low, 26 points were not very helpful to his cause. Unless you are actually Greg and you enjoy being the Basement Dweller through the week. Then it's really helpful to his cause.

Well, the goaltending situation was quite an unknown factor in Ottawa heading into the weekend, but with an injury-forced situation brought three straight wins, including a shutout to the Senators.

Martin Gerber (Chris, Box 24) beat the Maple Leafs twice and then shutout the Rangers on Saturday to record 8 points, the week high in both the Draft and the Sheet pools.


With Ray Emery (Aaron, Box 18) out with his wrist injury, Gerber has given the coaching staff something to think about for when their offseason number one goalie gets back from injury. This situation will do one of two things... possibly give Gerber the number one job as the hot hand (when Emery comes back) or open up the trade routes with other teams to move Gerber and open up some cap space. Moving Gerber to another team could devastate another pool team's goaltending situation, especially if he moves in to be the number one.

Also having 8 points, Paul Statsny (Wes, Box 3) of the Colorado Avalanche. Statsny had a goal and 4 assists against San Jose on Sunday to vault him into the second place vote.

Sean Avery (Chris) begins our injury report. He suffered a shoulder injury in the game against Ottawa on Saturday and will now miss 3 to 4 weeks. Avery was going to be playing on the Rangers second line and was in line for some big points playing with Gomez and Shanahan, but he'll have to wait to pick up those big points at the moment.

Eric Brewer (Peter) also suffered a shoulder injury during the week, which will sideline him indefinitely. The Blues rearguard is to be re-evaluated today, which will give a better understanding of how bad the injury actually is. It's a bad break for Peter, who had a pretty good jump to the season already.

Well, as if Dale C. needed any more injuries, Alexander Semin missed Monday afternoon's game with an ankle injury and is listed as out day-to-day. Just another black mark on a pretty tough season already.

A selection sheet injury only here as Johan Franzen (Box 8) will be sidelined for 4 weeks with a knee injury. The Red Wings staff have said that they have capable players to take his place already with the big club, so there'll be no call-ups just yet.


Well, despite Sidney Crosby (Benson) visiting Toronto for the first half of the HNIC doubleheader, the marquee match-up for me is the Canucks hosting the Oilers. It should be a pretty free-wheeling game, which should be very exciting. This will be the first time we'll all get to see Sam Gagner and Andrew Cogliano on HNIC, which is a bit more new & exciting than the Crosby Show, that we'll get to see for years to come. The big match-up in goal will be between Roberto Luongo (John B.) and Dwayne Roloson (Benson). That should be a good shouting match between the goalies and the pool participants. Ha ha.


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Dallas to Grind it Out

The Dallas Stars are hosting the Boston Bruins tonight and I thought I would enter in a brand new team update, as I really haven't done one for them in quite some time.

The Stars will rely heavily on their number one goaltender, Marty Turco (Dieter). Turco opened up the season on Wednesday with a 4-3 loss to Colorado and will look to bounce back against the Bruins tonight.

The big rebound potential out of Dallas will be from Mike Modano (Dennis) and Brendan Morrow (Box 3). Both players suffered through injuries last season and should have it on their priority list to make up for lost time. Modano actually made it through the Sherpa's draft for quite a long time before being picked by Dennis.

Jussi Jokinen	Mike Modano	Jere Lehtinen
Brendan Morrow	Stu Barnes	Antti Miettinen
Niklas Hagman	Jeff Halpern	Brad Winchester
Loui Eriksson	Joel Lundqvist	Steve Ott
Todd Fedoruk	Mike Ribeiro	Krys Barch

Sergei Zubov	Phillipe Boucher
Stephane Robidas	Trevor Daley
Mattias Norstrom	Matt Niskanen
Nolan Baumgartner	Niklas Grossman

Marty Turco

Mike Smith

The Stars, previously a free-spending team, are managing their books quite well. The active 23 on the team is worth just over $44 million, while Mike Ribeiro (Dale B.), when healthy, will be earning $2.8 million.

