Power Rankings Week Through 01/09/2010

NHL Power Rankings presented by The Hockey Guys. These rankings will be released every Sunday directly following the show and summarize the thinking of Anthony Curatolo, Brandon Augienello and Dustin Leed.

Legend: Rank – Team – Record – (Last Week) Position Change

1. Chicago Blackhawks 31-10-4 (2) +1 When you are the best you simply are the best.
2. San Jose Sharks 28-10-7 (1) -1 A few losses have shifted gears in the power rankings for the Sharks.
3. New Jersey Devils 31-10-1 (3) N/C Although the lights went out in New Jersey, the Devils haven’t lost a step in their standings.
4. Buffalo Sabres 28-11-5 (6) +2 Good teams prove that winning comes more often then not.
5. Washington Capitals 27-11-6 (9) +4 Captain Ovechking leads the charge and Washington climbs back into the top five.

Goalie Starters and Injury Updates 01/10/2010

Here are your NHL injury updates and goalie starters for tonight, January 10, 2010:

Ottawa Senators

• Milan Michalek, Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza expected out.
• Jesse Winchester out a month. [Ian Mendes]
• Filip Kuba left yesterday’s game due to injury, he is day-to-day.
• Pascal Leclaire should be in goal after watching backup Brian Elliot lose last night.  Confirmed by Ian Mendes of Sportsnet

Carolina Hurricanes

• Tuomo Ruutu will miss a few weeks with an upper body injury. [Canes Now]
• Erik Cole and Sergei Samsonov skated and should return next week.
• Eric Staal expected back tonight. [Mike Maniscalco]
• Joe Corvo, Scott Walker and Chad LaRose still out.
• Cam Ward as always expected to start, will get a confirmation later.

Injury Updates 01/08/2010

Here are your NHL injury updates for tonight, January 8, 2010:

Tonight’s Injuries

Colorado Avalanche

• Brett Clark, David Jones and Ruslan Salei expected to miss tonight’s game.
• JM Liles out, due to illness. [Denver Post]

Carolina Hurricanes

• Sergei Samsonov, Scott Walker, Erik Cole, Chad LaRose and Joe Corvo still out.

Tampa Bay Lightning

• Matt Walker back in, he replaces Andrej Meszaros. [Lightning Twitter]
• Jeff Halpern and Todd Fedoruk remain out.

New Jersey Devils

• David Clarkson, Dainius Zubrus and Paul Martin remain out.

Goalie Starters 01/08/2010

Here are your expected starting goalies for tonight, January 8, 2010:

• Tom Gulitti of The Record thinks Martin Brodeur gets the nod tonight.  Pretty safe bet if you ask me.
• Mike Smith gets the nod according to Erik Erlendsson of The Tampa Tribune
• Mike Harrington of The Sabres Edge puts Ryan Miller in nets.
• Rick DiPietro starts today according to Katie Strang of Newsday.

UPDATED @ 1:43 PM

• Curtis McElhinney starts in net, reported by Alex Ruiz of Flames.com.
• Mike Harrington of Sabres Edge expects Jonas Gustavsson to start in nets. Still waiting on a confirmation on the Leafs end, but it makes sense.

Injury Updates 01/07/2010

Here are your NHL injury updates for tonight, January 7, 2010:

Tonight’s Injuries

New York Rangers

• Vaclav Prospal remains out.

Atlanta Thrashers

• Kari Lehtonen and Mark Popovic still out.

Chicago Blackhawks

• Cam Barker still out of the lineup. [Blackhawks]
• Adam Burish and Dave Bolland still out.

Boston Bruins

• Milan Lucic to return Saturday. [Boston Globe]
• Andrew Ference out six weeks. [Boston Globe]
• Mark Stuart and Patrice Bergeron still out.

Ottawa Senators

• Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza still out.

Goalie Starters 01/07/2010

Here are your expected starting goalies for tonight, January 7, 2010:

• Marc Andre Fleury expected to start against the Flyers Thursday night, Seth Rorabaugh of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
• Tim Thomas left the ice first Thursday morning, indicating that he will start the Bruins’ night game against Chicago, the Boston Globe’s Fluto Shinzawa reports.
• Pascal Leclaire missed Wednesday’s practice for maintenance reasons, but is expected to play on Thursday night against Washington reports James Gordon of the Ottawa Citizen.
• Coach John Anderson will start Johan Hedberg against the Rangers says Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal Consistution.
• Jay Zawaski of 670 The Score reports Antti Niemi in nets for the Hawks.
• Thanks again to Joe English, I pretty much use his help verbatim with the tips.

Keeper Watch: First Rounders in Action

‘Keeper Watch’ will come out every Wednesday or Thursday, noting the changes in value for top prospects who are most likely available in your league. We will also focus on young players once considered top prospects. Similarly to our ‘Endorsed Pickups’ I will try not to focus too much on one position, which will leave some noteworthy players off the list.

This edition of Keeper Watch much like last week’s edition will take an extended look at some top prospects and their assent through the minors.  Most of those mentioned are either first round picks or highly regarded within their organizations.

C: Jiri Tlusty, Carolina Hurricanes – In his three games in Carolina before a recent demotion, the 21-year-old center scored a goal and an assist.  The talented Czech and former 13th overall pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2006 shows tons of promise, adding to what could be an impressive young core.  With injuries to Eric Cole and Chad LaRose there should be some minutes available while the Canes rebuild.  I expect Tlusty to get a longer look this time around.

Prognosis: Lots of potential should he get good minutes.  Monitor his position on the team, he should get an opportunity once some veterans are moved.

Power Rankings Week Ending 01/03/2010

NHL Power Rankings presented by The Hockey Guys. These rankings will be released every Sunday directly following the show and summarize the thinking of Anthony Curatolo, Brandon Augienello and Dustin Leed.

Legend: Team – Record – Position Change (Last Week)

1. San Jose Sharks - 27-8-7 (4) +3  Winners of 8 straight have propelled the Sharks to the top of the THG Power Rankings. Best team in the league deserves the best.
2. Chicago Blackhawks – 28-10-3 (2) N/C The Hawks will not go away this year and look really strong. Don’t expect a drop out of the top five much at all.
3. New Jersey Devils – 29-10-1 (1) -3 Mr. Brodeur is the best in the game, and his Devils are atop the East. Need we say more?
4. Colorado Avalanche – 24-13-6 (12) +8 The Avalanche have made strides this season and are showing that not only was it a hot start to keep them where they are.
5. Nashville Predators- 25-14-3 (6) +1 The Preds have been coming on strong, more so as of late.  Dark horse in the West? Absolutely.

Injury Updates 01/02/2010

This thread will be updated all day, so keep refreshing it as the day goes along. Just a quick note, if I omitted a source it is due to a previous report with no recent updates. Here are your injury updates for tonight:

Injuries Tonight

Carolina Hurricanes

• Scott Walker and Sergei Samsonov out for today’s match. They will be replaced by Zach Boychuk and Jiri Tlusty.
• Eric Cole, Joe Corvo and Chad LaRose remain out.

New York Rangers

• Vaclav Prospal expected out another couple of weeks.

Vancouver Canucks

• Kevin Bieksa, Pavol Demitra and Ryan Johnson out.

Dallas Stars

• Everybody healthy!

Tampa Bay Lightning

• Matt Walker, Todd Fedoruk and Jeff Halpern still out.

Goalie Starters 01/02/2010

Please remember to keep refreshing this page or follow me on Twitter for the fastest updates. Here are your expected starting goalies for tonight:

• Andrew Gross of The Record writes Matt Zaba will back up Henrik Lundqvist for the Rangers.  Bob Harwood Waeghe of Canes Country writes Cam Ward should be in net.
• Mike Heika of The Dallas Morning News predicts Marty Turco facing Roberto Luongo.

UPDATED @ 12:02 PM

• Mike Smith and Marc Andre Fleury expected in nets according to Seth Rorabaugh’s Empty Netters.

UPDATED @ 12:16 PM

• Pekka Rinne starts for the Preds, says their official Twitter.

UPDATED @ 1:03 PM

• Michael Russo of The Star Tribune puts Martin Brodeur and Niklas Backstrom in nets for their teams, respectively.