The Detroit Free Press is reporting that GM Ken Holland has all but said that the Wings are through with Igor Grigorenko. Of course this happens AFTER I do up his profile in the soon to be released Fantasy Prospects Report! Anyway, Holland says that Grigs is not committed to his conditioning so they are moving on.

Detroit winning 8-2 last night single handed killed some fantasy hockey championship hopes and also single handedly won the trophy for some. One guy in one of my keeper leagues has won a couple of playoff titles… and it's often because of one ridiculous game like where he gets eight points. He got that again last night and was quick to email me.

It's funny to see the news of Fabian Brunnstrom make the rounds. A few days ago it was the Dallas paper, and today it is the Detroit Free Press reporting that he was watching the Red Wings game. He's "narrowing" his talks to a few teams and will make a decision soon. This is like a play by play on Johan Franzen as an unrestricted free agent. Brunnstrom should probably turn into a 75-point player, but for the first two or three years of his career, I'm thinking 55 points. Yet, in this salary-cap world he is getting the Gretzky treatment. I hope, for the sake of the team that finally signs him, that he turns out better than Jiri Dopita or Eero Suomovori.

Speaking of Johan Franzen, when he scored thrice last night it gave him nine goals in the four-game series. That is an NHL record.

Peter Forsberg did not play last night as the Avs got eliminated. Should he return to the NHL, he says it will only be for the Avs.

Ryan Smyth had a broken foot, as the info gets released now with the team's elimination.

The Denver Post, quoting Joe Sakic on retiring: "I'm going to take some time and discuss it with my family," Sakic said. "It was a frustrating year for me, with the (sports hernia) injury and how it ended tonight. Right now, I feel good out there," he said. "But like I said, I'll take some time and think things over."

The Czech hockey assoc. has refused to sign the IIHF-NHL transfer agreement…so the league will be without one for Europe for now and teams will have to individually negotiate each time.

Buffalo prospect Nathan Gerbe had been playing in some tune-up games with Team USA, but did not make the squad. The 5-6 dynamo has high-end skills, but has some NHL biases to overcome.

Gary Roberts was back in the lineup last night to replace Max Talbot (broken foot).

With Avery and Betts out of the lineup last night, Prucha and Lauri Korpikowski drew in. Korpikowski ranks 148 on my fantasy prospects list and has 60-point upside.