[Loki309]

Well welcome back to Whats What in Hockey. Covering 10/6 - 10/12, which also holds the season openers for all teams that didn't play in Europe over the weekend. Anyone catch those games? Well lets recap them.

Loki's Picks: Penguins over Ottawa 2 games - 0 games.
Real Turn Out: Penguins and Ottawa tie 1-1 games.

Loki's Pick: NY Rangers and TB Lightning Tie 1-1.
Real Turn Out: Rangers over TB 2 games - 0 games.

My picks were reversed but it looks like Penguins were ultimately affected by the lose of Gonchar, Whitney, and Petr Sykora who is out with a Groin Injury. These guys don't seem like the same Penguins that rivaled the Red Wings for the Stanley Cup. However this was opening weekend for them, games will get easyer, and injuries will heal with time.

Rangers looked pretty decent against the Lightning. Then again TB Is missing 3 people. Jason Ward with a pulled groin, Paul Ranger Right shoulder (surgery), and Jeff Halpern (Ruptured right ACL, and Knee Surgery) which we talked about him last week.


So 3 days of rest and then we are back at it. Or should I say, restarting the habbit of watching for hockey updates? I am looking forward to it. Preseason is done, regular season starts on Thursday Oct. 9th

So whos doing what from the 9th til the 12th? Lets look at the schedule!

Oct 9th Games: NHL - Scores & Schedule Thursday October 9, 2008 - Yahoo! Sports

Oct 10th Games: NHL - Scores & Schedule Friday October 10, 2008 - Yahoo! Sports

Oct 11th Games: NHL - Scores & Schedule Saturday October 11, 2008 - Yahoo! Sports

Oct 12th Games: NHL - Scores & Schedule Sunday October 12, 2008 - Yahoo! Sports

Loki's Winning Picks Oct 9th: Detroit by 2, Colorado by 2, Anaheim by 1 in OT, and Calgary by 3.

Loki's Winning Picks Oct 10th: Carolina by 3, NJ by 2, Chicago by 2, Montreal by 1 in OT, Washington by 2, Dallas by 3, St. Louis by 1 OT.

Loki's Winning Picks Oct 11th: Islanders by 1, Detroit by 2, Rangers by 2, Atlanta by 2, Toronto by 3, Washington by 2, Carolina by 2, Pitsburg by 3, Dallas by 4, Minnesota by 2, Phoenix by 3, San Jose by 2, Calgary by 2.

Loki's Winning Picks Oct 12th: Colorado by 2, Anaheim by 2, San Jose by 2.

Your upsets will be St. Louis on the 10th, and Washington on the 11th.

Injuries: (If a team is not listed then there are no injuries to report. Information taken from NHL - Injuries - Yahoo! Sports)

Anaheim Ducks
Brad Larsen LW Oct 5, 2008 Day-to-Day Lower Abdominal Injury
Carolina Hurricanes
Justin Williams RW Sep 23, 2008 Injured Reserve Torn Right Achilles Tendon
David Tanabe D Sep 20, 2008 Injured Reserve Concussion
Chicago Blackhawks
James Wisniewski D Sep 23, 2008 Injured Reserve Torn Right ACL
Columbus Blue Jackets
Pascal Leclaire G Oct 4, 2008 Day-to-Day Sprained Ankle
Raffi Torres LW Sep 30, 2008 Day-to-Day Separated Shoulder
Detroit Red Wings
Chris Chelios D Oct 2, 2008 Day-to-Day Fractured Right Tibia
Los Angeles Kings
Richard Clune LW Oct 3, 2008 Day-to-Day Chest
John Zeiler RW Oct 3, 2008 Injured Reserve Strained Groin
Marc-Andre Cliche RW Oct 3, 2008 Day-to-Day Separated Shoulder
Minnesota Wild
Kurtis Foster D Sep 20, 2008 Injured Reserve Fractured Left Leg
Nashville Predators
Nick Tarnasky C Sep 30, 2008 Injured Reserve Broken Finger
Steve Sullivan RW Sep 20, 2008 Injured Reserve Back Surgery
Jed Ortmeyer RW Sep 20, 2008 Injured Reserve Knee Surgery Recovery
New York Islanders
Andy Sutton D Oct 5, 2008 Injured Reserve Hand
Chris Campoli D Sep 30, 2008 Injured Reserve Shoulder
Mike Sillinger C Sep 20, 2008 Injured Reserve Hip Surgery
Ottawa Senators
Mike Fisher C Oct 4, 2008 Day-to-Day Sore Groin
Philadelphia Flyers
Steve Downie RW Oct 3, 2008 Day-to-Day Strained Right MCL
Mike Rathje D Sep 20, 2008 Injured Reserve Back
Derian Hatcher D Sep 20, 2008 Injured Reserve Right Knee
Pittsburgh Penguins
Petr Sykora RW Oct 4, 2008 Day-to-Day Groin
Sergei Gonchar D Sep 25, 2008 Injured Reserve Dislocated Left Shoulder, Surgery
Ryan Whitney D Sep 20, 2008 Injured Reserve Left Foot Surgery
San Jose Sharks
Torrey Mitchell C Sep 24, 2008 Injured Reserve Fractured Left Leg
St. Louis Blues
Jeff Woywitka D Sep 30, 2008 Day-to-Day Cracked Bone, Right Foot
Erik Johnson D Sep 23, 2008 Injured Reserve Torn Right ACL And MCL
Tampa Bay Lightning
Jason Ward RW Oct 3, 2008 Injured Reserve Pulled Groin
Paul Ranger D Sep 20, 2008 Injured Reserve Right Shoulder Surgery
Jeff Halpern C Sep 18, 2008 Injured Reserve Ruptured Right ACL, Right Knee Surgery
Toronto Maple Leafs
Jeff Finger D Oct 5, 2008 Day-to-Day Bruised Foot
Washington Capitals
Brian Pothier D Sep 20, 2008 Injured Reserve Post-concussion Syndrome

