Angus here. I’ll have an early evening update in a few hours. Getting pumped for a busy Saturday in hockey, including the first Saturday night HNIC in CBC.

My boy (can I call him that?) Jeff Skinner had an assist and scored the shootout winner for the ‘Canes today.

The Fantasy Guide and Draft List are both updated as of NOW. Including – final preseason stats, my final Calder Trophy favorite 50, finalized rosters and more! BUY NOW

Goldie: Bobrovsky will continue to post great stats so long as teams keep shooting low on him. His feet are just too quick and sharp. Until team scouts/coaches stress shooting high, he’s a goalie to own thanks to Leighton’s injury.

Goldie: Do not freak out about Turco. I covered last night’s game. It was VERY sloppy on both sides. He was timely in the first period and faced ~40 shots. I echo everything re: Duchene. I spoke to him after the game. He has amazing vision and awareness. Very keen kid.

Dobber: Leighton – back surgery, out about eight weeks. The good news is, the issue is identified (finally) and resolved (hopefully). The bad news is – he’ll be out another month longer (thus hurting two of my leagues)

Antti Niemi is starting tonight. I am in the Niittymaki camp – I feel he is a better goalie. San Jose is hoping one of the two step up and take the starting spot. Niemi will be given a longer leash because of his resume, in my opinion.

Chicago is in tough without Brian Campbell for the next month. Nick Leddy was a disaster last night. Duncan Keith played close to 34 minutes. Seabrook was over 28. John Scott and Jordan Hendry both played about six minutes.

Paul Stastny scored two goals, played over four minutes on the penalty kill, and won 17 of 28 faceoffs.

Matt Duchene had a great game as well. He plays hockey like a running back with his balance and agility and quick directional changes. Justin Bourne made this comparison last night on his twitter feed to me. Duchene cuts and changes directions as well as anyone in the league already.

I wouldn’t at all be surprised to see Brian Connelly get the call up from the farm very soon.

Edmonton rookie update:

Eberle: one goal, one assist, four shots on goal, 16:11 of ice time

Paajarvi: two shots on goal, 15:53 of ice time

Hall: four shots on goal, 16:59 of ice time

According to RDS, the Bruins have re-signed Patrice Bergeron to a three-year, $15 million deal. The term is nice, but that seems to be a decent amount of coin for a risk like Bergeron (injury-wise).

Boston practiced with Bergeron centering Wheeler and Recchi, Krejci centering Lucic and Horton, and Seguin centering Ryder and Paille. It will be interesting to see how the lines look in game one.

Mike Richards and Jeff Carter didn't look very good together.

Mike Comrie played over seven minutes on the power play. More than Malkin, slightly less than Crosby. Almost 50% of his time on the ice was spent on the man advantage. Dan Byslma is certainly willing to put him in the right situations to succeed.

Sergei Bobrosvsky stopped 29 of 31 shots. How many of you went and scooped him up after last night?

Andrei Kostitsyn – minus-2 and 13 minutes of ice time. Some things never change.

Bozak, Kessel, and Versteeg all played 6:17 on the power play last night. Tomas Kaberle played almost eight minutes with the man advantage. Look for the Leafs to ride this unit (including Dion Phaneuf) hard.

Edmonton will be fun to watch this year. Obvious statement? Yes. Taylor Hall skates around like a kamikazee missile.

It is hard to get a true evaluation of players and teams after one game, but that doesn't mean we can't do it!

I watched all of the Carolina/Minnesota game before work. My thoughts:

Brandon Sutter looks good. Aside from two goals, he was placed in situations to produce (power play). He is such a smart player – reminds me a bit of Paul Stastny. If Carolina continues to give him consistent PP time (which will be tough considering how strong he is on the PK), he could score 25-30. He'll be a 20-30 goal guy for the next 10-15 years.

My blurb on Sutter from the 2010-11 DobberHockey Pool Guide:

“Sutter is in a great long-term position in Carolina. He is insulated behind Eric Staal on the depth chart. He has little competition for the second line spot and the Hurricanes have a bounty of young talent coming up through the ranks on either wing. Sutter's 20 goals were a surprise to many last season. Look for the lanky pivot hit new career highs in 2010- 11.”

Jussi Jokinen is a great playmaker if used correctly. He needs teammates who can finish off his chances.

The Wild are an underwhelming team. They really seem to lack an identity.

Brent Burns looked pretty good – he's rough defensively at times, but he has a dynamic quality offensively that will give him those important offensive minutes. He has battled the injury bug over the past few years, and relying on him to return to his 2007-08 numbers would probably be unrealistic. Still, chalk him down for a strong debut. It doesn't mean much, but it means something.

Carolina spread power play minutes very evenly among their defensemen. McBain, Babchuk, Corvo, and Pitkanen all saw between 3:00 and 3:30 of ice time with the man advantage.

Joe Thornton was named captain of San Jose. I think a return to 100 points is in the cards for him. It will be interesting to see how he and Setoguchi click (Thornton mentioned to the San Jose coaching staff that he prefers playing with a right handed shot on one of his wings).

The Canucks continue to stack their farm team – they acquired defenseman Nathan Paetsch from Florida yesterday. He is probably number eight or nine on Vancouver's depth chart, but he will be a big part of a strong Manitoba club.

I have had good luck in my past two farm drafts in one of my keeper leagues. I tend to favour the win-now mentality, and last year I ended up with Benn, Neuvirth, and Del Zotto. This season, I ended up with Morin (narrowly missed the cut) and Caron, who made the Bruins. It is nice to have prospects in the league right away – I hate waiting around for players to develop. I ended up sitting on Bobby Ryan for three full years before trading him (huge mistake, in retrospect).

Caron has battled injuries throughout his junior career, but he has a lot of skill and will probably play at 215-220 pounds (6’3″). The Neely comparisons are unfair (there will never be another Neely, at least in terms of the intimidation factor), but Caron is a hell of a lot closer to Neely than Milan Lucic is.

Why is Claude Giroux’s Philadelphia’s most talented player? Exhibit A:

Somewhere Dobber is enjoying this one:

The ridiculous part of that goal (aside from the toe drag) is how quickly Eberle gets the puck to his backhand. Wow.

Not for the faint of heart – lights out for Ivanans: