April 12, 2007

Horrible break (literally).  Ryan Kesler is out 4-5 weeks with a broken finger after blocking a shot last night. 

 

Jonathan Cheechoo took a knee-on-knee hit from Scott Hartnell and left the game last night. It looked bad. We will know the severity after his MRI today. It would not surprise me if he was done until training camp.

 

Ryan Kesler was back in the lineup last night. He played 28 minutes, but only 20 seconds on the power play. He makes a great late pickup in deep (and late) playoff drafts.

 

Matt Cooke left the game last night after pulling his groin. He did not return…even though he had, like, 100 periods to do so. What a marathon game that was.

 

Martin Erat returned to the lineup last night, as I indicated yesterday, and scored a goal.

 

I picked 14th overall (out of 19) in The Hockey News office pool yesterday. Despite that, I seemed to be playing in a room full of people that loved the Sabres and did not like the Pens or Canucks' chances. So everyone was tripping over themselves to get the seventh or eighth best Buffalo guy. Meanwhile, I took Sid the Kid. My next picks, in order: Daniel Sedin, Sergei Gonchar, Markus Naslund (around 60th?!?!?), Michel Ouellet, Bryan Smolinski, Martin Erat (around 125th?!?!?), and Stevie Sullivan. Henrik Tallinder was chosen before I took Erat! C'mon – sure Buffalo is the best option…but let's not be silly!

 

Todd Bertuzzi will miss tonight's contest with his head injury. I didn't think much of it before. Maybe it is serious. He is day to day and feeling better, but not quite there yet.

 

Pavol Demitra returned from his leg injury last night. He scored a goal.

 

Oleg Saprykin, as expected, was a healthy scratch for game one last night.

 

In that marathon Canucks-Stars game last night, Roberto Luongo stopped 72 shots.

 

Ilya Bryzgalov was the starter for Anaheim last night, but look for Giguere to start all the games going forward.

 

The Avs signed T.J. Hensick to a three-year-entry leve deal. Hensick will likely join the squad in two years, but is a dark horse candidate to make the squad next year with a good training camp. He has decent upside.

 

Do not expect Scott Hartnell to be suspended. Most experts agree that his knee was accidental, not intentional. Although, with the new NHL attitude on violence in the game, perhaps one or two games may be forthcoming.

 

T.J. Oshie will return to college for one more year. St. Louis will have to wait on the diminutive forward for another year.