Want an easy win for your goaltenders? Try Chris Osgood for the time being, as Hasek's hip irritation will likely keep him out of the lineup for at least a week yet. The Red Wings have allowed just 26 shots in their last two games. That's TWO games. San Jose only had 11 shots on Ozzie last night in a 5-1 loss.

Chris Clark had another two assists last night – four points since being reunited with Ovechkin. However, at the end of the game he took an Ovechkin slapshot off the face that had him bleeding profusely and helped off the ice. He needed stitches in his ear and it looked serious. He is doubtful for today.

Tomas Fleischmann was a healthy scratch. The writing was on the wall for that one.

Tom Poti missed last night's contest, as I forewarned yesterday, with that groin injury. 

As expected, the Bruins have elected to keep Milan Lucic for another year. Drop Brandon Bochenski now, as only an injury will get him back into the lineup.

Mike Van Ryn was back in the Florida lineup last night. He played 12:40 and surprisingly got three minutes of PP time. He was a minus-1.

Cory Murphy was a minus-2 and played an astounding 10:04 on the PP, but was held pointless. That minus-2 is concerning, as he is still new. Two or three more games like that and his ice time will slowly be reeled in. I've seen it a million times. 

Two games to watch for Edmonton: Mathieu Garon will start against his former team the Kings today. Dustin Penner will line up against the Ducks for the first time tomorrow. Both should have big games. 

Matt Schneider is skating again. His broken foot is mostly heeled, but is still about a week away.

Todd Bertuzzi is still suffering from the effects of the concussion and as such will be at least another week away. I would guess he is a good two or three away. 

A situation to keep an eye on – New Jersey coach Brent Sutter has it in for Patrick Elias. So far he has stripped him of the captaincy, chastized him in the media for poor play about a week ago and chastized him again yesterday. We're still in October. It may be a good idea to quietly shop him around and see what you can get for him. He is practicing with Zajac and Zubrus these days.

In his last eight games, Geoff Sanderson has zero points and is a minus-6. Has he ever had a good year without Andrew Cassels?

With Shawn Horcoff back on Ales Hemsky's line, both make great pickups right now because they are really clicking.

Sergei Zubov is pointless in five games. He has always been a second half player, so sometime in December you may want to try and scoop him up. Right now, however, he is ice cold.

To take Jordan Leopold's spot (see yesterday's ramblings), the Avs have recalled Jeff Jillson. He won't be a fantasy factor.

Florida signed unrestricted free agent Jassen Cullimore and assigned him to Rochester for conditioning.

Darius Kasparaitus has signed to play in the RSL this season. If he wants an NHL job, he will need to play for under a million.

According to SPECTOR , Sandis Ozolinsh was only in Worcester for a two game tryout, which he completed. He is now working out one on one with Mike Ricci and the Sharks still hope that he can become a part of their plans. 

Pavol Demitra (groin) is hoping to practice today and play tomorrow. It is a longshot, though. Expect him back later in the week.

Tomas Vokoun returns home today. Florida is in Nashville. Personally, I'd pick Florida to win today's contest. Former Panther Martin Gelinas will likely not be in the lineup as his shoulder is still bothering him.

Martin Erat wore a protective boot yesterday and did not practice. His foot is sore after taking a shot off it last contest, but he does expect to be in the lineup today.

Maxime Talbot, who went into the boards in an ugly way on Thursday, passed his physical and will be in the lineup today. He has a sore neck.

Carey Price is not getting an easy time of things in his NHL debut. His first start was up against the Pittsburgh firing squad. His second start was against the Ottawa firing squad. Both starts he played very well. His third start? Today against Pittsburgh. Hopefully, one of these days, he can get an easy game in.

Niko Kapanen currently leads the Coyotes in scoring with five points. Ouch.

Simon Gagne is still experiencing dizziness and is not allowed to practice today. Obviously this means that he will not be in the game, but it is looking like he won't play until next weekend. Stefan Ruzicka has taken his spot in the lineup. The Flyers do not play again after today until Thursday.

That's it Grigorenko owners. He's going home. According to the Detroit Free Press: Dallas Drake has been cleared to play in Sunday's game, and the Wings had to make a decision on who to send to Grand Rapids. Matt Ellis' work ethic and Aaron Downey's toughness proved too valuable, and the Wings need a seventh defenseman so they weren't going to send down Derek Meech. Holland hopes Grigorenko comes back to training camp next season in better shape and said he needs to work on his quickness. "He would like to be a Red Wing," Holland said. "We've told him we're going to watch him all winter. He now knows what the NHL is all about. "I think if he gets in better shape and gets a quick step … he's got hands, he's got hockey sense. But he's got to give himself a chance to play to his strengths. If you can't get to the puck … " Pavel Datsyuk, serving as a translator for Grigorenko, who does not speak English, said Grigorenko wasn't angry about the turn of events. Datsyuk said Grigorenko didn't want to return to Grand Rapids because he thought he would play more in Russia and "now he knows" what is expected. Does Grigorenko intend to return for training camp next season? "Him dream of come back," Datsyuk said. "He work more harder and try to come back and make the team next year."

Some info on what I have done in the expert league – with Ryan Whitney and Sidney Crosby off to a slow start, Marty Turco being hurt for awhile and Chris Mason… well, we all know about him… I went from first place two weeks ago to last place for much of this week. I have since crawled up to eighth. One advantage I do have is that I am the only team with extra games tucked away for a late season run. Everyone else is over their max games (pace) in their center position and some are over in other positions as well. Anyway, this past week I have:

1) Given up on Scott Hartnell and waived him, picking up Dustin Penner (pickings for RW are slim)

2) Given up on Nathan Paetsch and waived him, picking up Tobias Enstrom

3) Traded Jeff Hamilton (who I picked up for Michel Ouellet two weeks ago) to McKeen's Gus Katsaros for his Tom Poti. I know Poti is hurt, but I have two extra centermen and I am hurting on the point.

4) I had added Bryan Berard right away (for Mike Komisarik) and had the benefit of his three-point game, but he is hurt now. I grabbed Jere Lehtinen off waivers (another RW – I need those and he was the best one – it was between him and Satan)

5) I added Steven Wagner, STL as a defensemen for Roman Hamrlik 

My DobberHockey expert league team is now:

C – Crosby, E.Staal, Ruutu, Cogliano

LW – Kariya, Nash, Nagy, Carcillo

RW – Ju.Williams, Recchi, Sharp, Penner (who's also LW)

D – Ry.Whitney, Meszaros, Klesla, Wagner, Enstrom, Grebeshkov

G – Turco, Mason ('cause NSH plays today)

Bench – Poti (D), Kozlov (C), Lehtinen (RW), Theodore (G – will take Mason's spot tomorrow)

IR – Berard

Poti is hurt, but will take over for Enstrom likely. Sharp is on a short leash, as Lehtinen has been hot. Theodore is coming off a great performance last night – 39 saves – and will take over for Mason if he can get full time. D is weak now, but will be strong when Berard and Poti are back. RW is weak…I'll try to address. G is weak, but Turco is back now and all I can do is hope one of Mason/ Theodore step up.