Goalie Announcements (Oct 5)

The early returns on the goaltenders have been very good to start the 2019 regular season, as we've played 14 NHL games and thanks to some overtime in a handful of games, we're seeing an average of 119 goalie minutes collected per game, pretty well getting two full goalie games in each start.

Unfortunately, that comes to a crashing halt tonight, thanks to Grant's decision to move keepers in the preseason Waiver Draft and I will touch on that here right away.

Curtis McElhinney (N/A) versus Sergei Bobrovsky (Kristy & Don)
Both the Hurricanes and Blue Jackets are on back-to-back nights and the Jackets are having their home opener tonight, so they saved their number one goalie for their fans, while the Hurricanes played their current number one last night.  Kristy & Don have opened the season well, picking up 11 points in the opening two nights, ranking 5th in the standings.  A goalie start for the powerful Jackets should certainly help their cause tonight.

Curtis McElhinney was a late round pick for Grant at the draft in September, but the axe fell on him in Toronto, as the team placed him on waivers for the purpose of reassignment and that was enough for eligibility in the preseason Waiver Draft, so Grant dropped him for the current Toronto backup, Garret Sparks.  Grant currently sits in 25th with 1 point.

Martin Jones (Brenda & Seward) versus Jonathan Quick (Derek B.)
Only two games on a Friday night?  Is the NHL mad?  Nah, with 12 games on Saturday, they will certainly make up for the quiet night in a hurry.  In the late, late game, the Sharks and Kings go head-to-head in the opener in Los Angeles and it promises to be a pretty good goalie match-up, with Jones taking on Quick.

It's still early days in the season, but this is already a basement battle, where the 24th place team belonging to the pool's second duo, takes on Derek's number one goalie for his 20th place team.  Derek has a 5-2 lead over the duo in points, neither team are very far from the top, so a big result one way or the other can certainly relieve some early stresses.

Unlucky Bratt Suffers Fractured Jaw

The New Jersey Devils are in Sweden preparing for their season opener against the Edmonton Oilers, which will be a Saturday afternoon game back home in Canada.  In practice on Thursday, Devils forward Jesper Bratt took a puck in the face, which deflected off a crossbar, fracturing his jaw.  On Friday, the Devils placed the sophomore forward on the Injured Reserve, which means he'll be out at least a week and they turned around and signed forward Drew Stafford, who was with the team on a pro tryout, to a new 1-year deal to fill the space.

Last season, Bratt had 35 points in 74 games and was a pleasant surprise for the Devils, who took contributions from all over the map on their return to the playoffs, making him into a good hockey pool candidate for the coming season.

Unfortunately, Jeremy has yet to reap any of the benefits of a young kid trying to make a name for himself, as the Devils have yet to play in this regular season and the 20-year old Swede won't be playing for a little while yet.  Nevertheless, Jeremy's team has gotten off to a good start after two nights, leading the pool outright with 14 points.

Preseason Waiver Draft (Oct 3)

The concussion that Anaheim's Ondrej Kase left Wilton no choice, but to make a move for a healthy lineup for the start of tonight's play. With the injury drop, he decided on selecting New Jersey forward Marcus Johansson.  Johansson only played in 29 games due to injury last year, restricting him to 14 points in his first season with the Devils and there is certainly some upside to his game, which could be exploited here.  This could definitely work out to be a pretty savvy pick.

Jesse also made a pick to remove Dustin Brown and his surgically repaired finger, replacing him with rookie forward Troy Terry from Anaheim.  The Ducks have been riddled with injuries, carrying some over from last season and adding more through training camp and the preseason, so it is certainly a good opportunity for a kid like Terry to get some ice-time and show everyone what he can do.  This will now make three rookies on Jesse's team, tying him for the pool lead in bodies in the mini-game competition, a solid move on his part.

Goalie Announcements (Oct 3)

Hooray!  It's time to finally drop the puck on the 2019 regular season and we'll do so with four games on the schedule.

