Good morning hockey fans. Happy Thanksgiving! I guess I have to start with Tomas Hertl. What an amazing start by the Shark rookie.  Do you think the Alex Edler hit was a message for the disrespect show to Ranger goaltender Marty Biron?  Remember, Tortorella was Biron's coach the past few seasons. San Jose, Colorado and St, Louis are undefeated as is Calgary but they have 2 OTL. Who woulda thunk it about Colorado and especially Calgary?  I know, it's early. The NY Rangers and the Edmonton Oilers have given up the most goals so far this season; 25. I thought the Blueshirts defense was better than that.  I'm sure they will turn it around, don't you? New Jersey doesn't have a win yet? I know they miss Kovalchuk but this is ridiculous.  I thought they had tremendous goaltending? I would like to extend a warm welcome to the newest NHL franchise, the Columbus Blue Jackets. They are finally playing alike an NHL club. And, they are fun to watch. The first game for Hockey Night In Canada last night paired two up and coming exciting teams, the Oilers and Maple Leafs. And they didn't disappoint with a 6-5 overtime doozy. The Detroit Red Wings seem to like playing in the Eastern Conference. I'm sure the Boston Bruins are happy that Loui Eriksson finally got on the board last night; but not as happy as the Dallas Stars are with budding Superstar Tyler Seguin's 4-point night against the Jets on Friday. Yakupov being scratched from the Oiler lineup against the Leafs really messed with their defense, lol. Pavel Datsyuk is just amazing. I think Sidney Crosby had enough of this Hertl frenzy, so he went out and scored a hat trick. Patrick Roy and the Colorado Avalanche are another feel-good story early on. Semyon Varlamov is playing like Patrick Roy. Or maybe, he IS Patrick Roy in net? The Sabres lost again last night and have no wins but don't blame G Ryan Miller. His numbers are actually really good.  2.29 GAA and A .941 SP....not too shabby. The Rangers were STEEN-rolled in St. Louis last night. I'll give them 20 games, just like it took the Washington Capitals a little while to get adjusted to Adam Oates game plan. The Nashville Predators finally played their type of game, limiting the NY Islanders to 16 shots on goal. Rookie defenseman scored his first NHL goal, on the power play.  Congrats! Dan Ellis is no Kari LEhtonen. Whatever happened to promising defenseman named Alex Goligoski? Boy, he certainly went south in the scoring department. Zach Parise had 7 SOG last...

The big story surrounding the San Jose Shark's early surge has been the stellar play of Czech rookie Tomas Hertl, who has "fit like a glove" on the first line with Joe Thornton and Brent Burns. Well, he outdid himself last night after scoring his first NHL "hat trick", plus another highlight-reel goal for good measure in the Sharks 9-2 drubbing of the New York Rangers. The 19-year old now leads the entire league with 6 goals and 7 points, while sitting second with a +5 rating. It's obviously way too early to hand him over the Calder Trophy, but his early performance should not be discounted, either. This is the type of young player with "Jaromir Jagr"-like potential, that can really motivate a veteran like Thornton to keep pushing him to new heights. He is worth an immediate waiver-wire grab in all leagues, but could end up being fantasy gold in keeper formats. Other Fantasy Notes: Roberto Luongo wins the showdown against former goalie mate Cory Schneider, stopping 21 of 23 shots in Vancouver's 3-2 OT win over New Jersey. The real fantasy star of the night was defenseman Jason Garrison, who scored the overtime goal, his third of the season, and extended his point streak to four games. He is looking very legit in the early going, but it's probably too late to pick him up.... No James Neal? No problem for the Penguins, as Jussi Jokinen scored his first career "hat trick", including two on the power-play. Even though he will lose PP time when Neal returns, it's worth noting that he has collected 14 points in 13 games since being traded to Pittsburgh. If he stays on the 2nd line, 60 pts. is a definite possibility.... Need a d-man? You were warned by us that Jamie McBain can have a fantasy impact on his new team, the Buffalo Sabres. The 25-year old scored a goal and an assist, both on the powerplay, and logged 4:24 minutes on the top PP unit. Tyler Myers has "gone south" in a hurry, so keep McBain on your radar.... John Tavares scored his first two goals and now has four points in three games, but what about that second line on Long Island? Michael Grabner, Frans Nielson, and Josh Bailey combined for 9 points in the 6-1 romp over Phoenix. I like Grabner the best out of the lot for fantasy purposes. He has 35+ goal potential.. Speaking of Phoenix, Mike Ribeiro has yet to register a single point through three games. We saw that coming. Hopefully, you read our '13-14 Fantasy Guide and did not overrate him based on his gaudy numbers with Washington last season.....

