Where To Look...

A hotbed of points are in Ottawa this year. The potential top line of Heatley-Spezza-Bochenski is quite possibly leaving a lot of poolies reaching for the wet naps to clean the drool off their chin. I, for one, find myself increasing the value of these forwards each time I see highlights of their play on TSN or Sportsnet. I mean, they look awesome.

Then you look to the possible second line for the Senators could be projected to look like: Havlat-Alfredsson-Schaefer... and if it isn't Schaefer, it might be one of the enforcers, like Chris Neil. If you have PIM in your pool, look for Neil to do both for you.

Not long after singing the praise of Alexander Ovechkin, he scored a hat-trick and added an assist in the pre-season game against Pittsburgh. I haven't been able to see much for highlights, but when they start showing up online, I will be watching. I saw his name on the scoresheet with the likes of Jeff Halpern, another centre in Washington, who added a couple of assists. If Halpern has a job with Ovechkin, you're looking at another good sleeper.

With much anticipation of the big line in Vancouver, sneak in the back door with the second line of Daniel Sedin-Henrik Sedin-Anson Carter. The twins are due for their big breakout, which is widely considered to happen this year and Anson Carter becomes a very marketable pool pick with playing with them.

The Avalanche haven't been roaring in the mainstream news, except for the loss of Milan Hejduk in the last couple weeks. They look to have trimmed their roster to a point where the opening day line-up looks to be fairly set. The breakthrough players of Marek Svatos & Wojtek Wolski may give the Avs the extra bit of oomph that they need to be the dominating team that they've been over the last 10 years. Feel like gambling?? That Wolski has been getting high praise from Joe Sakic... if that means anything to ya.

Dreaming of D? Come to Nashville for a fire sale on defensemen for your pool. Marek Zidlicky and Kimmo Timonen look to be locks for every pool this season and why not? But if you dig a little deeper, you may find a few more picks that could provide that extra punch from the blueline... Dan Hamhuis & Danny Markov are both great candidates for your team... moving the puck is what they do best.

Injury Collection

Everyone should be aware of injuries before going into their pool drafts as well... I'm not quite there knowing all of them, but I thought I'd help you guys out when I can. For a guy who runs drafts and pools, there's nothing worse than hearing a load of complaints about not knowing guys were injured when they're picked. What kind of poolies are they, eh??

This list will be updated when I know more as the days go along... and possibly through the season as well.

F - Patrik Stefan: Concussion (possibly), out indefinitely


D - Robyn Regehr: Leg, out until mid-November


F - Ray Whitney: Hip/Groin, returned to the line-up Friday night


F - Milan Hejduk: Knee, out until mid-October


F - Rick Nash: Ankle, day-to-day
D - Rostislav Klesla: Leg, mid-November

G - Chris Osgood: Groin, out until mid-October
D - Niklas Kronwall: Leg, out indefinitely

F - Jeremy Roenick: Concussion, out indefintiely


F - Marian Gaborik: Groin, day-to-day


G - Cristobel Huet: Knee, out until December


F - Paul Kariya: Groin, day-to-day
D - Jamie Allison: left Sunday's game

F - Patrik Elias: Hepatitis A, out indefinitely


F - Vaclav Varada: Knee, out until mid-November


F - Peter Forsberg: Ankle, day-to-day
D - Derian Hatcher: Knee, out until early-October
F - Sami Kapanen: Shoulder, out indefinitely
F - Keith Primeau: Shoulder, day-to-day


F - Doug Weight: Shoulder, day-to-day
D - Barrett Jackman: Shoulder, day-to-day
F - Keith Tkachuk: Overweight, returned to practice
G - Brian Boucher: Groin, out week to week


F - Jason Allison: Hip Flexor, day to day
D - Ken Klee: Ankle, day to day


There will be more to come, I'm sure.

Projected Starting Goalies - Updated

Anaheim - Jean-Sebastien Giguere Calgary - Mikka Kiprusoff Chicago - Nikolai Khabibulin Colorado - David Aebischer Columbus - Marc Denis Dallas - Marty Turco Detroit - Manny Legace Edmonton - Ty Conklin Los Angeles - Mathieu Garon Minnesota - Dwayne Roloson Nashville - Tomas Vokoun Phoenix - Curtis Joseph San Jose - Evgeni Nabokov St. Louis - Patrick Lalime Vancouver - Dan Cloutier

Atlanta - Kari Lehtonen Boston - Andrew Raycroft Buffalo - Martin Biron Carolina - Martin Gerber Florida - Roberto Luongo Montreal - Jose Theodore New Jersey - Martin Brodeur New York Islanders - Rick DiPietro New York Rangers - Kevin Weekes Ottawa - Dominik Hasek Philadelphia - Robert Esche Pittsburgh - Jocelyn Thibault Tampa Bay - John Grahame* Toronto - Ed Belfour Washington - Olaf Kolzig

* - Change of personel

After much reading in the last couple weeks, all indications point to John Grahame carrying the load in Tampa Bay instead of Sean Burke. Now the shock factor of not having Nikolai Khabibulin in net may be made a tad worse by putting Grahame in instead of the aging workhorse, Burke. Neither Grahame or Burke are gonna earn you a lot of wins, but either will be the recipient of a talented offense in front of them.