October 25, 2007

 

Give your take on the John Tavares situation here . 

 

The Leafs, via the Marlies, are trying to get John Tavares signed to a pro contract. Their logic is pretty smart, actually, and this would definitely sell tickets for their minor league team. Here is the link with all the info – Leafs make overtures on Tavares  

 

Rusty Olesz has a broken bone in his hand that will require surgery. He will be gone for at least a month. He is a bandaid boy, so this injury should not come as a surprise. He will break out one of these years, but you are essentially dealing with a 70-game player here. 

 

Pavol Demitra will not play tonight. He is shooting for Sunday.

 

Antoine Vermette and Dean McAmmond both skated yesterday, but only Vermette will likely play on Saturday. 

 

Mike Peca has five points in his last three games and is a plus-4 in that span. The Jackets are using him as their No.1 center so I would recommend grabbing him asap in your roto league. 

 

Paul Stastny is pointless in his last two contests and is a minus-4 with one point in his last three. 

 

Hannu Toivonen is expect to get his first start for the Blues either tonight or Saturday. 

 

Detroit fourth liner Matt Ellis has four points in four games, so it will be tough for Grigorenko to knock him out of the lineup. Keep an eye on Ellis' production, although I would not yet recommend grabbing him. 

 

Ryan Getzlaf suffered an injury to his forearm Tuesday and will not play tonight against Phoenix. He is day to day. Petteri Wirtanen was recalled to replace him. Wirtanen is not a fantasy asset and is not considered for my top prospects list.

 

Finally, a chink in Nik Backstrom's armor, as he gave up five straight goals last night in the 5-3 loss.

 

As I warned you for the last couple of days, Alexander Ovechkin and Chris Clark broke out in a big way last night. Clark scored twice while Ovy picked up three points. Ride them, as they are not finished yet by any stretch.

 

Simon Gagne took a shot to the head by Jay Bouwmeester in his first shift last night and left the game. He is questionable for tonight's game, but will likely not miss any games beyond that.

 

Ben Eager (dizziness) returned to the Philly lineup last night.

 

Mike Van Ryn missed yesterday's contest with a knee injury. He is day to day. 

 

Alexei Zhitnik has just two points this season and it seems that the Thrashers are pushing all PP responsibility to rookie Tobias Enstrom. Enstrom had a weak camp, but GM Don Waddell (now their coach) liked him so much that he kept him with the big club. The diminutive rearguard has improved with every game, though he has just three points to show for it. He'll come along.

 

Sami Salo returned to the Vancouver lineup to play  his first game of the season. He played 22 minutes – three on the PP. Activate him if you normally would. Kevin Bieksa missed the game because his wife was having their baby. 

 

Alexander Semin returned and played just under 15 minutes last night. He had five shots on goal.

 

Vincent Lecavalier was assessed two minutes for slashing, two for instigating, five for fighting and a 10-minute misconduct, ending his night.

 

Drew Stafford was one of four Sabres who was a minus-4 last night. Tomas Vanek, who played just 12:33, was a minus-3. Lindy Ruff will turn this team around, just give them a few more games. Although this doesn't bode well for Stafford.

 

Eric Lindros is expected to announce his retiremen