Betting Patrick Kane for the Art Ross, the impact of Stepan's injury and more…

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That was a depressing 48 hours of injuries to start this week as a number of really talented players went down with fairly significant injuries.  It's starting to make me question the whole point of pre-season hockey.

I know that some guys need to get their legs back and teams need to test their strategies in a game environment. They also need to give their new players a chance to compete for roster spots and develop chemistry. My question is whether or not they need six games to do so.

With off-season training regimens the way they are, basically no one actually needs a training camp to get into NHL shape. The days of sweating out last summer's beers are long gone.

Also, most teams are still implementing systems well into the season and they are even granted nine games with which to tryout junior players before they have to make a decision on whether or not to keep them. Sure, those games count in the standings but the teams still use them in a similar way that they use pre-season games in terms of trying out lineup combinations and implementing strategies.

Ultimately, you aren't getting rid of the pre-season. And the good news is that NHL teams are smart about how they deploy their best players during the pre-season. Teams do their best to limit their exposure and keep them ready for the real games. Still, players are getting hurt and the games don't mean anything, which makes the pre-season a pet peeve of mine.

I also happen to think that the NHL season is too long, the loser point is a huge loser, shootouts blow and so does Ondrej Pavelec but maybe we'll save those topics for another time.

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On the injury front, it turns out that Derek Stepan's injury is a broken leg. He'll miss the first month or so of the season, which will help to make this a second down season in a row for him.

Stepan will be sorely missed in the Rangers lineup as they lack depth up the middle. Look for Derick Brassard to step onto the top power play unit to open the year, which could give him a little boost, though there are no guarantees that power play unit will actually be any good.

Beyond Brassard, the Rangers options up the middle are Matt Lombardi and Dominic Moore… Yikes!

JT Miller is the front runner to jump up to big club and soak up Stepan's top six minutes, which makes him a dark horse to have a productive opening month. I might slide Miller in as a late round pick in deeper leagues to see if he can't catch fire early and then try to flip him. I'd do the same with Brassard though obviously he should be going much higher.