If you are a “tweener”, then the last team you want to go to is Boston. A tweener is a young player who has not established himself yet in terms of a second-line producer or a third-line checker. Anyway, Boston has about eight or nine “top six” forwards, so for a tweener like Danny Paille – who was just traded there – to end up in Boston means more healthy scratches than he was getting in Buffalo. Why Boston did that when they have Sobotka ready is beyond me. Just when I thought Chiarelli could do no wrong. I’m not saying getting Paille for a third rounder isn’t good. It’s not bad. But they didn’t need him. And where was a team like Minnesota? Now there’s a team who could use him.

Dallas has placed Mike Modano (ribs) and Jere Lehtinen (groin) on the IR list. The team sent Lindgren back down to Texas.

In a minor move, the Jackets sent Stefan Legein to the Flyers for Michael Ratchuk. Legein’s stock retired after taking half a year off in a temporary “retirement”.

The Sens signed Matt Carkner to a two-year deal. I picked him up last week in the experts league. A nice little boost in PIMs and plus/minus.

The Thrashers have signed Peverley to a two-year extension worth $1.3 million per year. That will probably turn out to be a steal.

Ilya Zubov has reportedly signed a contract to play in the KHL. According to this, the Sens loaned him to Salavat.

The Devils have placed Cory Murphy on waivers. If he clears, they can still keep him up, but they can send him down without waivers at any point in the next month.

Patrik Elias has not yet begun practicing with the team, so expect at least another two weeks.

Perttu Lindgren, who I figured was in Europe for good thanks to a young family, got into his first NHL game last night. Brad Richards is day-to-day with a groin injury, so Lindgren played eight minutes in the loss.

Here’s a “sell high” player for you – Ryan Smyth. He has 13 points in nine games and that is a 117 point pace. Frankly, I think he will have his best season since 2006-07 when he had 68 points. I can see 72 or 74 games played and 65 to 70 points. He is really clicking with Kopitar and Williams. That said, 70 points is not 117 – so is you own him, see if you can get an 80-point guy for him.

Interesting tidbit for Leaf fans from the Toronto Sun:     According to the Elias Sports Bureau, since the start of conference play in the NHL in 1993-94, only five teams have won once or less in their first 10 games and still made the playoffs, two of those coached by Wilson. His 2003-04 San Jose Sharks and 1996-97 Anaheim Mighty Ducks both faltered at the start with just one win, but Wilson took the Sharks to the Conference championship, while Paul Kariya came back after their slump to help Wilson and the team make the playoffs for the first time in Ducks' history.

From the offices of “perfect timing” – Vladimir Sobotka was named the AHL’s player of the week with six points in two games. This announcement comes on the heels of a Chuck Kobasew trade and a Milan Lucic surgery. The guy’s doing everything he can to get a look in the B’s top six.

Did anyone see the Top 5 Oiler scorers to be this way eight games in? 1. Penner; 2. Brule; 3. Grebeshkov; 4. O’Sullivan; 5. Comrie. Good stuff – fantasy hockey needs lots of surprises. It makes the weak-looking or mediocre teams suddenly first place, which keep things very competitive as the stronger teams start scrambling to catch up.

Brule didn’t play last night due to an illness.

I only took a chance on him in one of my leagues, but I would really love to see Chris Bourque get a shot on a scoring line. Just one game, maybe 13 minutes. Just a peek. Putthing him out there with Matt Cooke and Mike Rupp, or pluggers from the same mold, is just silly. Meanwhile, Ruslan Fedotenko is puttering along at his usual 40-point pace and Chris Kunitz has one goal in his last 34 games playing exclusively with Sidney Crosby one of the best setup men in the game. I’m willing to gamble that if Bourque plays the next 34 games on Crosby’s wing, that he will have at least two goals!

Dirk Hoag, from On the Forecheck, tells me that Cal O’Reilly has indeed been practicing on the big line with Sullivan and Dumont. Hornqvist, their leading scorer, is back with Goc and Wilson on the third line.