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Blue Jackets Open Up Tonight

Friday night in Columbus, Ohio... what do you do? What do you do? Really, if you're asking me... why would you ask me? But if you're seriously asking me, I guess the only thing I could suggest is that you go to the arena to watch the Blue Jackets as they host the reigning Stanley Cup champions to open up their regular season campaign.

Blue Jackets and Ducks tonight... should be a good one. The Ducks arms are probably still tired from flying back to London... and then to Detroit... and now to Columbus. It's a tough gig being the champs... and this is the perfect opportunity for the Jackets to get off on the right foot against a good team.

There's a fair bit of uncertainty as to how the Jackets' line-up will look as Fredrik Modin might be available to get going for the team, but it does look like Rick Nash (Wes) is finally ready to have a healthy season. Nash has the potential for 50 goals and in all likelihood, if he plays 82 games, he'll come really close, if not actually achieving the mark.

If Nikolai Zherdev (Box 8) has a better attitude and a better relationship with Head Coach Ken Hitchcock, he might find himself having some good opportunities for big points. Also leaning towards a breakout year, I have a keen eye looking towards Gilbert Brule (Box 9). Brule may have been rushed into the league a bit last season, but now that he has a season worth of experience in him, it's quite likely he'll vastly improve on his 19 points this season.

Fredrik Norrena (Clayton) will anchor the team and may find himself having a larger workload as well. Norrena played in 55 games last season and had 24 wins (including 3 shutouts), which left him just underneath a point per game.

Rick Nash	Sergei Fedorov	David Vyborny
Jason Chimera	Dan Fritsche	Nikolai Zherdev
Jody Shelley	Manny Malhotra	Gilbert Brule
Alexandre Picard	Jiri Novotny	Jared Boll
Fredrik Modin	Mike Peca	Derek Dorsett

Rostislav Klesla	Ron Hainsey
Duvie Westcott	Ole-Kristian Tollefson
Jan Hejda	Kris Russell
Adam Foote

Fredrik Norrena

Pascal Leclaire

Steve Mason

The Blue Jackets only actually have Peca and Dorsett on the Injured Reserve, while Foote and Modin remain on the active roster. Saying that, the active roster today is worth about $38.9 million against the cap, which is a good chunk of change and the team could very well be a bit more competitive... or at least provide some sort of competition to the stronger clubs in the Western Conference.

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Thursday Night Injuries

What did I say about eerie feelings? Oh yeah... click here to find out. The first game of the regular season for Chicago was something out of a crystal ball... a very cynical crystal ball, mind you... Martin Havlat (Marcus) left Thursday night's game with a shoulder injury and was preparing for an MRI on Friday to see what the extent of the damage is. He left the rink with a sling on and Blackhawk fans are now holding their breath as the season starts on a pretty poor note.

Predators defenseman, Shea Weber (Box 4), left Thursday night's game against Colorado with an apparent knee injury. He will also undergo tests on Friday to see what the damage is. The Predators team, somewhat patchworked already, didn't need to lose Weber. He was a big part of their offense and defense last season. Although they lost him in the first period, the Preds were still able to shutout the Avalanche, 4-0.

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Senators Begin to Roll

When the Senators signed Dany Heatley (Jeff) on Wednesday, there seemed to be a collective reliving breath out of the whole Ottawa area that could be heard across the country. Heatley, arguably one of the top 5 players in the league today, opened up the season with a bang, scoring a pair of goals, including the game winner against the Leafs on Wednesday night... only hours after signing his deal. The top line of Heatley/Spezza/Alfredsson will be in contention again this season to being the best line in the league, after a display like Wednesday night. On Thursday, they get to do it all over again against Toronto, but this time they're at home.

Injuries have already hit the Senators and it gives way to some opportunity to some other players. Dean McAmmond's concussion opens the door to Nick Foligno, while Ray Emery's (Aaron)wrist problems gives Martin Gerber (Chris) the number one job for the time being.

