Kapanen, 18, was the 22nd overall pick in this summer's draft. He had one goal on six shots in four preseason games, but will head back to KalPa Kuopio in Finland, a team he had seven goals and seven assists (14 points) in 47 games with last season.
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.
Reinhart, 18, was the second overall pick in this summer's draft. He will start his NHL career on the Sabres' second line with Cody Hodgson and Brian Gionta. "They're obviously very smart players and good players," Reinhart said of his linemates. "I feel if I move the puck to them and get myself open, we're going to create a lot of chances. I feel comfortable on that line."
After the Kings' Stanley Cup banner raising ceremony, Quick went on to allow four goals on 27 shots and was pulled before the start of the third period. "It wasn’t good enough, they were better than we were," Quick said after the game. "They got the win. I don’t think it had anything to do with all that stuff we had to do before, they were the better team." Martin Jones stopped all three shots he faced in relief as the Sharks finished the night with an impressive 4-0 win.
Monahan did not participate in the morning skate but it looks like he will give it a go in the season opener vs. the Canucks. Monahan will centre the top-line with Curtis Glencross and Jiri Hudler on his wings.
Bieksa skated the last two days so he was expected to be in the lineup tonight, so his participation in warmups all pretty much assures that he will play. Expect Yannick Weber to take a seat with Bieksa playing.
There was a ton of preseason hype about Kuznetsov, but he will start his career under Barry Trotz as the fourth line centre. "[Kuz] thinks it's the right spot for him at this moment," said Trotz after practice on Wednesday. He will centre a line with Chris Brown and Liam O'Brien on his wings, so the offence doesn't sound like it will be there in the early going. Fellow rookie Andre Burakovsky will centre the second line; Kuznetsov's projected spot.
Nikitin, 28, was acquired from Columbus this offseason to bring some added experience to the Oilers blueline. He had a breakout year in 2011-12, but has failed to eclipse the 20-point mark in any of his other four seasons. He will start his Oilers career on the second pairing with Mark Fayne; who will also be making his Edmonton debut.
All signs are pointing towards Jake Muzzin being unavailable tonight, which leaves the 23-year-old McNabb to make his Kings' debut on the Stanley Cup banner raising night and on the top D-pair with Drew Doughty to boot. McNabb was acquired from the Sabres at last year's deadline and totaled 10 goals and 26 assists (36 points) in 52 AHL games between Manchester and Rochester. He failed to record any points in 12 games with the Sabres.
Heading into training camp everyone wondered who would be the third man on this line. A lot of people picked Brock Nelson as the man who would fill the role. Some thought maybe Ryan Strome would get the nod, or even Josh Bailey. But, it will be Conacher who will start there on opening night. “It’s pretty special,” Conacher said about the opportunity to play on the top line. “I’ve gotten this opportunity before, in Tampa when I first started my career, and I just have to try to take advantage of this opportunity." Conacher is a speedy winger who is a definite fantasy sleeper heading into the season, but like he said he needs to take advantage of the opportunity he has been given.
The Sharks are starting Antti Niemi in the season opener tonight, but coach McLellan stressed that Stalock is going to play a lot this season. "Nemo has a proven track record. We'd like to show him we have the confidence in him this year. It's a fresh year," McLellan said. "Everybody gets a fresh start and Nemo starts tonight. Now Alex will play. He'll play a lot. And so will Nemo." Each goalie played in three exhibition games. Stalock was 2-1 with a 1.68 GAA and a .915 SV%; Niemi was 0-1-2 with a 2.23 GAA and a .909 SV%.
The Canadiens start the season with a back-to-back and Carey Price is getting the call Wednesday vs. the Maple Leafs, so Tokarski will go tomorrow vs. Washington. He beat Peter Budaj out for the back-up job and will start his first full NHL season on Thursday. He went 2-0-1 with a 1.84 GAA and .946 in three starts at the end of the regular season and 2-3 with a 2.60 GAA and .916 SV% in five playoff games after Carey Price got hurt.
Ben Scrivens is starting the Oilers' season opener, but Fasth draws the tougher of the two matchups as he goes up against the Canucks. In seven starts after being traded a season ago, he went 3-3-1 with a 2.73 GAA and .914 SV%. Edmonton is not great defensively so it will be hard for Fasth to put up great numbers, but he could wrestle the job away from Scrivens.
After being traded to the Oilers last season, Scrivens went 9-11-0 with a 3.01 GAA and .916 SV%. To no one's surprise, life in Edmonton is much more difficult than in Los Angeles and he sits without a Stanley Cup ring on his finger. Now with Edmonton for a full season, he will start the first game of the year against a Flames team that he had a .857 SV% against last year.
After a great lockout shortened season, Anderson stumbled to 25 wins with a 3.00 GAA and .911 SV% in 2013-14. He started 2014-15 on a strong note posting a 1.91 GAA and .922 SV% in the preseason. He will start his regular season against the Predators, who he had a 2.20 / and .935 against in two starts last season.
This summer's top-2 goaltending free agents will face each other in their respective debuts as Miller takes on Jonas Hiller. Miller had a weird season in 2013-14. He was traded to the Blues after 10 and a half years in Buffalo. Things didn't go as expected in St. Louis and that led to Miller signing with the Canucks this offseason. It is difficult to adjust to a new team mid-season, so with a full camp with Vancouver under his belt, expect Miller to get back to a 2.50 GAA and .915 SV%.
There are a ton of questions surrounding the Sharks goaltending situation heading into 2013-14 after Niemi struggled down the stretch and Alex Stalock played well. Niemi will get the nod in the season opener, which should not be a surprise considering his experience. He was 2-1-1 with a 2.67 GAA and .910 SV% against the reigning Stanley Cup Champs last season.
Martin Brodeur is gone and now it is Schneider's turn to make a mark in Devils history. He had a strong first season and followed it up with a nice preseason, going 2-1 with a 1.62 GAA and .932 SV%. He has one of the NHL's oldest teams playing in front of him and they aren't going to be the highest scoring team, but should be strong defensively which will help Schneider post sod numbers across the board. He is a low-end number-1 due to lack of talent up front.
Mueller, who spent the last season in Europe was trying to make an NHL comeback, but it did not last long. He will head back to Europe.
There are a ton of questions surrounding the Sharks goaltending situation heading into 2013-14 after Niemi struggled down the stretch and Alex Stalock played well. It looks like Niemi will get the nod in the season opener, which should not be a surprise considering his experience. He was 2-1-1 with a 2.67 GAA and .910 SV% against the reigning Stanley Cup Champs last season.
