Angus here – got a question for you guys. One year points-only league. Only four moves all year. Too early to drop Simmonds for either J. Williams or Comeau?

San Jose has extended Joe Thornton. The terms: three years, $21 million.

Anaheim has assigned Luca Sbisa to the AHL. The move says a lot considering how weak their current defensive group is.

Anthony Stewart had a hat trick for the Thrashers last night. He had scored only four goals in his previous 108 NHL games.

Enstrom and Byfuglien saw the most PP time among Atlanta defensemen by far. Both finished the game with two helpers.

Kings defenseman Jake Muzzin recorded his first NHL point last night. He played on the second PP unit and looked pretty good. Definitely not out of place at the NHL level.

Justin Williams looks like a brand new player compared to last season in terms of speed and agility on the ice. He doesn’t even turn 29 until the end of the month – lots of time left to regain his 30+ goal form. Injuries will always be a concern, though.

Clarke MacArthur scored in his fourth consecutive game (the first player in Leaf history to accomplish the feat in his first four games with the team).

And if you haven't heard already, the Leafs are 4-0.

The Sabres have looked AWFUL so far this season. It starts with Tim Connolly – he may be healthy, but he isn't playing like it. He was benched in the third period.

Tyler Ennis hasn't looked very good either. He seems to be trying to do too much with the puck, and at his size he either needs to be quicker or move the puck quicker.

Timely Taormina column two days ago – a goal and an assist last night. He played close to 25 minutes including 5:46 on the PP.

Andy Greene played 20 minutes for the Devils, but only three seconds on the PP. It is Taormina time in New Jersey, at least for now. Any team with Kovalchuk on one of the points only really needs one offensive defenseman on the first unit.

Jacob Josefson made his NHL debut last night – he finished with one shot on goal in 15 minutes of ice time last night

Marian Gaborik will be out for a few weeks after being crushed by Colby Armstrong. Separated shoulder.

Chris Drury broke his finger (left index, the same one he has broken before) and is out six weeks.

Vinny Prospal is out indefinitely (possibly the season) with a knee injury.

Lots of ice time up for grabs in New York. Will be interesting to see how the lines shake out.

PK Subban recorded his first point of the season last night. He misses Markov a lot – not just as a defensive partner, but he is having a tough time playing with (covering for) Jaroslav Spacek.

Patrick Sharp had a career high 13 shots on goal last night.

The Jackets must have been jet lagged for their game last night. Nash was minus-3, Voracek minus-2, Vermette minus-3, Filatov miunus-2, and so on.

Marian Hossa is off to a very strong start – four goals and seven points through five games. I'm not sure if he will see the kind of offensive minutes required to hit the 100 point mark in Chicago this season, but I'd be looking for at least 85 from him.

Blake Comeau continues his strong play with two more points.

Comeau and Josh Bailey combined for 12 power play minutes.

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Defenseman Andrew MacDonald saw seven minutes on the PP. He was held pointless. I like MacDonald a lot, but more in terms of real life hockey than fantasy. I don't think he has much upside beyond the 20 or 25 point mark.

Alex Goligoski is off to a very strong start – he scored his third goal of the season last night. With Michalek out for a few weeks, look for Martin to play more of a pure shutdown role. Goligoski and Letang will benefit.

Eric Tangradi scored his first NHL goal last night for the Penguins. He saw only 11 minutes of ice time (and none with the man advantage).

Drew Stafford appears to be playing his way out of the doghouse in Buffalo. He is averaging over 17 minutes of ice time per game. The injury to Pominville obviously helps in that regard.

Stafford has recorded one goal and three assists through five games. He had only 14 goals all of last season. The issue with him isn't skill, it is consistency/effort. He could be a sleeper for 25 goals of Pominville misses an extended period of time.

Brendan Shanahan was taking questions on Twitter yesterday.

He answered mine – toughest defenseman he ever played against (Bryan Marchment).

As well as if he could pick a team to play with right now (Vancouver, he said he'd bring some size and scoring to the right wing with the Sedin twins). Shanahan in his prime with the twins… now that would be quite the line.

Ryan Howse, Calgary's 2009 3^rd round draft pick, is off to a torrid start with the Chilliwack Bruins. He has 10 goals through seven games. I like Howse a lot – I think he has projectable upside at the NHL level.

Now is as good a time as ever to try and acquire Alex Burrows. He is coming off of serious shoulder surgery, but I like him for a few reasons anyway:

1) Samuelsson is not a long term fit with the Sedin twins. They need someone who can retrieve the puck on the forecheck and get them open space.

2) Burrows has to miss 10 games because of his LTIR status. The CBA has quite a few technicalities and this is one of them. Burrows has been skating and training hard and he will probably be 100% a week or two before he returns.

Zach Bogosian missed last night’s game with a shoulder injury. It doesn’t sound serious, but I will try to update his status later on today.

Dallas has hired Gary Roberts, adding him to their player development staff. Great move for the organization.

Speculation – Brad Richards will be a member of the Rangers within the next calendar year. No cap space, no problem!

The Rangers have targetted him for a while. They want a quick center to play on the top unit with Gaborik. I doubt they would be opposed to burying Drury for the final year of his contract if they were unable to move him.

Sheldon Souray had an assist in his debut with Hershey last night. He finished with a plus-3 rating and four shots on goal. The Bears won 7-1.

Mathieu Perreault had a goal, two helpers, four shots on goal, and finished plus-4. Get this guy in the NHL, Washington!

Robin Lehner was lit up for seven goals on 35 shots. The Bears are a stacked AHL club so don't read too much into his poor numbers for this one.

Kris Letang was ejected for this hit on Comeau (who returned to record two points). Are you KIDDING me?