The big story surrounding the San Jose Shark's early surge has been the stellar play of Czech rookie Tomas Hertl, who has "fit like a glove" on the first line with Joe Thornton and Brent Burns. Well, he outdid himself last night after scoring his first NHL "hat trick", plus another highlight-reel goal for good measure in the Sharks 9-2 drubbing of the New York Rangers. The 19-year old now leads the entire league with 6 goals and 7 points, while sitting second with a +5 rating. It's obviously way too early to hand him over the Calder Trophy, but his early performance should not be discounted, either. This is the type of young player with "Jaromir Jagr"-like potential, that can really motivate a veteran like Thornton to keep pushing him to new heights. He is worth an immediate waiver-wire grab in all leagues, but could end up being fantasy gold in keeper formats. Other Fantasy Notes: Roberto Luongo wins the showdown against former goalie mate Cory Schneider, stopping 21 of 23 shots in Vancouver's 3-2 OT win over New Jersey. The real fantasy star of the night was defenseman Jason Garrison, who scored the overtime goal, his third of the season, and extended his point streak to four games. He is looking very legit in the early going, but it's probably too late to pick him up.... No James Neal? No problem for the Penguins, as Jussi Jokinen scored his first career "hat trick", including two on the power-play. Even though he will lose PP time when Neal returns, it's worth noting that he has collected 14 points in 13 games since being traded to Pittsburgh. If he stays on the 2nd line, 60 pts. is a definite possibility.... Need a d-man? You were warned by us that Jamie McBain can have a fantasy impact on his new team, the Buffalo Sabres. The 25-year old scored a goal and an assist, both on the powerplay, and logged 4:24 minutes on the top PP unit. Tyler Myers has "gone south" in a hurry, so keep McBain on your radar.... John Tavares scored his first two goals and now has four points in three games, but what about that second line on Long Island? Michael Grabner, Frans Nielson, and Josh Bailey combined for 9 points in the 6-1 romp over Phoenix. I like Grabner the best out of the lot for fantasy purposes. He has 35+ goal potential.. Speaking of Phoenix, Mike Ribeiro has yet to register a single point through three games. We saw that coming. Hopefully, you read our '13-14 Fantasy Guide and did not overrate him based on his gaudy numbers with Washington last season.....

Coming off a career-high 16-goal season in '11-12 for the Florida Panthers which resulted in him signing a six-year/$27.6 million contract with Vancouver, defenseman Jason Garrison was expected to make a huge offensive impact last season. Instead, Coach Alain Vigneault inexplicably left him off the Canuck's top power-play unit, and his numbers suffered as a result. Despite the lack of PP time, the 28-year old still ended up with 8 goals and managed to collect 8 of his 16 points in the last 11 games. When new coach John Tortorella took over the team in the off-season, he instantly spoke of improving the Canuck's efforts with the man advantage, which ranked 22 in the league last season. This is why he has decided to go with Jason Garrison, who owns a howitzer of a shot and provides the ideal compliment to Alex Edler's sublime passing abilities. After all, Tortorella lacked that kind of powerful shot during his time with the Rangers, so you know he will maximize the use of his secret weapon. So far, the hard-shooting blueliner has two goals and two assists over the first three games. For now, as long as Garrison anchors the first power-play unit with Edler on the blueline, his fantasy value is on a steep rise. If somehow he is available in your leagues, scoop him up immediately. Wiercioch Moving Up: After the departure of offensive d-man Sergei Gonchar to Dallas, the Ottawa Senators needed to fill his vacancy on the power-play. Enter young Patrick Wiercioch, who played admirably as a rookie last season, and stepped on to the top PP unit when Erik Karlsson was injured with decent results, scoring 3 goals and 7 assists. His 19 points overall in 42 games were ok, but now the youngster gets a chance to form a tandem with Karlsson with the man-advantage and reap the benefits of more quality-ice time. With two assists in his first two games, he is off to a fine start and should be a solid mid-range fantasy option in all fantasy formats. Parting Shots: With Kris Letang still missing time for Pittsburgh, Paul Martin and Matt Niskanen continue to pay fantasy dividends. However, when Letang returns, Niskanen's fantasy value will be ZERO.... Carolina's stud prospect Ryan Murphy logged a team high 5:31 minutes on the power play Saturday night, including picking up an assist. This is not a misprint. There is plenty of opportunity here for solid production, so pluck him off the waiver wire if you are in need of help on defense.. Oliver Ekman-Larsson is questionable for ...

