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Per Puck-rakers, Anton Stralman WON’T play tomorrow for the Blue Jackets.

Sunday evening… some news coming in now.

Erik Cole is out 4-6 weeks with a lower leg stress fracture. Talk about bad luck, Cole seems to be cursed. This means more offensive ice time for Ruutu, and it may even open up a roster spot for one of Boychuk/Bowman.

The Panthers have signed Dominic Moore to a one-year deal. He should see mostly defensive minutes, but when Reinprecht goes down with his annual injury, Moore may get a bump up to the second line.

The Habs have called up Yannick “don’t call me Shea” Weber to fill Markov’s void on the powerplay. Weber is a talented puckmover and should definitely be on your fantasy radar (if he wasn’t already).

Mike Commodore is likely going to miss the game tomorrow against Vancouver, meaning newcomer Anton Stralman draws in. Stralman was having issues getting his American visa, but he was on the ice today in Vancouver practicing with the team.

Sounds like Mikko Koivu’s potential injury is nothing to worry about.

It is going to be a tough fantasy year for Rinne/Ellis/Hiller/Giguere/etc. owners. Goalie situations with no set starter are never fun, as I have learned time and time again. It sure does pay to get at least one dependable, 60-70 game starter. I would’ve included Toskala/Gustavsson, but I hope no one owns Toskala. I’d already like a mulligan for boldly predicting a rebound season from him. Appears his confidence/skill is completely gone.

The Blue Jackets have extended Rusty Klesla for four more years. The per-season cap hit of the extension is $2.9 million. Klesla has a bit of fantasy significance in deep leagues that cound stats besides just goals and assists. He is a solid top four defenseman but it still seems like too much money with his injury history.

Michael Russo is reporting that Mikko Koivu left the Wild practice on Sunday morning in a ton of pain after falling on his knee. I don’t think I have to tell you what kind of impact this would have on Minnesota… Hopefully an update is forthcoming.

JP Dumont left the Stars/Preds game last night after losing consciousness. He was smashed into the boards (clean hit) by defenseman Stephane Robidas. Nothing to report as of Sunday morning, but expect Patric Hornqvist to take his spot on the top line in the meantime. Hornqvist is a gifted goal scorer and should click well with Arnott and Sullivan.

As a few posters on the message board have pointed out, Cam Barker is receiving next to no PP time. While I don’t expect this trend to continue (as he is not really all that valuable to the Hawks if he doesn’t play that role), but he had only 11 even-strength points last year. Even if his PP ice time drops only a bit, expect his production to be affected significantly.

Erik Cole looked to have seriously injured his knee after an awkward collision with Dennis Wideman last night. Nothing official out yet, but his knee either was extremely hyper-extended, or something is broken.

Matt Duchene looked awesome last night. I see him sticking in Colorado all season. I knew he had a ton of skill, but he is much, much faster than I thought/remembered. Was blowing by Canucks all night.

As someone has mentioned in the forum, Jason Demers skated on the top power play unit last night for the Sharks. He played over 18 minutes and recorded an assist. I think the Sharks would like him to be a consistent guy they can go to on the PP, as it frees up Vlasic for more defensive responsibilities.

The Gustavsson era may have begun in Toronto. Vesa Toskala was quickly pulled after getting shelled early and often by the potent Caps offense. The line of Ovechkin-Backstrom-Semin may combine for over 300 points this season…

Radim Vrbata scored two goals and played close to 18 minutes in his first game back with the Coyotes. He had a solid season in the desert in 2007-08, and could be a 50 point guy if he receives enough PP time. He is a good option for deeper one-year leagues.

John Tavares scored a goal and looked very dangerous in his NHL debut. He and Kyle Okposo are going to turn a lot of heads around the NHL this season.

It is early, but Marian Gaborik is already turning Brandon Dubinsky into a scoring machine. Dubinsky had two goals and a helper in a win over the Senators on Saturday night. If Gaborik can remain relatively healthy, Dubinsky has a shot at 60 points.

Detroit is facing the worst kind of goalie controversy – neither starter (Osgood) nor backup (Howard) have played at an acceptable level. Lots of time to right the ship, but Detroit can’t get by with bad goaltending forever.

Kudos to Craig Anderson for an impressive shutout of the Canucks. I passed on him in a few leagues because Colorado’s defense scared me, but he was sharp all game. Could be a 25 or 30 game winner if the Avs can sneak up on a few more teams. It remains to be seen how he handles the work load, but through two games so far so good.

More coming tomorrow…