Vinny Prospal is already frustrated at the acceptance of losing in Columbus. He isn’t the first veteran to feel that way, either.

The above link touches on a point I have raised a few times. Young players that develop on losing teams can not grow comfortable with losing. It kills development. Look at Voracek, Brassard, etc. Looking back further, how about Brule, Svitov, Zherdev, and so on. Not saying they won’t be great players (the first two, at least), but they are well behind the development curve compared to their draft peers.

Busy night last night – I caught the Boston/Toronto game as well as Vancouver/Nashville.

Toronto was awful defensively – at this point in time, Jonas Gustavsson is not an NHL goaltender. Too many holes in his game.

Cody Franson was a minus-3 in only 15 minutes of ice time. He's off to a brutal start and didn't do anything last night to prove he belongs anywhere aside from the press box right now.

JM Liles had five shots on goal and seven blocked shots. Solid peripheral stats in leagues that count those two categories. He isn’t great defensively but the mobility he brings will help Toronto this season.

Seguin was flying all over the ice – three points, and a lot of scoring opportunities. He looks a lot like a young Mike Modano – once he gets going, it doesn't matter how well defensemen control the gap against him.

Chris Kelly looked really good too. Picking him up last season was a great move by the Bruins. Kelly plays hard minutes and can do a lot of things well. The perfect bottom six forward, and great teams always seem to have a few of them.

Lucic played only 11 minutes, but managed to record three points.

Ovechkin and Backstrom both played almost 1/3 of their entire ice time on the power play last night. Both had two points, as well.

In a 5-2 win, Alex Semin managed to record zero points and a minus-2 rating.

Green and Wideman both saw over six minutes of PP ice time – Carlson saw under three. As mentioned above, the Caps saw a ton of power play time.

Brayden Schenn didn't have a great debut – minus-3 in limited ice time. He did record four hits, though. Couturier played more and recorded a goal.

Van Riemsdyk had seven shots on goal – no points, but it is encouraging to see him firing the puck at the net so much.

PK Subban continues his slow start – another doughnut last night, and still just one assist on the season. He’s playing some heavy minutes right now with so much inexperience on the back end (Diaz, Emelin, and Weber all playing a regular shift).

James Neal recorded another goal, continuing his hot play. His summer of training with the Gary Roberts crew has obviously paid off.

Without Letang (suspension), Paul Martin saw most of the PP time among Pittsburgh defensemen (over seven points, no points though).

Rumblings that Colorado is interested in Rene Bourque – I wonder if the Flames would be interested in a package including Tyson Barrie?

Defenseman Dougie Hamilton has 18 points in the first 10 games of his OHL season. The pick Boston received in the Kessel trade was used on Hamilton (the full trade breaks down as Kessel for Seguin, Hamilton, and Jared Knight).

Milan Michalek wants to prove to us that he isn't washed up and injury prone. Two goals and a helper last night – he's been one of the better Ottawa forwards to start the season.

Garon got the win for the Lightning last night – he's a good goaltender who lacks the consistency to be a starter. However, he could see more games than many expected if Roloson continues to struggle.

Tyler Kennedy is out for a few weeks with a concussion.

Mark Giordano is such an underrated defenseman – played a ton last night, scored a goal, and added seven shots on goal.

Calgary really, really, really needs a center for Iginla and Tanguay. Matt Stajan should be nowhere near an NHL top line. Mikael Backlund will get a shot to play there once he is healthy. Brendan Morrison played last night but he’s coming off of a few knee surgeries and is well past his prime.

Erik Johnson and Jan Hejda were a combined minus-5 with no points against Chicago last night.

The Pat Kane at center experiment continues. No points, four shots on goal, and he won three of eight faceoffs.

Both Varlamov and Crawford played great – Varlamov is such a fun goalie to watch. He is incredibly athletic and reactionary. I can see why the Avs are so high on him, but young goalies are usually pretty tough to rely on in fantasy pools.

Kesler scored his first goal in his second game back, and looked pretty good (a bit rusty, as expected).

Luongo was solid – not really tested, but made the saves he needed to. A nice win for him. His new mask is pretty nice, too.

The Sedin twins combined for five points and the Preds gave them a lot of time on the power play to set up. In the third period, both Suter and Weber were in the box at the same time (not a recipe for penalty killing success).

Salo had a helper and six shots on goal, filling in for Mikael Samuelsson on the top unit. He could have had a few goals as well.

Cody Hodgson continues to look pretty good. He’s making smart reads, moving his feet, and supporting his linemates. Once Kesler gets going at even strength, Hodgson could be a great playmaker for him.

Sturm looked much better after sitting out as a healthy scratch on Tuesday. He was skating more and had a few good scoring chances.

On the Nashville side, Colin Wilson stood out among the forwards. The team clearly misses Martin Erat a lot.

Jonathan Quick has back to back shutouts for the Kings. Continues to bury any semblance of a goaltending controversy in LA. Something will have to give eventually as Bernier is a fantastic goaltender.

Some AHL updates:

Loktionov (LAK) is leading the AHL in scoring in Manchester. He would have been in LA this season if not for the Richards trade. Great to see him go down to the AHL and dominate and not return back to Russia.

Andy Miele had a five point night on Tuesday night.

Kyle Palmieri has five goals in three games – if there is an injury in Anaheim's top six he'll likely fill in.

Joe Colborne is off to a great start as well – seven points in four games. The Leafs would be best off keeping him in the AHL as long as possible.

The Rangers had a new-look first unit PP last night – Stepan, Callahan, Richards, Gaborik, and Del Zotto.

Nail Yakupov has a nine game point streak going on right now (seven goals and 23 points).

Brandon Saad had four goals for Saginaw (not Sarnia, my mistake) last night.

Carolina signed Victor Rask to a rookie contract – Rask is playing in the WHL and has 10 points in eight games to start the season.

Martin Havlat will make his Sharks debut tonight.

I’ve got some support building for the open writing gig at the Province…