December 31, 2008

 

Ales Hemsky's nose injury could hold him out today, but will likely not keep him out beyond that.

 

The Kings sent Trevor Lewis back to Manchester.

 

TJ Oshie was back in the lineup for St. Louis. He played 16:28 and notched an assist.

 

St. Louis line combos: Oshie with Tkachuk and Backes; Berglund with Perron and Boyes; McClement with Steen and Crombeen; Winchester with Hinote and Janssen

 

Check the below on Gerbe. I was reading yesterday's news for Buffalo that said he was close. Well, he played last night – 8:23 in fact – taking three shots and posting no points.

 

It is possible, but doubtful that Briere will be back with the Flyers by January 6. That's the target, but it is looking to be longer still.

 

Simon Gagne's injury is apparently to his shoulder and he is questionable for Friday.

 

Chris Bourque scored his first career goal last night in his ninth career game. The 22-year-old is making a case for himself to be a regular next season.

 

Nathan Gerbe was back skating in practice yesterday and is reportedly close to a return. Tim Connolly is "a ways away" according to the Buffalo News.

 

Future KHL star Maxim Afinogenov was a healthy scratch last night.

 

Grabovski has two points in two games since Stajan went down. Stajan figures he will be a few more days yet.

 

Jeremy Williams suffered a bruised shoulder last night and did not return. He is day to day.

 

As long as Boston continues to be a scoring machine, Dennis Wideman is a 55-point defenseman.

 

Goligoski was down to 10 minutes of ice time with Ryan Whitney playing over 21. This is a troubling sign and Goli could find himself back in the AHL in a few weeks if he can't force more ice time with some more offense. Goli was used several times on the left wing last night.

 

Jordan Staal is the youngest player in NHL history to play 200 games.

 

Dustin Jeffrey, 94th on my prospects list, notched his first NHL point last night.

 

Curtis Sanford's injury is week to week – so Labarbera and Schneider will split duties.

 

Simon Gagne left last night's contest with an upper body injury. Uh oh. Hopefully, if you owned him you weren't naive enough to think he'd cruise through April injury free and you traded him.

 

Dobber here – it certainly seems as though Labarbera will log most of the starts until Luongo returns and the Canucks were right to give Schneider some more time in the minors. But it is the Kings who are impacted here the most. Clearly impressed enough by Jon Quick, Los Angeles is happy going forward with a Quick-Ersberg tandem. They'll play the hot goaltender, and we'll be left with the same question marks in net for this team as we were at the start of November.

 

Marcus here, Sanford injured himself during practice and was replaced by Schneider after the first period. The Canucks have traded a seventh rounder for Jason Labarbera. Schneider will go back to Manitoba and Labarbera will be the starter until Luongo returns. Pick up Labarbera.