Gerber has the best chance of making a name for himself again with this new opportunity and frankly, he could either have himself a good enough start that when Emery comes back Gerber either remains the number one for the time being or makes himself attractive to other teams for a trade. It's a very interesting time for Gerber.

Dany Heatley	Jason Spezza	Daniel Alfredsson
Antoine Vermette	Mike Fisher	Patrick Eaves
Shean Donovan	Chris Kelly	Chris Neil
Nick Foligno	Josh Hennessy	Brian McGrattan
Dean McAmmond

Joe Corvo	Wade Redden
Andrej Meszaros	Chris Phillips
Christoph Schubert	Anton Volchenkov
Luke Richardson

Martin Gerber

Brian Elliot

Ray Emery

All 23 players on the roster, including McAmmond and Emery, are all listed as active players, so their salaries do count towards the cap at the moment. The current salary projection sits at $49.8 million. There is next to no room for any movement through the year and will have to hope for health throughout the season and none of those periods of time when key players are missing one or two games at a time.

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Blues Sign Mike

With Petr Cajanek (Box 8) being sent to the minors before the season started, there looked to be some assumption that the Blues found someone else who could help them out in their line-up... and they did. Mike Johnson was signed to a deal on Thursday after impressing the brass during training camp and the preseason. Johnson will round out the Blues' 23-man roster and will provide some more veteran depth on the wings.

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Zbynek News

There is still 36 hours before the selection sheet has to be in and if you were really looking to go off the board with Zbynek Michalek (Box 5), I suggest putting those thoughts aside. Michalek will now sit out for 4 to 6 weeks with a broken hand that he suffered in practice. So the suggestion from the Sherpa is... avoid at all costs in the early part of the season.

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Flyers Here in Calgary

The totally revamped Flyers team start their season on the road and it all gets started here in Calgary. Daniel Briere (Don) and company have all taken the world on their shoulders to prove that the Philadelphia Flyers' name is more like a juggernaut again. The team really can't go anywhere but up in the standings after last season's debacle and with all the new talent that they acquired, mixed with some of their young potential, they should have themselves a season to remember and possibly a playoff birth in April.

There were only six Flyers taken in the draft a couple weeks ago, so you could say that everyone in the draft was still a tad skeptical about how well they'll actually do. Martin Biron (Chris) should be a good fit in net for the Flyers and if they can win some games, he'll definitely be the benefactor.

Mike Knuble	Daniel Briere	Simon Gagne
Scott Hartnell	Jeff Carter	Mike Richards
Joffrey Lupul	R.J. Umberger	Sami Kapanen
Riley Cote	Jim Dowd	Ben Eager
Scottie Upshall	Denis Tolpeko	Jesse Boulerice

Kimmo Timonen	Randy Jones
Lasse Kukkonen	Braydon Coburn
Jason Smith	Derian Hatcher
Nate Guenin	Mike Rathje

Martin Biron

Antero Niittymaki

Overall, there is still a lot of tweaking that needs to be done to this line-up, as they currently have salary figures well over the $50.4 milion cap the league has outlined. I wouldn't be surprised if Antero Niittymaki's (Box 24) name was on the block, not to mention Derian Hatcher or Sami Kapanen.

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Ruutu To Miss Thursday

There is an eerie feeling over the potential of the Chicago Blackhawks this season. It almost brings a chill in the air, each time you speak of all the quality talent. Haley Joel Osment is going to claim he sees injured people eventually... that's how scary it is. Tuomo Ruutu (Aaron) is the next casualty on the list as he isn't 100% with a knee injury. He is expected to be back for the weekend games for the Hawks, but something is still rather unsettling about this team, especially after seeing guys like Jonathan Toews (Chris) go down in the preseason with a broken finger. Toews is probable for tonight's opening game for Chicago in Minnesota.

