Western Conference Review

October 1, 2008 5:48pm CDT

Anaheim Ducks
The Ducks finally moved Mathieu Schneider, sending him to the Atlanta Thrashers for Ken Klee, Brad Larsen and Chad Painchaud. None of that trop is worthy paying any attention to, but Schneider is an interesting play. Being able to quarterback a power-play highlighted by Ilya Kovalchuk means that Schneider's value increases with this trade even though the team he is going to is much worse ... The Ducks also made a second move in sending 14-year NHL veteran Sean O'Donnell to cross-town rival Los Angeles in exchange for a 2009 conditional draft pick. O'Donnell is a great teammate but his fantasy relevance is microscopic.

Calgary Flames
Curtis McElhinney shutout the Oilers on Tuesday night in an excellent showing. Curtis figures to serve as the caddy to Miikka Kiprusoff this year, but unless something goes wrong he shouldn't expect to see action in more than 10-15 games, tops ... Youngster Dustin Boyd continues to shine this preseason and is one of the leagues leading scorers with seven points (the same total as David Moss). He has a two-way contract which means he could be sent to the minors, but he has shown an awful lot so far and just might make the club ... The team still isn't certain who will skate on the first line with Jarome Iginla and Daymond Langkow. At this point, it appears either Rene Bourque or Mike Cammalleri will earn the plum role.

Chicago Blackhawks
Nikolai Khabibulin has cleared waivers and will either be assigned to the minors or be traded. As much as the team had stated that they wanted Nikolai to battle with newly acquired Cristobal Huet in net the writing has been on the wall that the Bulin Wall was done in Chicago ... The 'Hawks likely have one open forward spot left and two worthy players are vying for that role. Jack Skille had a game-winning goal over the weekend; a week after Troy Brouwer also scored a game-winner. Based on pedigree, one would think the club would go with Skille (first-round, 2005) over Brouwer (seventh-round, 2004), though both players have addressed their weaknesses (shot for Skille and skating for Brouwer).

Colorado Avalanche

John-Michael Liles suffered a scare over the weekend when he took a stick to the eye. Lucky the injury was minor and he was back at practice in a couple of days ... Speaking of injury, the team has a whole lot of guys dealing with injury. Milan Hejduk has missed time due to a bad back. Adam Foote has missed time with a sore groin. Ditto David Jones. Wojtek Wolski missed about two weeks because of a sore foot. Cody McLeod has missed time with a hip pointer. None of the injuries appear serious ... Marek Svatos is ready to rock in his return from a foot that has kept him out since last March. He should play on Wednesday night. "It's been a long summer but I think I'm ready," Svatos said following Tuesday's skate. "I feel good on the ice and have been taking contact the last few practices." If healthy, Svatos would seem like a fair bet to record at least 25 goals this season, a total he has reached in two of the last three years even though he has yet to skate in more than 66 games.

Columbus Blue Jackets
Raffi Torres will miss the next six weeks due to a separated shoulder he injured during a fight. Torres had been working diligently to come back from his knee surgery, and this latest setback is a big blow for the sparkplug ... Jared Boll, who has been dealing with a hand injury after breaking it during the off-season, still hasn't been cleared to fight. Given that he racked up 226 PIM last season as the clubs enforcer, he'll be someone to keep an eye on because if he doesn't fight he just doesn't have much value ... Nikita Filatov is scheduled to play his first game on Wednesday night skating on the third line with Michael Peca and Andrew Murray after missing most of the preseason with a broken bone in his leg.

Dallas Stars
Youngster Fabian Brunnstrom continues to impress in camp, so much so that he continues to remain on the top line with Mike Ribeiro and Brenden Morrow. If the youngster sticks on that line, he could end up producing some fairly prodigious numbers ... The club's second line continues to be made up of Mike Modano, Jere Lehtinen and Sean Avery. Everyone expected Modano to center the third line as he did last year, but he continues to function as the pivot man on the second scoring line ... Philippe Boucher returned to skating on Wednesday after missing time with a sore toe. He will have to serve as the clubs top defensemen in the early going with Sergei Zubov likely to remain out for most of October due to arthroscopic hip surgery.

Detroit Red Wings
Nicklas Lidstrom will play on Wednesday night if he gets the OK from the nose specialist he went to in order to have his broken nose looked at. He will almost certainly wear a face shield when he returns ... Pavel Datsyuk continues to miss time due to a groin injury. It is not believed to be something that is overly serious but it is possible that he could miss the first week of the regular season ... Daniel Clearly will skate on the third line with Valtteri Filppula and Mikael Samuelsson giving the club a "checking" line that many teams would take as their second scoring line.

