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.

Injury Updates 01/09/2010

Here are your NHL injury updates for tonight, January 9, 2010:

Tonight’s Injuries

New York Rangers

• Vinny Prospal skating, not expected to play today. [Steve Zipay]

Boston Bruins

• Marc Savard out 3-4 weeks. [The Boston Globe]
• Andrew Ference, Byron Bitz, Mark Stuart and Patrice Bergeron still out.

Florida Panthers

• David Booth, Kenndal McArdle and Dmitry Kulikov out.

Ottawa Senators

• Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson still out.
• Milan Michalek out with an undisclosed injury.

Goalie Starters 01/09/2010

Here are your expected starting goalies for tonight, January 9, 2010:

• Brian Elliot in nets according to Senators.com, via Twitter.
• Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe thinks Tuukka Rask starts today. Henrik Lundqvist should be his opponent, confirmed by Steve Zipay of Newsday.
• Tom Panaccio of CSN Philly writes Michael Leighton will get the nod tonight.
• Johan Hedberg makes another start according to Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal Constitution.

UPDATED @ 11:41 AM

• Martin Brodeur faces Jaroslav Halak according to Alexandre Lebrun of Corus Sports.
• Tarik El-Bashir of The Washington Post writes Michal Neuvirth gets another nod.

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 01/06/2010

Here are your NHL injury updates for tonight, January 6, 2010:

Tonight’s Injuries

Tampa Bay Lightning

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

Buffalo Sabres

• Patrick Kaleta still day-to-day.  Held out tonight. [Sabres Edge]

Dallas Stars

• No injuries.

Goalie Starters 01/06/2010

Here are your expected starting goalies for tonight, January 6, 2010:

• A couple of teams coming off back-to-back nights.  Marty Turco and Niklas Backstrom should be in nets considering their backups played last night.  I told think the situation is as cut and dry in Calgary or Toronto, so I will keep you posted on those decisions.  In addition, the Rangers, Blues and Flyers play the first of back-to-back games, so it will be interesting to see who they choose to start on which nights. (H/T to Joe English for the Turco decision)
• Michael Leighton confirmed by The Official Twitter Page of the Philadelphia Flyers.

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.