Okay, so we don't have the goalie survivor pool going this year, as fun as it was for a mini-game, but I will be chiming in from time to time with some starting goalie information, just to keep the blog churning.  I'm sure there will be some relevance to the standings or some tidbit worth mentioning.  I've pretty well set up every date that an alternate jersey will be going this season, so that's something.

But now that we're all set to zero, we start with a clean slate and we'll try and find some points of interest for these posts otherwise.  Opening night is a good place to start!

Carey Price (Stacey M.) versus Frederik Andersen (Derek B.)
How about we kick off with the most classic of classic rivalries, with the Canadiens traveling to Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs.  Stacey M. went with her heart and snapped up Carey Price in the 3rd round of the draft, hoping for good things from her beloved Habs, while Derek used his 1st round pick (4th overall) to bank on the Leafs living up to the hype, taking Frederik Andersen.

If the Canadiens are going to have a hope in hell about doing anything very productive this season, the weight of expectations will be firmly on the shoulders of Price and that is going to be an awfully heavy load.

Tuukka Rask (Jesse) versus Braden Holtby (Stacey C.)
The Washington Capitals are going to raise their championship banner to start the regular season and they'll be doing so with the Boston Bruins occupying the other end of the ice.  It's a top end goalie match-up here, with Tuukka Rask taking on Braden Holtby, and I think this game can go either way.  The Bruins might not be 100%, health-wise, but the Capitals may be coming down from that winner's high.  Of the two early games, this one might be the closest and more entertaining.

Mike Smith (Brian) versus Jacob Markstrom (Chelsea)
Rivalry games a plenty tonight and the first of two late games see the Flames invade Vancouver to take on the Canucks and it's fully expected to be a number one battle for each team's opening game here as well.  Mike Smith should be getting the nod for the Flames, while Jacob Markstrom will be tending the home end of the rink.  The Flames added pieces to their puzzle to try and climb back into the Western Conference playoff race, while the Canucks are going to go gangbusters with their youth and it will be those two mantras colliding to provide an entertaining game.

John Gibson (Kristy & Don) versus Martin Jones (Brenda & Seward)
Finally, it's a California conflict at the Shark Tank in San Jose, when the Anaheim Duck come to town.  The Ducks are the furthest thing from healthy that we've probably seen in years, limping their way into some unfriendly waters, where the Sharks have added one huge piece to make a strong team even stronger.  For the goalies, John Gibson and Martin Jones, they kind of take a back seat to the story lines in front of them, but for us poolies, their 2+ possible points on the night are important to get teams off to a good start.  The pool duos of Kristy & Don and Brenda & Seward will be paying keen attention to this one, I'm sure.

Caps Wilson Suspended 20 Games

Well, if today's decision on the suspension of Washington's Tom Wilson isn't a sign of things to come, especially for repeat offenders, then I don't know what would be.  The NHL Department of Player Safety suspended the Capitals forward for 20 games on Wednesday afternoon, just ahead of the team's opening night game against the Boston Bruins.

Wilson was suspended for his high, reckless hit on St. Louis' Oskar Sundqvist on Sunday, in his team's last preseason game, picking the head of his opponent and causing an injury.  As the video below illustrates, Wilson is considered a repeat offender, this being his 4th suspension in very close to a calendar year and the suspension length was partially determined to that frequency of offenses.

This is a huge blow to the Capitals, taking a key player out of their lineup for a quarter of the season, but it is an even bigger blow to Scott's hockey pool team, as he misses out on a big chunk of action from his 11th round pick this year.  Wilson will be eligible to return on November 21st, when the Blackhawks visit the Verizon Center.

As for preseason Waiver Draft, prior to this season, only injuries were eligible to be swapped out and the only change made to the proceedings, announced at the draft, were demotions were now eligible.  Unfortunately, that excludes suspensions.

Afternoon Preseason Notes (Oct 2)

It sounds like the Dallas Stars will be without returning forward Valeri Nichushkin for their season opener on Thursday night, home to the Coyotes, as he is day-to-day with a lower-body injury at the moment. The Stars coaching staff are hopeful that he will be ready for Saturday's game, at home against the Jets.  It doesn't sound like anything major, but he'll still need a little bit of recovery time.

