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Jason Williams has been shipped to Columbus for Clay Wilson and a sixth-round pick. Atlanta made off like bandits here, not only getting rid of Williams' $2.2 million salary, but also landing a draft pick. . Anyway, the veteran-loving Ken Hitchcock will move Voracek back down to 11-12 minutes again as a result. And as for Filatov – well, he may go back to the AHL. CBJ is winning with their kids, I don't know why they are messing with that.

Curtis Sanford has been placed on waivers by the Canucks. Luongo is good to go and Labarbera is a better back up fit for Vancouver.

Antoine Vermette has put up points in every second game for the last 11 games – never two zeros in a row and never points in two games in a row. Interesting pattern. He has nine points in that span overall.

MA Bergeron scored in his return to the ice last night. He and Zidlicky manned the top PP unit.

Taylor Pyatt's return, and the effect it had on the VAN line combos: Wellwood, with the Sedins; Sundin, with Pyatt and Raymond; Kesler with Burrows and Bernier; Johnson, with Demitra and Hordichuk (?). Later, Demitra moved up to play in Raymond's spot on the Sundin line, Bernier played with the Sedins and Raymond played with Kesler and Burrows. That mixture makes more sense, but we'll see what happens.

Keith Tkachuk left last night's game after banging his head. He is day to day for now.

Joey MacDonald strained his groin last night and left the game. Yann Danis, for now, is the new No.1. The Isles are pretty much forced into a trade now – to refuse to talk to teams about their goalies would just be stubborn.

Rick Nash should be back in the lineup Friday, and the Jackets have chosen to return Mayorov to the minors.

Teemu Selanne hopes to be back immediately after the All-Star break, which is pretty much on schedule. his return will cause Bobby Ryan to shift to the other wing, since demoting Ryan after his fantastic play would be silly at this point.
 

Since his healthy scratch, Evgeni Artyukhin has five points and 39 PIMs in 11 games. That's a pace of 37 points and 290 penalty minutes over 82 games – that's what I was alluding to in the summer's fantasy guide.

Brian Elliott picked up his second straight start and boasts 1-1-0, 1.53 and 0.941 numbers. In an effort to get something going, the Sens have given him the ball to run with.

Ryan Potulny has averaged just 10 minutes per game in his two games up with the Oil, but he has three points. Gilbert Brule also has three points in those games, but he has seen 13:30 per.

Speaking of hot Oilers, Erik Cole has 11 points in his last nine games.

Marco Sturm underwent knee surgery to repair his ACL and is out for the season.

Nikita Filatov was on the ice for an early goal against and as a result he saw just 7:42 of ice time for the Jackets.

Rich Peverley will line up with Ilya Kovalchuk tonight in his Atlanta debut.

Zach Bogosian has been recalled from his conditioning stint and will be in the lineup tonight.

Bryan Little will indeed be back in the lineup according to ajc.com

Atlanta also made a minor deal, acquiring Brett Skinner from NYI for Junior Lessard. Skinner is an offensive defenseman, but may not get any chances on this new team.