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Stillman Wrecked

According to the Raliegh News & Observer, Hurricanes forward Cory Stillman (Dale C.) was in a small fender bender and found himself unable to take part in the opening game of the season last night against Montreal. It is understood to be a "torso" injury that is keeping him out, but he'll try to give it another go before Friday's game at home to Pittsburgh.

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Caps Have 23 Active Players

Eight new players grace the line-up for the Washington Capitals this season, including two rookies... Nicklas Backstrom (Dale C.) and David Steckel.

The Capitals have raised their expectations to make a solid run to the playoffs, especially since they have upgraded in almost every position, except for goaltending. Michael Nylander (Chris) and Backstrom should provide the team with a pair of quality playmaking centres for the scoring prowess of Ovechkin, Semin and Kozlov. It's a very exciting time for Caps fans going into the year.

In no way is Olaf Kolzig (Dennis) the wrong guy for the job in net, hence no upgrade, but with some upgrades on the blueline, he'll hopefully face less than the 30+ shots a night he faced last season on a regular basis. His numbers are sure to go up with the team getting better.

Alexander Semin	Michael Nylander	Alexander Ovechkin
Chris Clark	Nicklas Backstrom	Viktor Kozlov
Matt Pettinger	Boyd Gordon	Brooks Laich
Matt Bradley	Brian Sutherby	Donald Brashear
Eric Fehr	Tomas Fleischmann	David Steckel

Tom Poti	Brian Pothier
Shaone Morrisonn	Milan Jurcina
John Erskine	Jeff Schultz
Mike Green	Steve Eminger

Olaf Kolzig

Brent Johnson

The active 23-man roster for the Capitals will run the team $33.5 million, just a little shy of the cap minimum. But like most other teams, there are usually bonuses that can count against the cap if players are to hit certain targets. You have to know that Ovechkin, Backstrom, Semin and Nylander all have some sort of scoring bonuses included in their contract.

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Metropolit Signs in Boston

After spending time as a pro tryout in the past couple week, Glen Metropolit did enough to earn himself a spot on the Bruins roster. His 33 points last season made him a moderate commodity in the off-season.

Metropolit is now the 3rd or 4th line centre and Carl Soderberg, who was inserted as a centre in their previous team update, was not actually on the roster. Just clarifying now... oops!

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Blues are Ready

It seems as though the youth movement is becoming quite popular among most NHL teams heading into the season and the St. Louis Blues are no exception. They will be heading into 2007/08 with three rookies on board. Erik Johnson (Clayton), David Perron and Steve Wagner have all made the roster to start the season, which should be a bit more promising for the Central Division team than last season.

The addition of Paul Kariya (Dennis) and the re-acquisition of Keith Tkachuk (Aaron) should give the team some more leadership and more offense. There are a number of guys on the team who are also sitting on possible breakout seasons, which make the St. Louis Blues a very interesting team to watch come the start of the season.

Paul Kariya	Doug Weight	Keith Tkachuk
Martin Rucinsky	Brad Boyes	Lee Stempniak
Dan Hinote	Jay McClement	Jamal Mayers
David Perron	David Backes	D.J. King
	Ryan Johnson

Eric Brewer	Barret Jackman
Christian Backman	Bryce Salvador
Matt Walker	Erik Johnson
Steve Wagner	Jay McKee

Manny Legace

Hannu Toivonen

With Jay McKee sitting out for another long-term spell, the relief of $4 million on the projected salary number could be helpful, despite the need for another veteran defenseman in the line-up. The projected number without McKee in the line-up is $39.2 million, but McKee's games do count until he misses his 10th consecutive game.

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Bolts Ready to Strike

Injuries to Dan Boyle (Dale C.) and Tim Taylor headline the Lightning trouble heading into the season. Granted, none of the injuries hit any of the big forwards, but guys like Boyle and Taylor play important roles on the team. The Lightning will again rely on their scoring to win them a lot of games and I'm sure there are quite a few poolies who are okay with that.

