Shawn Matthias caved and signed a two-way deal with the Panthers. Next year, the second of this two-year pact, is a one-way arrangement. I now pretty much see him being cut now, barring something tremendous in camp.

Anton Stralman made a great move today – agreed to attend the Devil’s camp on a tryout basis. If there was one team that needs him…

Sean Avery has been named captain of the Rangers. Oh! I mean Ryan Callahan. Ryan Callahan has been named captain of the Rangers. Brad Richards and Marc Staal are the alternates. Fine choices all.

I meant to jot this down last night when I did these ramblings, but Pittsburgh rearguard Joe Morrow had a strong game. And in fact, based on my one game exposure to he and Simon Despres, I am firmly in the Morrow camp. Pittsburgh may be struggling in drafting and developing their forwards, but they sure have a handle on their defensemen. And in this case, so far, give me Morrow over Despres. But I’ll see the Penguins again tomorrow when they play the Blackhawks.

Good news – My Draft Buddy iPhone app…we've worked out the issues with iTunes and the latest update is (finally) posted This has a lot more notes, as well as some projection adjustments. And future updates should be instantaneous, we're told.

More news – training camps are opening later this week. So my Fantasy Guide will be updated either today or tomorrow… and then the frequency of updates increases dramatically. As in every two days. The news, roster cuts, etc etc will be coming fast and furious and good ol' Dobber will be on them like a fat kid on a Smartie.

Big News! – I am happy to announce a new addition to the DobberHockey staff. We brought in a ringer to take on the Ramblings one day per week starting Sunday the 18^th, as well as a bi-weekly fantasy mailbag. Welcome to former Canoe Sports and ESPN fantasy hockey columnists and current Sportsnet.ca fantasy hockey guru – Chris Nichols! You can never have enough expertise in the field of fantasy hockey and here is another guy to give you an alternative to my thoughts. You can follow him on Twitter here.

Greg McKegg made his mark on me in the Prospects game last night. Every ship he made an impression and he picked up three points. Saturday he was ho-hum, but he really showed his stuff Sunday.

I was disappointed that Matt Frattin hardly played Saturday and didn't dress Sunday. And Saturday's best Leaf Kenny Ryan didn't get a chance to repeat the performance Sunday as he was also scratched.

Brad Ross is clearly going to be, at best, a third-line agitator. He is more interested in yapping and hitting than he is in creating any kind of offensive play.

For Pittsburgh, undrafted prospect Jessey Astles was their best player in the first period and he got into a fight in the second period. Didn't get a whole lot of ice time, but impressed me in terms of hustle and the way he created offensive chances. This is a guy who had six points last year. Very surprising.

Tom Kühnhackl had a decent game. I could see the hockey sense and the basic tools there and after several more years he'll be better able to find space. Keven Veilleux had a ton of ice time and clearly he had hockey sense and patience. But the skating was far from smooth and his physical play seemed forced and ill-timed. Like he was showing off how hard he can play instead of actually playing hard.

From the Rangers' website, a summary of their prospects game against Dallas: "The Rangers prospects continue play in the Traverse City Prospects Tournament in Traverse City, Mich., tonight. The Blueshirts are coming off a 5-2 victory over St. Louis on Sunday — a game that saw defenseman Blake Parlett tie the team tournament record of three assists in one game. The Rangers got goals from Tim Erixon, Randy McNaught, Carl Hagelin, Ryan Bourque, and Jonathan Audy-Marchessault. Three of the goals came on the power play. Tonight, the team goes right back to work against a talented Dallas squad that dominated Carolina 8-2 in its opener on Saturday. Forward Matt Fraser had a hat trick for the Stars in that game, and three other players also had three-point nights."

Here is a summary of the Chicago-Ottawa game. Another great game for Brandon Saad, and also Jimmy Hayes has done very well. Saad is creeping up my prospect rankings… Ottawa's Stephane Da Costa – three goals in the second period.

Cam Atkinson, Ryan Johansen and David Savard are having strong tourneys in Traverse City. In fact, Savard picked up three assists last night against Buffalo. He could sneak onto the team as a bottom pairing, second PP guy.

Rich Hammond interviews Anze Kopitar here. Kopitar is healthy and ready to go.

Not a good start for Calgary goalie Joni Ortio, who allowed six goals on 26 shots in the 6-1 loss to the Sharks. Sven Baertschi and Max Reinhart played strong games despite the loss.

Great notes about the Penguins here. Including – Neal, Crosby and Kunitz are penciled in as a line combo; There will be 2-3 spots up for grabs on the 23-man roster; Malkin, Kennedy and Sullivan will be a second line; Staal stuck on the third line.

Enough. Malkin can't win draws and Kennedy is not a second liner. Short rant over.

Polasek vs. Teubert yesterday: