The Daily Puck: Off to an Injured Start

Projected Goalie Starters

Phoenix (Brygalov) at Boston (Rask), 12 p.m.
Columbus (Mason) at San Jose (Niittymaki), 3 p.m.
NY Rangers (Lundqvist) at Buffalo (Miller), 7 p.m.
New Jersey (Brodeur) at Washington ( Neuvirth), 7 p.m.
Dallas (Lehtonen) at NY Islanders (DiPietro), 7 p.m.
Montreal (Price) at Pittsburgh (Fleury), 7 p.m.
Ottawa (Elliott) at Toronto (Giguere), 7 p.m.
Atlanta (Chris Mason) at Tampa Bay (Ellis), 7:30 p.m.
Philadelphia (Bobrovsky) at St. Louis (Halak), 8 p.m.
Anaheim (Hiller) at Nashville (Rinne), 8 p.m.
Detroit (Osgood) at Chicago (Turco), 8:30 p.m.
Los Angeles (Quick) at Vancouver (Luongo), 10 p.m.

Injuries For Teams Playing Saturday

Day-to-Day (Includes DL players close to returning)

Tim Thomas (G) Boston – (Hip) Thomas expected to start season as backup to Rask.
Jared Boll (F) Columbus – (Undisclosed) Left Friday's game after 48 seconds TOI and a fight.
Kris Russell (D) Columbus – (Knee) Could play Saturday, practiced Friday.
Jamal Mayers (F) San Jose – (Arm) Missed Friday's opener, dealing with injury from Sept. 28.
Craig Rivet (D) Buffalo – (Throat) Played in season opener Friday night.
Thomas Vanek (F) Buffalo – (Head) Missed much of preseason but suited up Friday night.
Marc-Andre Gragnani (D) Buffalo – (Knee) Offensive defender prospect out at AHL for week.
Anton Volchenkov (D) New Jersey – (Foot) Played just under 21 minutes in Friday's opener.
Semyon Varlamov (G) Washington – (Undisclosed) On IR but was able to practice Friday.
Loui Eriksson (F) Dallas – (Hip Flexor) Played Friday night and scored two goals, inc. OT winner.
Nino Niederreiter (F) Islanders – (Calf) One of the healthier guys on the Islanders, will play Saturday.
Hal Gill (D) Montreal – (Face) Figures to return in Pittsburgh Saturday.
Roman Hamrlik (D) Montreal – (Knee) Practicing but not expected back until Wednesday.
Andrei Markov (D) Montreal – (Knee) Practicing but unlikely to play Saturday night.
Arron Asham (F) Pittsburgh – (Shoulder) Placed on IR and did not practice Friday, out Saturday.
Jason Spezza (F) Ottawa – (Groin) Missed Friday's game and will be a game-time decision Saturday.
Milan Michalek (F) Ottawa – (Knee) Played on reconstructed knee in Friday's opener.
Chris Neil (F) Ottawa – (Lower Body) Played in Friday's game and picked up assist and two PIM.
Dominic Moore (F) Tampa Bay – (Groin) Practiced on Friday and could play Saturday.
Claude Giroux (F) Philadelphia – (Ankle) Results of MRI Thursday yet to be revealed.
Chris Pronger (D) Philadelphia – (Knee) Missed Thursday's game, check updates Saturday.
Carlo Colaiacovo (D) St. Louis – (Hip Flexor) Returned to practice Tuesday, ready for Saturday.
Erik Johnson (D) St. Louis – (Hip Flexor) Practiced Thursday and should be good to go Saturday.
Andy McDonald (F) St. Louis – (Hip Flexor) It's hip to be cool in St. Louis, as he'll likely play Saturday.
Nikita Nikitin (D) St. Louis – (Wrist) Broken wrist, out until November after a strong training camp.
Matt Beleskey (F) Anaheim – (Groin) Played Friday, taking four shots while finishing minus-3.
Toni Lydman (D) Anaheim – (Double Vision) Skated Friday but didn't take part in practice.
Martin Erat (F) Nashville – (Back) Bothered by a bad back lately, he should play Saturday.
Sergei Kostitsyn (F) Nashville – (Toe) Status to be determined based on whether toe's broken.
Justin Abdelkader (F) Detroit – (Ribs) Missed Friday's game and likely out Saturday as well.
Kris Draper (Groin) (F) Detroit – (Groin) Didn't play Friday and not expected back Saturday.
Jonathan Ericsson (D) Detroit -- (Back) Left Friday's game with back spasms, questionable for Saturday.
Nick Boynton (D) Chicago – (Suspension) Figures to return from suspension Saturday against Detroit.
Tanner Glass (F) Vancouver – (Illness) Glass looks to be ready for Saturday's game.
Rick Rypien (F) Vancouver – (Ribs) Questionable for Saturdays' opener, best to bench.

Long Term or IR

Kurt Sauer (D) Phoenix – (Head) Expected to be out for season.
Marc Savard (F) Boston – (Head) Could miss good chunk of season.
Marco Sturm (F) Boston – (Knee) Progressing well and looks to return in mid-November.
Trent Whitfield (F) Boston – (Achilles) Out at least until January or February.
Michal Rozsival (D) Rangers – (Groin) Will not play in Saturday's opener.
Chris Drury (F) Rangers – (Finger) Placed on IR and will miss handful of contests.
Vaclav Prospal (F) Rangers – (Knee) Out for an indefinite period, IR eligible on Yahoo!
Anssi Salmela (D) New Jersey – (Knee) Placed on long term IR and could miss whole year.
Bryce Salvador (D) New Jersey – (Concussion) Placed on long term IR, out indefinitely.
Nathan Lawson (G) Islanders – (Knee)Third on goalie depth chart, placed on IR Wednesday.
Robbie Schremp (F) Islanders – (Back) Out about three weeks with a lower back strain.
Mark Streit (D) Islanders – (Shoulder) Optimistic of a return sometime in February.
Filip Kuba (D) Ottawa – (Broken Leg) Expected to miss three weeks with broken leg.
Ondrej Pavelec (G) Atlanta – (Undisclosed) Left Friday's game, hopefully he'll be fine.
Jim Slater (F) Atlanta – (Wrist) Placed on IR on Oct. 6, not known how much time he'll miss.
Mattias Ohlund (D) Tampa Bay – (Knee) Expected to be out about two more weeks.
Paul Ranger (D) Tampa Bay – (Personal) Not known whether he'll play hockey in 2010-11.
Ian Laperriere (F) Philadelphia – (Concussion) Out indefinitely, perhaps all season.
Michael Leighton (G) Philadelphia – (Back) Needs surgery and will likely be out six-to-eight weeks.

Transactions

Ales Kotalik (F) Calgary – Placed on IR with a sprained knee
Cory Schneider (G) Vancouver – Recalled by Canucks to serve as backup goalie.
Jeff Tambellini (F) Vancouver – Recalled by Canucks, likely to serve as depth, healthy scratch possible.
Alexandre Bolduc (F) Vancouver – Recalled by Canucks, looking at fourth line play.

Hot

Pavel Datsyuk (F) Detroit – The perennial Lady Bing winner earned himself the first Gordie Howe hat trick of the year Friday with a goal, assist and fight against the much larger Corey Perry – well played.
Cam Ward (G) Carolina – Ward's already won two games while many teams have yet to play a game. He's 2-0 after going 2-10-14 in his first 16 decisions a year ago – what a difference a year makes. Either that, or Ward was lucky to play the Wild twice.
Evander Kane (F) Atlanta – Scored two goals, including one on a penalty shot in the Thrashers' surprising 4-2 win over Washington. Kane, a nice sleeper pick in 2010-11, took seven shots and also added four PIMs.

Cold

Jonas Hiller (G) Anaheim – Like or not, Hiller is going to get blasted all season long, unless he gets hurt or traded. Hiller gave up four goals on 43 shots to the Red Wings – no dishonor there – but has only Curtis McIlhinney to help him out as a backup.

Recommended Pickup

Jeff Skinner (F) Carolina – It's hard recommending 2010 draft picks as players who can offer immediate fantasy help, but Skinner is that kind of offensive talent with the 'Canes. He picked up his first assist Friday night.