Jan Hlavac and Chris Gratton could be the guys to watch out for this season as they will try and renew their NHL careers with a bounce back kind of season. It is also likely that they will have to work together to do that, as line combinations will probably see them on the same line at some point through the year.

Martin St. Louis	Vincent Lecavalier	Vaclav Prospal
Michel Ouellet	Brad Richards	Jason Ward
Nick Tarnasky	Chris Gratton	Andreas Karlsson
Jan Hlavac	Craig McDonald	Andre Roy
	Tim Taylor	Mathieu Darche

Filip Kuba	Paul Ranger
Shane O'Brien	Brad Lukowich
Doug Janik	Mike Egener
Matt Lundin	Matt Smaby
Dan Boyle

Johan Holmqvist

Marc Denis

This 23-man roster currently has a projected salary figure of $40.8 million, but Boyle and Taylor will add another $4.3 million to a full-season total, but of course, if they miss 10 or more games, their salary for the games they miss won't be a hit on the cap.

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Foster Doubtful

Doubtful to start the season, Wild defenseman, Kurtis Foster (Box 5), has been battling with a sore groin and hasn't been skating very much. The Wild open up on Thursday night and if he doesn't start skating any time soon, he'll be probably making way for someone who's 100% to be in the line-up.


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Flames Ready for Thursday

The 23-man roster has been set in Calgary and Curtis McElhinney won the back-up job behind Miikka Kiprusoff (Ryan). He took the job from the expected number two, Brent Krahn (Box 12). Boy, is there pie on my face!

It's expected that Craig Conroy (John B.) will open the season as the number one centre for the Flames between Jarome Iginla (Aaron) and Alex Tanguay (John B.).

Also, with the arrival of Mark Smith and Warren Peters into the fold this season, you should expect a load more grit coming from the fourth line this season. They are two players who can mix it up with the rest of the league, which will go a long way for momentum and such.

Jarome Iginla	Craig Conroy	Alex Tanguay
Kristian Huselius	Matthew Lombardi	Owen Nolan
Marcus Nilson	Daymond Langkow	David Moss
Wayne Primeau	Stephane Yelle	Mark Smith
Eric Godard		Warren Peters

Dion Phaneuf	Anders Eriksson
Robyn Regehr	Adrian Aucoin
Cory Sarich	Rhett Warrener
David Hale

Miikka Kiprusoff

Curtis McElhinney

The projected salary figure for this Flames line-up sits at $45.7 million. During the season, the franchise will try and re-sign their keeper to an extension before Kiprusoff becomes an Unrestricted Free Agent in the summer.

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New Look Oilers

The winds of change sure blew through Edmonton in the off-season, especially when you look at the 23-man roster that they announced on Tuesday. The emergence of Sam Gagner, Andrew Cogliano and Kyle Brodziak have really turned some heads and for good reason too. I know TSN was reporting more of a third line duty for Gagner and Cogliano, but I really doubt that the chemistry they saw with their linemates in the preseason was really going to be overlooked by the coaching staff heading in to their first game. They are certainly going to need a lot of scoring to offset their mediocre goaltending situation and scoring wasn't too difficult for the likes of the first two lines. It does seem like the real deal to me.

Ales Hemsky	Sam Gagner	Dustin Penner
Jarret Stoll	Andrew Cogliano	Raffi Torres
Geoff Sanderson	Shawn Horcoff	Marc-Andre Pouliot
Robert Nilsson	Marty Reasoner	Ethan Moreau
Jean-Francois Jacques	Kyle Brodziak

Sheldon Souray	Joni Pitkanen
Steve Staios	Matt Greene
Dick Tarnstrom	Tom Gilbert
Denis Grebeshkov

Dwayne Roloson

Mathieu Garon

With only an estimation of Gagner's salary, the team should be sitting in and around the $45.8 million mark for their combined salary in the 23-man roster. Contracts like Souray, Penner, Hemsky and Roloson go a long way to help that out.

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