October 7, 2007
Dobber Sports
2007-10-07
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The Chicago Sun-Times is saying that Toews is likely to play on Wednesday. He has been out with a broken finger.
For the last half of the Leaf game last night, Ponikarovsky was reunited with Antropov and Sundin and he looked very impressive there. Blake was moved to Stajan and Steen's line.
Bobby Ryan has been assigned to Portland. Drew Miller and Jason King have been recalled.
Finally, some movement on the Bryan Berard front. Freddie Meyer has been waived and if he clears he will be demoted to Bridgeport, clearing the way for a Berard signing.
Tom Renney scratched Paul Mara last night. Clearly the talented rearguard is in the wrong city and I do not see this treatment changing anytime soon. It would be wise to just reserve him for now and see how things unfold – no power play time followed by a healthy scratch.
Sean Avery left last night's contest with an injured shoulder. There is no official word on the injury as of yet, but early reports are that it is a sprained shoulder and it looks serious enough to keep him on the shelf for awhile. Marcel Hossa, who has been scratched twice now, will probably draw back in, or Nigel Dawes will be recalled.
Marc Savard left last night's contest with either a groin or abdominal injury. It was discomfort that he felt, and shutting it down was strictly precautionary. The sense that I get will be that he will rest for a few days and then get back out there, but nothing has been announced in Boston yet. Glen Metropolit took his shifts – both even strength and PP. The team doesn't play until Wednesday so Savard may not miss a single game.
A goalie contraversy is in full swing in Beantown. Manny Fernandez has one loss and stopped 14 of 18 shots. Tim Thomas has one win and stopped 36 of 37 shots. Another two weeks of this and Thomas will be the full-blown starter again.
While Brandon Bochenski was a healthy scratch and Phil Kessel had just 13 minutes of ice time, rookie David Krejci continues to establish himself as a top six forward. His 17:44 was more ice time than Glen Murray and PJ Axelsson. He also saw time on the PP and SH.
The line of Dustin Brown, Mike Cammalleri and Anze Kopitar dominated last night, combining for eight points.
Manny Legace left last night's game with 7:25 remaining in the second period after tweaking the right knee that required arthroscopic surgery on February 27. He missed the final 16 games of last season.
Ladislav Nagy played just 10 minutes in last night's contest, including just 1:43 in the third period. That's a bit of a red flag, although he was used in the final minute when the Kings tried to tie the game.
Bryan Little played over 17 minutes last night on a line with Kovalchuk and Eric Perrin. Brett Sterling was pushed back to the fourth line, but still played 14 minutes (including some PP and SH time – always a good sign that the coach trusts a rookie to kill penalties)
Mike Van Ryn was a healthy scratch last night. Cory Murphy scored a goal, securing his spot in the lineup. Bryan Allen is a minus-5 so far.
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It took over five and a half periods, but Nashville's Chris Mason finally allowed his first goal of the season. He is extremely underrated and I was able to steal him in a couple of leagues this year.
Carolina rearguard Mike Commodore missed last night's contest with a sore hip.
Ales Kotalik skated yesterday for the first time since hurting his ankle. He is not ready to get back into the lineup though.
Sidney Crosby took a shot off the foot – the same foot that was broken at the end of last season. He later returned to the game, but the foot had swollen up. X-Rays revealed no fracture.
Cory Stillman, who suffered a torso injury in a minor car accident this week, missed his third game last night. He is still day-to-day.
Peter Mueller played 9:10 last night and Martin Hanzal played 14:32. Mueller will be awhile before he starts producing methinks. Expect 35 points this season – with 25 of them in the second half.
Alexander Semin was back in the Caps lineup and played over 16 minutes, picking up an assist.
Tomas Fleischmann played just over eight minutes and again did not get any power play time. He looks like a full-timer, but will be brought along slowly. This year won't be his year that's becoming apparent.
Bought the Pool Guide? Here is a one-page supplemental sheet to give you the update.
Every week, Ken Henderson draws up amusing hockey cartoons and has given DobberHockey permission to post. To introduce you to his work, I will be posting his cartoons daily for the next several days, before giving you his weekly stuff every Saturday.
Visit Ken Henderson's site Offside Sports for more of his work.