Grabner started the season on injured reserve and will be out until mid-to-late November after having surgery Thursday. The speedy winger will look to improve on his 12 goal, 14 assist performance from last season when he returns.
There was no report of an injury to Coburn this morning, but the news just came down as the Flyers hit the ice for warmups. Nick Schultz will slide into the lineup and make his Flyers regular season debut.
This summer's fourth overall pick is expected to make a full recovery, but will have to wait until next season to crack the Flames roster. This injury also means that Bennett will not be able to participate in the IIHF World Junior Championships starting on Boxing Day. Bennett has a bright NHL future ahead of him and he will be back in Flames camp next fall.
Tanev suffered an undisclosed injury in Wednesday's season opening 4-2 win over the Flames. Head coach Willie Desjardins did not shed any light onto Tanev's situation but hopes he is back for their next game which comes on Saturday. Tanev finished Wednesday's game with two assists, two shots and a minus-1 rating in 19:45 TOI. Note that Tanev had just 11 assists in 64 games last season.
Pavelec has lacked consistency throughout his career and that is to be expected again this season. He finished last season with just 22 wins, a 3.01 GAA and .901 SV% in 57 games. Expect him to be marginally better across the board this season, but the Jets did not do enough this offseason to suddenly become a playoff team. Pavelec is a nice third goaltending option and can put numbers up for you when he has favourable matchups.
Muzzin was on the ice for Kings practice this afternoon, but apparently the injury won't stop him from skating and he may even take warmups, but he will miss a couple more games. Muzzin's fill-in Brayden McNabb was a minus-1 with no shots in 23:27 TOI.
The numbers may have suggested that Frederik Andersen would get the start in tonight's season opener, but Gibson is from Whitehall, PA., a suburb located just six miles south of Pittsburgh, so he gets the nod vs. the Penguins. Gibson had a superb late-season run with the Ducks and should be in for a great season. However, both of these young goaltenders are talented and will battle all year long for playing time. For now it is Gibson who starts game 1 of the 82 game marathon.
Varlamov went 1-2 with a 2.31 GAA and .913 SV% in three preseason outings. Despite some legal troubles last season, Varly turned-in a great season in his first under head coach Patrick Roy. He led the NHL in wins (41) and finished with the league's third highest SV% (.927) and 20th GAA (2.41). The Avalanche appear ready to make another playoff push and they will lean heavily on Varlamov to get them there.
Wideman, who is the highest paid player on the Flames roster will be a healthy scratch tonight on the second night of a back-to-back. Wideman had no points and was a minus-1 in 16:30 against Vancouver last night. Raphael Diaz will enter the lineup fo Wideman.
van Riemsdyk, 23, is the brother of Maple Leafs forward James van Riemsdyk. Trevor will make his debut tonight with Niklas Hjalmarsson as his D partner. He spent the last three years at the University of New Hampshire and posted four goals and 19 assists (23 points) in 26 games last season.
Lundqvist is one of the best goalies in the world and he was a big reason why the Rangers were able to get to the Stanley Cup Finals last season. New York is a much different looking team than they were a season ago, but one thing that is the same is 'King Henrik'. If you drafted him in fantasy; it was early and you are not going to bench him, even against a tough Blues team.
Just three days after signing a three-year, $12 million dollar deal, Johansen will throw that Blue Jackets jersey on and lace em up tonight vs. the Sabres. He only has one practice and a gameday skate under him, so you can expect a little rust. With all the injuries in Columbus right now, the Jackets will lean heavily on Johansen and his linemates Nick Foligno and Cam Atkinson.
Rinne is coming off of a season where he was hampered by an infection in his surgically repaired hip. He made just 24 starts and posted a 2.77 GAA and .902 SV%, but chalk that up to a difficult season due to the injury. Expect Rinne to be back to his regular self with a GAA around 2.40 and SV% near .920. It starts tonight vs. Ottawa.
Weiss, 31, had a disastrous debut season with the Red Wings and 2014-15 will start with him sitting in the press box. He has played just 43 games and recorded only three goals and five assists over the last two season and with the emergence of Riley Sheahan and a healthy Darren Helm, Weiss may find it difficult to get into the lineup at times this season.
Crawford comes into 2014-15 having won 32 games with a 2.26 GAA and .917 SV% a season ago. He will get his year started against the Dallas Stars--a team he was 3-1-0 with a 2.22 GAA and .916 SV% against last season. With a great time in front of him, Crawford makes for a safe option on a nightly basis.
O’Dell, 24, appeared in 30 games with the Jets last season compiling seven points (3G, 4A) and 10 penalty minutes. He is a former scoring leader with the St. John’s IceCaps pacing the team with 55 points (29G, 26A) in 2012-13. In his AHL career, O’Dell has 119 points (58G, 61A) over 143 games with Chicago and St. John’s.
Gunnarsson has already been ruled out for the first week of the season but will not go on IR and should only miss three or four games. He is not an offensive threat and won't help you fantasy team, but will be a steady presence on the Blues back-end.
Leivo, 21, had a nice preseason and will likely be back with the Leafs at some point this season, but for now he heads back to the AHL where he had 23 goals and 19 assists (42 points) in 59 games last season.
Smith had a rough year in 2013-14, but should be in line for a bounce-back season. He is a good goalie on a defence-first team, which makes him a reliable fantasy option. The 2.64 GAA he posted last season, was the worst GAA he has posted in his three years in Arizona, so expect that number to creep closer to 2.40 in 2014-15. He starts the season with a nice matchup vs. Winnipeg.
Howard had an excellent preseason posting a 1.90 GAA and .943 SV% in three outings. He has said that he is feeling as good as he ever has to start a season and that is great news for the Red Wings, who will need Howie to bounce-back from a disappointing 2013-14. The Red Wings are a young team, but Mike Babcock has them playing a puck possession style that limits chances at the Red Wings' net--thus helping Howard.