The 23-year old was in the KHL for the last couple of seasons and has now made his return to the NHL, hoping for some better results, now that he's grown and matured a little bit more during his time at home.  Brian is hoping for much of that as well, but he got him at a very good pick in the 12th round, so a productive season from the young Russian could turn him into quite the bargain pick.

The Pittsburgh Penguins announced their 23-man roster on Tuesday afternoon and in order to get there, they had to place goaltender Tristan Jarry on the non-roster Injured Reserve after he suffered a lower-body injury of his own in the team's last preseason game against the Blue Jackets.  There was no timeline disclosed for a return for Jarry, but it could be cleverly disguising a way to not lose Casey DeSmith through the waiver wire, as Jarry is still waiver exempt, but DeSmith isn't.  We will probably learn more in the next couple of days, but this is the situation as it is.

With the news, as it has dropped, would make Jarry eligible for the preseason Waiver Draft, since it is an injury, post-draft.  Neil does have the option to swap out Jarry for a healthy goaltender, if he so chooses, but it might be tough to find one that might be either better than Jarry or in a better situation for wins.  Let the debate begin!

Ducks' Kase Out With Concussion

As the finalized rosters emerge from all 31 NHL teams, all of the injury news heading into the season leaks out as well and the Anaheim Ducks took yet another hit in the injury news department, as forward Ondrej Kase is now dealing with a concussion, suffered in the final preseason game on the weekend. The team says that there is no timetable for his return as of yet.

Kase is now added to a significant list of injured players, including Corey Perry, Ryan Kesler and Patrick Eaves and they have still yet to sign restricted free agent Nick Ritchie.  It's going to be a much different looking Ducks team out of the gate, by default.

Last season, the 22-year old finished with 38 points in 66 games and is poised to have a big season, if he can get his head cleared before too long.

In the pool, Kase was Wilton's 6th round pick, meaning that there are definitely some higher expectations for the him in the hockey pool.  This is Wilton's only entry on the injury page today, so there shouldn't be a great deal of panic yet.

Noon Preseason Notes (Oct 2)

The Ottawa Senators are not expecting to have rookie forward Brady Tkachuk in their lineup, due to a nagging issue, still an undisclosed injury. That is the only thing that we've seen of this issue, that he is considered to be doubtful for the season opener.  The teenager wasn't at practice on Tuesday, due to the injury, and they worked on their line rushes without him.  He'll be considered day-to-day, until the team updates us otherwise.

Our reigning pool champion, Stuart, will be off to a slow start without one of his prized forwards, both in the overall scoring race and the rookie mini-game.  This will be the second body on the injured list for Stuart's team, joining Seth Jones on the shelf, but Tkachuk won't be on for nearly as long.

Canes' Darling to Miss A Couple Weeks

The Carolina Hurricanes gave goaltender Scott Darling an MRI over the last 24 hours, which didn't reveal anything major, in regards to the lower-body injury he suffered in the team's last preseason game on Sunday.  The team's coaching staff have suggested that he could be out of the lineup for at least a couple of weeks.

Darling was set to do battle with Petr Mrazek for the number one job this season, but the injury will open the door for the team's newcomer in the off-season, as they try and get off to a much better start than they did last year.

In the pool, both Carolina goaltenders were taken, Darling was snagged by Ryan in the 6th round, while Stacey C. seemed to think Mrazek would have been the better bet, taking him in the 4th round of the draft.  It looks like Stacey will get off to a better start from the crease over the next couple of weeks. 

Morning Preseason Notes (Oct 2)

The Chicago Blackhawks were rather forthcoming on their update of young forward Alex DeBrincat, who was unable to practice on Monday, due to an illness.  In all likelihood, he was just feeling under the weather and it's a day-to-day sort of issue.  I would have to think that he will be on the team's charter to Ottawa for their opening night game on Thursday, but I suppose you just won't know until the day of.  The youngster is poised to do some big things in Chicago and he'll want to get a healthy start to the year to achieve some of those projections.

