October 29, 2007
Dobber Sports
2007-10-29
'Special Agent' Peter Bondra has announced his retirement and he will manage the Slovakian National Team. I drafted Bondra in one of my keeper leagues before he entered the NHL and he was probably the player that I owned the longest – a good seven or eight years.
Carey Price will get the start tomorrow against Atlanta – finally, a non-Pittsburgh/ Ottawa team!
Tampa rearguard Dan Boyle accompanied the team on their three-game road trip and hopes to return to the lineup during the trip. That could spell the end of Paul Ranger's fantastic production.
Chris Clark (ear) and Alexander Semin (ankle) will miss today's contest against the Leafs. Tom Poti (groin) will again be a game time decision.
Pittsburgh prospect Kris Letang has been a healthy scratch in the AHL for two games because of his weak defensive play. He was back in the lineup again, however, and scored a goal.
Nashville prospect Pekka Rinne is having a strong AHL start. Rinne is 5-2 for the Admirals with a 1.99 goals-against average and a .932 save percentage.
Dallas Drake (cheek) is cleared to play, but was a healthy scratch last night.
Dominik Hasek is targeting a November 7 return. Meanwhile, Chris Osgood is 5-0-0.
Nik Kronwall missed last night's contest with the ever popular groin injury.
Ryan Getzlaf's wrist held him out of last night's contest, but he should be back Thursday.
Glen Metropolit has replaced Patrice Bergeron between Sturm and Kobasew, while Dennis Wideman has moved up to the top PP unit in Bergeron's place there. The injury to Bergeron opens up a roster spot for Brandon Bochenski who will finally play an NHL shift Thursday. Later today we will find out just how long Bergeron is out for, but he will definitely miss the next three games – likely much longer.
Florida rearguard Noah Welch will be on the shelf until December recovering from shoulder surgery.
Buffalo's signing of Nolan Pratt likely means that Andrej Sekera will be returned to Rochester. They would rather he have minutes there than be the No.7 guy with the Sabres.
Martin Havlat is looking to practice with the team again Thursday. With no setbacks, he will be back in mid-November. By the end of November, he should be out again with either a knee or a groin injury – I'll have to check the Havlat injury schedule.
Robert Lang, Jason Williams and Tuomo Ruutu all missed practice because of injuries. Lang has a sore back, the other two have groin injuries. All three injuries are minor and they will be in the lineup against Dallas.
Wojtek Wolski is on a seven-game point streak.
Jonathan Toews has nine points this season – one in every game he has played in his NHL career.
Fredrik Modin (groin) is expected to take part in practice today.