The Calgary Flames announced that they have sent their representative in Box 9, Lance Bouma, down to Abbotsford of the AHL. Bouma, who was vying for a bottom six job with possibly some top six perks, was outworked in camp and he'll join fellow sheet player, T.J. Brodie in the minors for the start of the season. With selection sheet entries now starting to come in, now is a good time to continue watching the blog for more players being sent down to the minors.
Also getting his ticket punched out of training camp on Friday was Jets forward Carl Klingberg. Klingberg has been sent back down to Juniors, where he'll remain for the remainder of the season, likely thanks to the strong training camp and preseason from 2011 1st round draft pick, Mark Scheifele. As youngsters went going into training camp, Klingberg was the favourite to possibly crack the line-up, but the 20-year old Swede did not live up to his new teammate and thus lost the battle for a job this Fall.
According to reports on Thursday night, the Los Angeles Kings have come to an agreement (verbal in the evening) with holdout restricted free agent defenseman Drew Doughty. The early reports are saying that the deal is for 8 years, worth $56 million, a $7 million cap hit per season. This deal makes Drew Doughty the largest cap hit on the team in the 2012 season, slightly eclipsing teammate Anze Kopitar, who signed his deal in 2008.
Doughty had a bit of an off-year in 2011, ranking only 25th in defensemen scoring with 11 goals and 29 assists in 76 games with the club. Doughty still has a very high fantasy value, despite his low season. 
So, with another $7 million tacked onto the Kings' projected salary cap number, I currently have them at $60.5 million for 21 players, which also leaves a little bit of room for another forward, if needed. The Kings were poised to become a top-spending team this year, but again, with high salaries come high expectations, so the Kings will be a team to watch this year.
Well, it shouldn't come as a big surprise that someone was going to take Drew Doughty in the draft this past week, as he was taken in the 5th round, 91st overall by Ryan M., which is likely much lower than where he would normally project, but with a holdout pending, he was bound to drop. With that being said, Doughty will now likely become one of the best bargains in the draft this year.
After an MRI on Wednesday, it has been determined that Nazem Kadri does have a knee sprain and the team expects to be without one of their top prospects for the next 3-to-4 weeks.
A big thank you to everyone who showed on Tuesday night, it looks like we'll have a very successful draft this year, as we have increased pool participation from 20 in the 2011 season to 22 for the 2012 season. 
The Kraft Hockeyville game went in St. John's, Newfoundland on Monday night between the Winnipeg Jets and the Ottawa Senators, in front of a capacity crowd at the Mile One Centre and it was Canada's newest team that took the game, 3-1. No one really stood out, as per the usual guidelines for the blog post, but rookie Mark Schiefele scored another goal in this preseason, continuing to raise some eyebrows in Jets camp. It looks like Ondrej Pavelec was in net for the whole game, but I couldn't find actual confirmation of that.
Good game in Philadelphia on Monday night, as the Flyers and Rangers went back and forth for three periods, but it was the home team that prevailed on Winter Classic Announcement Day, 5-3. Jaromir Jagr had 2 goals and an assist, while both Daniel Briere and Claude Giroux each had a trio of assists. Rookie forward Matt Read made yet another splash with a goal and an assist and he could be worthy of a late round pick-up this year, as he showed some real poise on the ice. Ilya Bryzgalov made 17 saves for the victory.
The Boston Bruins are boasting a pair of good goalies going into defend their championship and Tuukka Rask may be leaned on a little bit more, trying to keep Tim Thomas fresh. Well, Rask provided reason to have confidence in him, beating Montreal 2-1 on the road on Monday night, making 31 saves in the process. It's hard to say exactly how many games he'll get, but there's a good chance he'll win most of what he gets.
Steve Mason made 19 saves in a full 60-minute effort on Sunday afternoon against the Buffalo Sabres, as the Blue Jackets came away with a 4-1 win. Mason will be relied upon as heavily as any goalie has before, if the Jackets are going to make the playoffs this year and an effort like this will go a long way to get there. Also having a good night for Columbus, forward Dane Byers, who had a goal and 2 assists and defenseman Grant Clitsome, who had a goal and an assist. 
The Red Wings and Blackhawks went head to head in a Central Division clash on Sunday afternoon, where it was a pretty even game from both sides and it ended in a 4-3 shootout victory for Detroit. Valtteri Filppula led the winning side during regulation with a goal and 2 assists, while Nicklas Lidstrom and Henrik Zetterberg each had a goal and an assist in the game. The Red Wings already look to be a force in this preseason and are seemingly just warming up.
On the losing side of the equation, rookie Brandon Pirri gave a good argument as to why he should be sticking around a little bit longer in Blackhawks camp, after scoring a pair of goals and adding an assist in regulation time, not to mention a goal in the shootout, for a pretty good showing. Also having a good game for the visiting side, forward Jimmy Hayes, who had a goal and an assist in the game.
The Sharks continued to roll in preseason action, travelling to Vancouver and taking on a very preseason team, laden with lots of tryouts and AHL players. Thomas Greiss picked up another win in this one, as his Sharks picked up a 4-3 victory. If there were any concerns about the goaltending for the Sharks, all of these wins should settle those fears down. The offensive star for the Sharks on Sunday was Tommy Wingels, who scored a pair of goals in the victory, as he pushes for one of the few spots left on the roster.