Edmonton Oilers
The club made more roster cuts on Wednesday leaving the club with 28 players left on the roster ... In net, the club still has Dwayne Roloson and Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers in a battle for the backup role behind Mathieu Garon. Roloson didn't fare well against he Flames on Tuesday night allowing four goals before being removed from the game... The club grabbed tough guy Steve MacIntrye off waivers from the Panthers. He racked up 213 PIM last season in the AHL but he has yet to skate in a single game since being drafted in 2003 by the Rangers.

Los Angeles Kings
The Kings lost LW Matt Ellis to the Sabres through waivers. He picked up eight points in 54 games last season between Detroit and LA ...The Kings picked up Sean O'Donnell to add depth to their blueline. Sean missed just three games the last two seasons with the Ducks but he only scored four goals and 26 points ... Jason LaBarbera seems locked in to the starting role in net though Erik Ersberg and Jon Quick are still battling for the backup role after the club made the decision to send Jonathan Bernier to the minors after a hip injury slowed him in camp. "Let's get real," GM Dean Lombardi said. "He's going to be evaluated every day and he's going to play a lot, and depending on how things shake out up here and how he plays it's not like he's gone for the year. It's as simple as that."

Minnesota Wild
Marian Gaborik finally made his game debut on Tuesday after sitting out game action because of sore quadriceps. He is primed for a huge campaign if he can stay healthy ... Brent Burns has been cleared to return to action mere weeks after having elbow surgery. He should be fully ready to lead the clubs first power-play unit as soon as the season begins ... Another defender looking to make his mark this year is Marc-Andre Bergeron. Long known as a lethal weapon on the power-play that seemingly forgets he plays the role of defender on ice, Bergeron has attempted to impress his new club by showing a new attribute - toughness. Bergeron has been involved in three fights this preseason and the most recent one ended up with him taking a ride to the doctor's office because of a broken nose.

Nashville Predators
David Legwand and Martin Erat have formed a nice pairing, though the club is still searching for the right option to pair with them on the left wing, that is if Legwand's injured knee doesn't turn out to be something series (it isn't believed to be) ... It appears that the club will fill its openings up front with Nick Tarnasky, Patric Hornqvist and Rich Peverley with guys like Randy Jones and Josh Gratton hoping to latch on to the final forward spot ... Speaking or Tarnasky, he was acquired from the Lighting early this week for a conditional draft pick. Currently dealing with broken thumb, the gritty centerman will likely be ready to go for Game 1.

Phoenix Coyotes
Peter Mueller scored a hat-trick against the Sharks on Monday and is slated to open the year on the top line with Shane Doan and Olli Jokinen. That could be one explosive trio for HC Wayne Gretzky ... Martin Hanzel, who had back surgery on a herniated disc in July, is hopefully of return to game action this weekend. The second year center will be looked at to provide more than the eight goals and 35 points the club received from him in his rookie season last year.

St. Louis Blues
Erik Johnson is done for 6-9 months due to his torn ACL, pretty much ending his 2008-09 season. Rookie Alex Pietrangelo could be looked at to help provide some offense that they were expecting from Johnson. The 18-year-old has looked really impressive in the early going. "He looks like he's 23 instead of 18. But it's so early that you can't deviate from your game plan, which is to see how it goes," Blues President John Davidson said. Obviously, the team may still send him down if they think playing at the NHL level right now could stunt his growth. However, with the news that Jeff Woywitka broke a bone in his foot and could miss up to a month's time, Alex's odds of making the club seem to be growing.

San Jose Sharks
Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau continue to see a lot of time skating with one another on the top line. They duo has seen lots of ice-time in the past on the power-play, but very infrequently during even strength situations. If Marleau sticks on that line look for his point total to skyrocket after last year's 49 point effort. Devin Setoghuchi has seen a lot of time on the other wing, and he too would be in line for some big things if he sticks with the clubs two best offensive weapons ... On the blue-line, Dan Boyle and Rob Blake have been getting used to skating with one another on the power-play. With Boyle to move the puck, and Blake to bomb it on net, that could be one lethal duo behind a front line that includes Joe Thornton.

Vancouver Canucks
The club named its best player the captain. It's not odd to see a team do this as the position has become more ceremonial than anything else in recent years. However, when your best player is a goalie as is the case with Roberto Luongo, it is somewhat of a surprise, especially when you consider that Bill Durnan was the last goalie to serve as captain, and that was during the 1947-48 season ... Mattias Ohlund may be on the trading block with rumors of a potential deal with the Senators growing. Since he will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season it's certainly reasonable to think that the club could move him if they got a nice package in return.