Brian used his 8th round pick to pick up the kid in the draft and is hoping to get a really good bargain pick out of that spot.  If the Hockey News' projection of 60 points is correct, then he certainly will get some pretty good bang for his buck there.

A mysterious injury forced Vegas forward Alex Tuch out of action on Sunday night, in the team's last preseason game against the Sharks. Tuch left the game in the 2nd period and there hasn't been much in the way of updates on his condition or what it was that forced him from the game, so we'll keep a close eye on that. Vegas opens up their schedule on Thursday night with Philadelphia in town and if there are no updates, we'll assume he's day-to-day and possibly probable for the opening night game.

Of course, if that isn't the case, Mike's team will have taken a second significant hit in this preseason and this one may be worth considering finding a replacement for, but he'll have to hurry to decide, as the cutoff is puck drop tomorrow night.

Preseason Waiver Draft (Oct 2)

We had a second move made in the preseason Waiver Draft on Monday, as Grant did decide to drop Curtis McElhinney for his eventual replacement Garret Sparks, keeping with a Toronto Maple Leafs theme.  The Leafs are supposed to be doing quite well this year and if the backup can give Frederik Andersen some quality nights off in busy stretches on the schedule, that would only make them that much better.

Grant's team now stays relatively competitive with a couple of goalies under his roof, but who's really to say how many starts Sparks is scheduled to get this season?

Krug Out Again With Ankle Injury

Well, the breaks that Torey Krug seem to be catching are certainly the wrong ones.  Krug, already coming back a broken ankle, which he suffered in the playoffs last year, has now suffered another fractured ankle, not related to his previous injury and he is now slated to be in a walking boot for the next three weeks and then the team will evaluate his status then.

Last season, Krug was the 9th ranked defenseman in scoring, picking up 14 goals and 59 points in 76 games with the Bruins in the regular season and he'll leave a pretty big hole in their lineup, as they kick the season off on Wednesday night in Washington. 

For Mike, this probably is going to be an injury that his team will have to endure for the first few weeks of the season, because there is just no replacing a 50-60 point defenseman in the preseason Waiver Draft.  It's far from an ideal start for his team, which is going to try and improve upon its 19th place finish in last year's pool. 

Noon Camp Demotions (Oct 1)

The Toronto Maple Leafs placed three players on waivers, moving closer to their final 23-man roster on Monday. The three players were placed on waivers for the purpose of reassignment and that included pool goalie Curtis McElhinney, who was in a very tight battle for the team's backup position, ultimately losing out to Garret Sparks.  McElhinney was the backup for the whole of last season for the Leafs and performed quite admirably, but Sparks has done a great job with the AHL Marlies last season and also had a very strong training camp/preseason.

Grant took McElhinney with his 12th round pick, the 296th overall selection, finishing off his goaltending tandem with Michal Neuvirth.  With his demotion to the minors, he is eligible to be swapped out in the preseason waivers, if Grant so chooses.

Morning Preseason Notes (Oct 1)

The Carolina Hurricanes may be without goaltender Scott Darling for their season-opener, Thursday night at home against the Islanders, after he suffered a lower-body injury in Sunday afternoon's game against the Predators.  Darling left the game in the 2nd period, leaving the rest of the match to Petr Mrazek, and we now wait to see how long the keeper is expected to be out for. 

Darling was a 6th round pick for Ryan on Saturday afternoon and he is Ryan's only starting goalie, as his number two guy is the Calgary backup, David Rittich.  If the injury is significant, Ryan's team could be slow off the mark from the crease.  If there are no other updates on the blog, assume he's day-to-day.

Preseason Waiver Draft (Oct 1)

The preseason Waiver Draft is in action, with Benson deciding to drop the recently demoted Filip Zadina from the Red Wings and he picks up Columbus free agent signing Riley Nash as his replacement.  Last season with the Bruins, Nash had 41 points in 76 games, which was good enough for 143rd among all forwards, yet he was passed over 200 times on Saturday afternoon.  It does take Benson's only pick for the rookie pool out of action, but he does shore up the scoring from his forwards moving forward.