Any FANTASY HOCKEY GUIDES that are ordered will be emailed at 7am Friday morning (EST).

The Wild just cut four players, including Colton Gillies and Nolan Schaefer. Pouliot, Sheppard, Kalus and Foy are still there. 

When the Thrashers cut Karel Pilar, they had to waive him. This makes it a real surprise because he played very well – they must really have faith in Tobias Enstrom. At any rate, the Blackhawks have picked him up and he will have a shot at running the power play. Neither Seabrook nor Barker are ready to do this. Pilar is. He will surprise and makes an excellent dark horse. Pilar's only shortcoming is he is a Band-Aid boy. Offensively, though, he is very gifted and he is ready for the NHL. 

I posted this in the forum (Mike Green – here ) earlier this morning, but thought I should put this in the ramblings as well. He has had a monster training camp and will likely be the second man on the PP with Tom Poti. 

Jagr is now playing with Drury and Straka, as Gomez is not clicking the way Nylander did last season. Stay tuned, nothing is settled here. 

Speculation is that the Islanders could waive Freddie Meyer, send Aaron Johnson down to the minors…and suddenly there would be room for Bryan Berard. Just something to keep an eye on. 

The Thrashers cut Karel Pilar, despite the fact that he had four assists in three contests. It would seem that, since he was leading the team in scoring while Tobias Enstrom was pointless in four games (and a minus-2) that the Thrashers were scared that Enstrom would run back across the ocean if he failed to make the NHL roster.

There were a ton of interesting cuts, I'll round out the bigger ones below.

Derek Roy had three goals and three assists against the Leafs last night.

Phillipe Boucher is questionable for the season opener because of a knee injury. He missed practice yesterday and will miss the preseason game today.

Matt Lombardi missed his third straigth preseason game with a wrist injury. He is a bit of a Band-Aid Boy, so while he makes a great sleeper…don't be disappointed if he's in the press box more than you would like.

Benoit Pouliot played under 12 minutes, despite Minnesota's 7-0 cushion in the third period. Even if he makes the team, he won't get the ice time to make an impact this year. Ditto for Sheppard or Kalus. Next year will be better for all three of them.

Devin Setoguchi potted two goals last night and Joe Pavelski had two assists. Pavelski will have more points this year than Clowe or Bernier, while if Setoguchi makes the team he'll probably out produce Clowe and Bernier as well.

The line of Belaner, Bouchard and Rolston has been clicking for the Wild. Belanger is just picking up where White left off last season. They combined for nine points last night.

Alexei Cherepanov has recovered from his concussion and is back playing in the RSL, scoring a goal yesterday.

Sidney Crosby finished a full practice yesterday and says his groin is fine now.

Not only did the Flyers lose Upshall and Lupul (see yesterday's ramblings), but RJ Umberger broke his finger in that Ottawa game and Randy Jones suffered a hip flexor. 

If you haven't selected a site to run your fantasy hockey pool yet, take a look at this:

Both Peter Mueller and Martin Hanzal have played all six preseason games so far, and Gretzky says that both will play in the final two.

Have you used TQ Stats? Please give feedback here . Other readers have a lot of negative things to say, and I'd like to see your opinion if you've used them. 

A decision will not be made before the weekend as to who Tampa Bay's two goalie's will be. Marc Denis has been the best, though. Kari Ramo has also played well. That would tell me that perhaps Holmqvist is the odd man out, but would they want Ramo as a backup when he could get more ice in the AHL?

The Preds do not play back to back games until November and as such will not be starting their backup goalie until then. As I said before – Mason will start 70 games if he's healthy. That's more than 27 starting goalies in the league.

Bought the Pool Guide? Here is a one-page supplemental sheet to give you the update.

Cuts of note from Tuesday night/Wednesday morning:

Pilar, Atlanta

Lashoff, Boston

Sutter, Carolina

Cumiskey, Jillson, Colorado 

Lindgren, Neal, Dallas

O'Marra, Schremp, Trukhno, Syvret, Edmonton

Marshall, Bergfors, Tallackson, Viuhkola, New Jersey

Joey MacDonald, Morrison, Fata, Nielsen, Bentivoglio, NY Islanders

Korpikoski, NY Rangers

Perrot, Ling, Toronto 

Those of you new to DobberHockey, please note that I update the ramblings several times in a day. To read yesterday's ramblings, click "Next" below.