Around the NHL - Mon 6 Oct

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Posted by admin on 6th, 2008

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Injury Updates:

Jere Lehtinen: Groin injury
Lehtinen sat out the final preseason game today due to a groin injury. (Yahoo! Sports)
Tim Connolly ready for season opener
Connolly (back) says that he feels fine and will play in Friday’s season opener, according to The Buffalo News. (Yahoo! Sports)
Gaborik back at full speed
Wild’s Marian Gaborik is back at full speed, and scored a goal in today’s preseason game against Montreal (Yahoo! Sports)
Jimmy Howard: Broken finger
Howard suffered a broken fingertip prior to Saturday’s game against the
Leafs and he’ll likely be out one week as a result, the Detroit News
reports. (ESPN)
Datsyuk: returning to action
Datsyuk (groin) returned to action for the preseason finale on Sunday, the Detroit News reports. (ESPN)
Marian Hossa missed third period
Hossa sat out the third period of Sunday’s preseason finale against
Buffalo due to a minor groin injury, the Detroit News reports. (ESPN)
Karlis Skrastins: Upper body injury
Skrastins did not practice Saturday because of an upper-body injury, according to the Miami Herald. (ESPN)
Stephen Weiss: Groin injury
Weiss (groin) participated in Saturday’s practice, his first in over a week, according to the Miami Herald. (ESPN)
Nick Tarnasky continues to practice
Tarnasky (broken thumb) continues to practice, but it remains to be
seen whether he’ll be ready for the season opener, the Nashville
Tennessean reports. (ESPN)

Team News:

Melrose not liking what he sees with Lightning
Perhaps Barry Melrose should have known better. After spending more than a decade as a television analyst, the 52-year-old Melrose opted to return to the bench as coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning, who finished the 2007-08 season with an NHL-worst 31 wins. And after the Lightning dropped a pair of 2-1 decisions to the New York Rangers this weekend - and were outshot, 80-40, in the process - the normally relaxed coach was rather vocal with his displeasure. (Yahoo! Sports)
Luongo wearing the “C” on mask
Roberto Luongo is sporting a C
after all. The Vancouver captain, forbidden by NHL rules from wearing
the letter on his jersey because he is a goaltender, sported a new C on
his mask Sunday night as the Canucks hosted Anaheim in the final
2008-09 pre-season game for both clubs. “It can stand for whatever he
wants it to stand for,” said Vancouver general manager Mike Gillis,
when asked if the C stood for Canucks or captain. (Yahoo! Sports)

Signings & Acquisitions:

Canucks sign 1st round Hodgson
The Vancouver Canucks signed top 2008 draft choice Cody Hodgson to an NHL entry-level contract Sunday. “Cody has done what we expected him to do,” said Canucks general manager Mike Gillis. “He came in really well prepared.” (Yahoo! Sports)
View more NHL and Minor League transactions at NHL.com

Trades & Rumours:

From Spectorshockey.net (click to view the full report):

CHICAGO TRIBUNE: Chris Kuc reported Blackhawks goalie Nikolai Khabiblin remains in limbo while Blackhawks GM Dale Tallon “explores opportunities” to benefit the netminder and the Blackhawks.
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: Len Ziehm reports Khabibulin could end up playing in Russia.”Tallon hasn’t been able to move Khabibulin to another NHL team.
EDMONTON JOURNAL: Jim Matheson reports on some trade possibilities for the Minnesota Wild if forced to deal Marian Gaborik, who’ll be a UFA next summer. One suggestion was to peddle him to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Evgeni Malkin as the Pens are “very weak on the wing”.
Matheson also reports that if the Chicago Blackhawks fail to land Washington’s Michael Nylander they might pursue Boston’s Marc Savard, suggesting the Bruins might do it if they got defenseman Brent Seabrook and young winger Jack Skille in return.
BOSTON HERALD: Stephen Harris reports Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli has said there’s a good chance he’ll make a trade in the coming days and there’s no doubt he’s been trying to move veteran forward Peter Schaefer to free up cap space for promising youngster Blake Wheeler. If Schaefer isn’t traded Harris suggests he could be waived and demoted.
CALGARY SUN: Randy Sportak reports Flames GM Darryl Sutter needs to pare three players and more than $1 million from his payroll prior to the start of the season.
PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE: Dave Molinari reports the Penguins could find some extra cap room to bring in more depth by placing injured defenseman Sergei Gonchar on the long-term injury status, noting that the club would be allowed to go over the cap to the amount of Gonchar’s salary for this season to bring in a replacement for as long as he remains on the long term injury list.
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: reports the Flyers have released defenseman Bryan Berard and center Jim Dowd.

Game Results:

NHL Regular Season Games:

Tampa Bay vs NY Rangers
Tampa Bay	1	Final
NY Rangers	2	Box Score

Ottawa vs Pittsburgh
Ottawa	3	Final
Pittsburgh	1	Box Score

NHL Preseason Games:

Nashville vs Carolina
Nashville	0	Final
Carolina	2	Box Score

Boston vs Washington
Boston	5	Final SO
Washington	4	Box Score

Buffalo vs Detroit
Buffalo	0	Final
Detroit	3	Box Score

Columbus vs Toronto
Columbus	5	Final SO
Toronto	4	Box Score

Colorado vs Chicago
Colorado	4	Final OT
Chicago	3	Box Score

Edmonton vs Dallas
Edmonton	3	Final
Dallas	2	Box Score

Los Angeles vs San Jose
Los Angeles	1	Final
San Jose	3	Box Score

Anaheim vs Vancouver
Anaheim	4	Final OT
Vancouver	3	Box Score