- Ansar Khan of MLive: The Red Wings are currently $2.4 million over the salary cap. They have 26 players under contract, 17 forwards, three more than they plan on carrying. Darren Helm will start the year on injured reserve. They will still have to have to lessen their roster by two. Gustav Nyquist and/or Danny DeKeyser could be sent to the AHL. They could trade or waive Jordin Tootoo, Patrick Eaves, Cory Emmerton or Mikael Samuelsson. They could trade Tomas Tatarif they feel he doesn’t fit into their long-term plans. GM Ken Holland gave support behind Nyquist and Tatar,
“Both played well for us last year. We like them both,” Holland said. “Tats was the AHL (playoff) MVP with 16 goals; that’s a lot of goals in a league where it’s hard to score. Certainly, the expectations are they’re going to be on the team.”
But, Holland also said of Nyquist, “There’s a chance he could go to the American League. He’s a good player. We want to win. We’re going to try to ice our best team against Buffalo (in the season opener Oct. 2).”
- Jeremy Rutherford: Blues strength coach stopped Roman Polak and Vladimir Tarasenko at 305 pounds as he doesn’t think hockey players need to bench more.
- Michael Smith: Hurricanes Group B lines: J. Staal with Ruutu, Dalpe. Lindholm with Skinner, Dvorak. Double-shifting on Tolchinsky’s line.
- Tom Gulitti: Devils lines, defensive pairings and goalie for today’s scrimmage:RED TEAM – Forwards: Michael Ryder-Adam Henrique-Ryan Clowe; Reid Boucher-Andrei Loktionov-Joe Whitney; Ryan Carter-Ryan Kujawinski-Harry Pesonen; Ben Thomson-Darcy Zajac-Chris McKelvie. Defensemen: Bryce Salvador-Marek Zidlicky; Brandon Burlon-Raman Hrabarenka; Seth-Helgeson-Damon Severson. Goaltenders: Martin Brodeur
WHITE TEAM – Forwards: Mattias Tedenby-Travis Zajac-Rostislav Olesz; Stefan Matteau-Stephen Gionta-Mike Sislo; Krys Barch-Jacob Josefson-Myles Bell Ben Johnson-Graham Black-David Wohlberg. Defensemen: Anton Volchenkov-Corbin McPherson; Jon Merrill-Mark Fayne; Eric Gelinas-Dan Kelly. Goaltenders: Cory Schneider