November 03, 2008

 

As expected, Ovechkin will be back for tomorrow's contest against Ottawa.

 

The Devils have sent down Matt Halischuk and have recalled Anssi Salmela and Scott Clemmensen. Still no word on how long Brodeur will be out.

 

Cory Stillman left yesterday's contest after getting hit hard into the boards and falling face first to the ice. His mouth and nose needed stitches and there is possibly a concussion. I wouldn't count on him playing next game – actually this one could be a couple of weeks.

 

Dallas has assigned James Neal, Mark Fistric and Chris Conner back to the AHL. Sergei Zubov will replace Fistric in the lineup, Brad Richards has replaced Conner. Neal was sent down for more ice time.

 

Pascal Leclaire (ankle) did not travel with the team to New York and is doubtful for Wednesday. He will do some light skating today.

 

Sergei Samsonov is finally on the board, notching an assist yesterday.

 

Matt Cullen missed yesterday's contest with a leg injury.

 

Two other players broke out of slumps yesterday – both Kovalchuk and Hemsky picked up three points.
Milan Michalek has points in three straight contests.

 

With Budaj allowing five goals on just 29 shots, the starting job is again Raycroft's to steal. All he needs to do is play extremely well – neither goalie seems to want to do this. Anyway, Budaj owners better have other options.

 

JS Giguere has won five straight contests

 

Niklas Hagman has seven points in his last six games.

 

Mike Knuble has scored goals in five straight games. He has eight points in that span, doing everything he can to make me look dumb for insinuating that his career decline would start this year.

 

Martin Brodeur will miss at least one more game. X-Ray results will be announced today, but there is the potential here for something worse than we initially thought in terms of his "bruised elbow". Kevin Weekes may be worth a cheap flyer now, and if you hear Brodeur will be out for an extended time you can say "cha-ching".

 

The Penguins assigned Janne Pesonen back to WB/Scranton.

 

Jannik Hansen missed yesterday's contest with a groin injury.

 

Nashville prospect Colin Wilson has eight points and is a plus-4 in six games for Boston University. He is ranked 85th on my prospects list because his upside is not that high – perhaps 70 points. But he's still 18 so that is by no means set in stone.