UPDATE: The Philadelphia Flyers have fired Head Coach Peter Laviolette after the team opened the season 0-3.  The team is expected to announce Craig Berube as Head Coach.  It will be interesting to see how Berube will motivate this bunch. As expected last night, the Jet's faithful cheered loudly for Anaheim's Teemu Selanne, who was making his last appearance in Winnipeg prior to his impending retirement after the end of the '13-14 season. The "Finnish Flash" played for four seasons with the Jets, which including his record-breaking 76-goal explosion during his rookie year. However, Selanne's new team, the Ducks, prevailed thanks to Corey Perry's overtime game-winning goal. Perry should have a bounce-back season, but like we said before, do not expect a repeat of his 98-point effort in '10-11. He looks sharp in the early going. Winnipeg's top line was responsible for most of the offense, with Andrew Ladd scoring two goals and Blake Wheeler contributing two assists. With the Evander Kane line also clicking, Winnipeg's top-six should be formidable in fantasy circles. Other Fantasy Game Notes Vancouver's Eddie Lack stopped 32 of 36 shots, winning his NHL debut in goal, but he will only get a handful of starts backing up Roberto Luongo this season.. D Jason Garrison is getting tons of time on the top PP unit under new Vancouver Coach John Tortorella, so his fantasy value is on the rise....There was a Jeff Skinner sighting in Carolina's 2-1 win over Philadelphia, where the speedy winger picked up two assists. He will rebound in a big way.

UPDATE: The Philadelphia Flyers have fired Head Coach Peter Laviolette after the team opened the season 0-3.  The team is expected to announce Craig Berube as Head Coach.  It will be interesting to see how Berube will motivate this bunch. As expected last night, the Jet's faithful cheered loudly for Anaheim's Teemu Selanne, who was making his last appearance in Winnipeg prior to his impending retirement after the end of the '13-14 season. The "Finnish Flash" played for four seasons with the Jets, which including his record-breaking 76-goal explosion during his rookie year. However, Selanne's new team, the Ducks, prevailed thanks to Corey Perry's overtime game-winning goal. Perry should have a bounce-back season, but like we said before, do not expect a repeat of his 98-point effort in '10-11. He looks sharp in the early going. Winnipeg's top line was responsible for most of the offense, with Andrew Ladd scoring two goals and Blake Wheeler contributing two assists. With the Evander Kane line also clicking, Winnipeg's top-six should be formidable in fantasy circles. Other Fantasy Game Notes Vancouver's Eddie Lack stopped 32 of 36 shots, winning his NHL debut in goal, but he will only get a handful of starts backing up Roberto Luongo this season.. D Jason Garrison is getting tons of time on the top PP unit under new Vancouver Coach John Tortorella, so his fantasy value is on the rise....There was a Jeff Skinner sighting in Carolina's 2-1 win over Philadelphia, where the speedy winger picked up two assists. He will rebound in a big way.

As expected last night, the Jet's faithful cheered loudly for Anaheim's Teemu Selanne, who was making his last appearance in Winnipeg prior to his impending retirement after the end of the '13-14 season. The "Finnish Flash" played for four seasons with the Jets, which including his record-breaking 76-goal explosion during his rookie year. However, Selanne's new team, the Ducks, prevailed thanks to Corey Perry's overtime game-winning goal. Perry should have a bounce-back season, but like we said before, do not expect a repeat of his 98-point effort in '10-11. He looks sharp in the early going. Winnipeg's top line was responsible for most of the offense, with Andrew Ladd scoring two goals and Blake Wheeler contributing two assists. With the Evander Kane line also clicking, Winnipeg's top-six should be formidable in fantasy circles. Other Fantasy Game Notes Vancouver's Eddie Lack stopped 32 of 36 shots, winning his NHL debut in goal, but he will only get a handful of starts backing up Roberto Luongo this season.. D Jason Garrison is getting tons of time on the top PP unit under new Vancouver Coach John Tortorella, so his fantasy value is on the rise....There was a Jeff Skinner sighting in Carolina's 2-1 win over Philadelphia, where the speedy winger picked up two assists. He will rebound in a big way.

Garrison will be a healthy scratch tonight. The Canucks are in the playoffs so they are resting their star players.

After the big contract in the offseason, Garrison has gotten off to an immensely slow start to the season. With 2 points in the first 13 games and no powerplay points, Garrison's value takes a hit if he loses out on the PP opportunity.

Nothing new to report in the NHL Lockout negotiations. Happy Birthday to Dallas Stars D Brenden Dillon and Vancouver Canucks D Jason Garrison! A small taste of what to expect in the NHL In 30 Series... read more