Alexei Ponikarovsky has injured his leg in the morning skate. Simon Gamache and Anton Stralman have been called up from the Marlies. Gamache will play on a line with Tucker and Stajan. If you have a roster spot where the pickings are slim…and you have a 'what the hell?' attitude…give Gamache a one-game look-see. He could pay off. 

Dumb mistake below – of course, I meant the "Conn Smythe Trophy", and not the Art Ross. I try and get these ramblings up so quickly in the morning that I am prone to the occasional brain fart. 

Erik Johnson has a small fracture in his foot and is considered day-to-day. Micki Dupont has been recalled to replace him. 

Lots of graduates and even a few additions in today's fantasy prospects list update. 

Alexander Semin is doing some light skating now, but George McPhee says that he will not be in the lineup at all this weekend.

640 Toronto reported that Ray Emery will be another seven to 10 days with his wrist injury. 

Sidney Crosby will be fine to play tonight. He has been bothered by a bruised foot.

Paul Mara will be scratched again tonight. I benched him in the expert league.

The Habs scratched Patrice Brisebois on Saturday. Grabovski will be scratched tonight so Chipchura can make his NHL debut. Carey Price will get the start, as mentioned yesterday.

The Devils have shuffled their lines, removing Zubrus from the big line. Anyone who pays attention to what I say would have stayed away from Zubrus anyway. Zajac will play with Elias and Gionta. Zubrus will play with Parise and Bergfors…which really isn't a demotion regardless.

Manny Fernandez took a shot off the glove hand in practice yesterday and left early. It is a bruise, but it may be bad enough to cause him to miss the next start. Once again, things are starting to swing Tim Thomas' way.

Ryan Clowe is back on the big line, while Marleau will center Michalek and Bernier again. 

Cory Stillman finally played a game in which he was healthy and he picked up three points. Assuming that the bad luck of the past 14 months are now behind him, he should be close to a point-a-game guy this season. He looked very very strong last night and was given tons of opportunities. The last time he was healthy, he nearly won the Art Ross Trophy.

Dominic Moore has an abdominal strain and will likely miss tonight's contest. That opens the door for Sheppard to not only get into the lineup, but Moore was playing between Gaborik and Demitra…

Marc Savard missed practice again and is extremely doubtful for tonight's contest. He is suffering from a groin injury. 

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

Mike Smith injured his arm in practice yesterday and so the Stars recalled Tobias Stephen. All this means is that Turco will continue to start every game.

With Ribeiro likely back in the Dallas lineup tonight, the line combos look like this: Ribeiro, Morrow, Hagman and Modano, Lehtinen, Jokinen.

Todd Bertuzzi has been bothered by a groin injury since the first game of the season and he may not play tonight.

The Ducks have sent Ryan Carter to Portland of the AHL.

The Jackets have finally cut their goaltenders down to two by sending Steve Mason back to the London Knights. 

The Havlat injury has led to the 'Hawks juggling the lines like this: Sharp, Lang, Samsonov and Toews, Kane, Ruutu. It will be Toews first game of his career tonight. 

E-mail campaign. Let's get the shift charts back on NHL.com. Visit this page and then click "contact us" at the bottom. Tell them that you need the shift charts back and why. Already, dozens of readers have done this, but we need all the help we can get. LINK

Bought the Pool Guide? Here is a one-page supplemental sheet to give you the update (updated to October 7, 2007).