Key Injuries:

Columbus Blue Jackets
Pascal Leclaire G Oct 4, 2008 Day-to-Day Sprained Ankle (OUCH NOT A GOALIE! But good news is he's expected to be back in practice on Tuesday)

Nashville Predators
Nick Tarnasky C Sep 30, 2008 Injured Reserve Broken Finger
Steve Sullivan RW Sep 20, 2008 Injured Reserve Back Surgery
Jed Ortmeyer RW Sep 20, 2008 Injured Reserve Knee Surgery Recovery
(This is virtually entire offensive line thats been hit with injuries. Tarnasky is out for 3-4 weeks. Sullivan had problems with his back last year and now after surgery might sit out the rest of the season. Ortmeyer had a freaky thing happen to him, they found a blood clot in his leg, he's recovering and happy to be clot free but still is Out indefinitely.)

New York Islanders
Andy Sutton D Oct 5, 2008 Injured Reserve Hand
Chris Campoli D Sep 30, 2008 Injured Reserve Shoulder
Mike Sillinger C Sep 20, 2008 Injured Reserve Hip Surgery
(NYI can't afford the defensive loss here. Sutton had hand surgery, out indefinitely. Campoli is sidelined by an injured shoulder, but not the one he dislocated last season that required surgery, no news on what they will be doing to him and he's listed as Out Indefinitely. Sillinger is recovering from surgery which happened the 20th, a lil rehab and he should be back in a few weeks.)

Those day too day injuries are always hard. So each team may wanna watch their day to day guys.

Lastly for this post. I am going to look at each confrence and divisions, and give you who I see going to the big dance. I will take a look at this and update it with my view every once in a while.


Eastern Confrence:

Confrence Champ - This is a hard choice right here. There's a lot of great talent in all the teams, and nothing showing that anyone at this point will stand out above the rest. If I had to guess, I would say NJ or Toronto will be a force to beat and one of those may end up representing the Easter Conference in the big dance.

Atlantic Division - Provided injuries don't hit these 2 teams, I will say Pit #1 and Rangers #2

North East - #1 Toronto #2 Boston

South East - #1 Washington #2 Carolina

Western Confrence:

Conference Champ - I don't think I even have to tell you...Detroit Redwings. Their roster (provided injuries don't riddle this team) is the most experienced. Even their rookies have a wealth of knowledge, just cause they are learning from their veteran players.

Central - #1 Detroit #2 Chicago

North West - #1 Colorado #2 Calgary

Pacific - #1 Anaheim #2 San Jose

Stanley Cup Finals: Toronto vs. Detroit.

That's what I see right now. I will update the Conference/Division picks once a month with your regular What's What in Hockey!

That will do it for this week! If your reading this part right here, I applaud you for getting down to the end Remember, if you have any picks for the week, or insight you would like to input to me directly, I might feature it in What's What In Hockey! PM it to me on the forums, and I will look over it. Thanks for reading! See ya next week!