Dallas cut Ivan Vishnevsky and they released Konstantin Pushkarev. Furthermore, Sergei Zubov was placed on IR, but he should still be back after about five games missed. 

Mere minutes after I acquired him in my keeper league, TSN announces that Patrick O'Sullivan has signed a three-year deal worth close to $9 million. It is rare that i see such gigantic luck in a fantasy move, so I will savor this one. ;) 

Carolina has cut Tim Conboy. Also Joe Jensen and Trevor Gillies.

Jeff Friesen will remain in the San Jose camp as the 24th player until the situation with Marcel Goc is sorted out. Goc is hurt right now. Since Friesen is not under contract, there is no rush or deadline for him. 

Phoenix has cut Garth Murray and Matt Jones, meaning that Boedker, Lisin, Tikhonov, Yandle and Porter have all made the team.

The Preds have cut Josh Gratton. They have two more cuts to make, with Hornqvist, Jones, Ward and Pihlstrom on the bubble. If they put Ortmeyer on IR, they can get away with cutting just one.

Ville Leino has been cut. Ditto for Jonathan Ericsson and Darren Helm. Leino will be the first recall, but he is too talented to be a fourth-liner so he goes to Grand Rapids.

The Isles have made their final cuts. Josh Bailey, Jack Hillen, Thomas Pock and Brett Skinner MADE the team. CUTS are: Jeremy Colliton, Yann Danis (thanks to his two-way contract), Mitch Fritz, Tim Jackman, Kurtis McLean, Trevor Smith and Chris Lee.

The Oilers still need to make three more cuts, so Schremp is not out of the woods yet. 

Columbus has waived Aaron Rome, Derek MacKenzie and Craig MacDonald. That leaves them with 25 players – two more need to be cut. Nikita Filatov and Derek Dorsett are the leading ones to go. However, if Manny Malhotra (lower body) can't play Friday, Filatov could stay.

Colorado also cut Brian Willsie

The Avs have cut TJ Hensick and Per Ledin, sending them down to the AHL. I have to admit, I'm shocked at both, but mostly Ledin, who I thought would make it.

The Hawks have also released Kevyn Adams and cut Aaron Johnson and Antti Niemi. I know I stated a couple of days ago that Crawford would be the backup later this season – I was mistaken. Niemi will be this year's Jonas Hiller.

The Hawks also waived Joakim Lindstrom, who was promptly reclaimed by the Ducks. They now realize they can't send him down, so he will remain a Duck even if it means press box.
 

The Bruins have waived Peter Schaefer, meaning Blake Wheeler made the team.

The Sharks have waived Kyle McLaren and the Red Wings have waived Aaron Downey. 

Chicago has cut Cam Barker. Like Anaheim, they are right at the cap and cannot afford Barker's salary right now. He had a great camp and should be a top four defenseman on this team.

I'm probably in the minority (right now) when I believe that the NHL is right to stick with VERSUS over attempting to go back to ESPN. Granted, it has hurt in terms of ESPN's sports center coverage (badly), but there is bound to be some growing pains. It will be a few years before we'll see for sure, but judging by the growth of ratings for VERSUS last year compared to the season prior, I think things are on the right track. As a part of this channel, the NHL is clearly No.1 (with ESPN the NHL would be No.9 just behind the dog shows) and the league gets the respect and hype it so richly deserves.I don't think anyone can dispute that coverage is solid – in terms of camera angles, analysis and play-by-play. The only complaints really stem from lack of coverage in terms of American homes. That is improving and will continue to improve over time and the league was right to get in on the ground floor with this company.

Anyway, I bring all this up because I just received a press release from them and since I see that they have bought ad space via my ad network, I looked it over. Anyway, as part of continuing to make the NHL a priority, they are looking to try some new things – a puck-tracking system, for one. No, not like Fox did just over a decade ago. This will be used strictly for between period analysis, which is probably where it belongs. Taking a page from the NFL hype-machine, VERSUS is also bringing in Def Leppard and Alanis Morissette for the opening day celebrations. Opening night for VERSUS , if you haven't seen the ad on this site, is October 9 with a double header starting at 6:30 ET. My two cents on the NHL television situation. I linked the TV schedule in the above as an FYI.

Vancouver has waived Jason Krog and Matt Pettinger.

As expected, Gilbert Brule has been demoted to the AHL. Ideally, he will remain there throughout the season and post at least 70 points in 70 games, with a 10-game call up to end the season where he notches seven or eight points. That's the ideal world that will show me that he still has it in him to be a star. Don't judge him based on this news, as it was expected – judge him based on how close he comes to my "ideal scenario" outlined above.

Taylor Chorney and Theo Peckham were also cut by the Oilers. 

The Leafs have waived Boyd Devereaux and Staffen Kronwall 

Marek Zidlicky is doubtful for opening night as he has a leg injury. The injury has kept him on the shelf for a week now.

The Dispatch is convinced that Nikita Filatov will be sent to the AHL tomorrow and I am inclined to agree with them. However – don't panic. I can see him being recalled within a matter of a couple of weeks and still getting in 65 games or so and posting over 50 points. The reason he goes to the AHL and not the OHL is that the OHL does not want to upset the KHL – and they have not received permission to play Filatov yet. 

Josh Bailey got into last night's contest and thankfully was just a minus-1 in the Isles 6-0 defeat at the hands of the Panthers. He played over 17 minutes. I doubt they will keep him – certainly not beyond Game 9

Despite six goals by the Panthers, Frolik received barely more than 10 minutes of ice time and Matthias just over 13. Neither picked up a point. Jay Bouwmeester, however, managed three points. This is his year.

Surprisingly, Ville Peltonen had a three-point night. Looks like he may not need Jokinen to succeed after all, but it was only the Islanders… 

Chicago made some big cuts, sending Akim Aliu and Kyle Beach to junior and Troy Brouwer and Cory Crawford to Rockford of the AHL. They still have five more to cut. Crawford will be the backup when they deal with Khabibulin.

The Kings made even bigger cuts – the highly touted Teddy Purcell was sent down to Manchester. He won't stay there long, but clearly this was Oscar Moller playing such great hockey that one of them had to go. Thomas Hickey was also cut, ditto for Alec Martinez, Jonathan Quick, and Kevin Westgarth.

The Ducks have made their final cuts. Andrew Ebbett is back riding the bus, as is Ryan Donally.

Phoenix changed their lines in practice today. Turris will center Doan and Carcillo, Jokinen will center Boedker and Mueller. Hanzal, with Winnik and Tikhonov remained intact. See – I keep telling you line combos do not matter, because they change daily.

Joel Perrault (concussion) and defenseman Jonas Ahnelov (two broken fingers) were placed on the IR by Phoenix. That frees up a forward spot and a d-man spot, which helps the chances of Porter and Yandle making this team. Ahnelov was having a huge camp and it was putting Yandle's chances in doubt, believe it or not.

The Lightning have cut Karri Ramo and Vladimir Mihalik.

Other cuts from yesterday were posted here later in the afternoon. Click "next" to review those.