Illegal Curve Hockey

Nightly Wrap-Around

Erik Johnson is out for 6-9 months with a torn ACL. Wow, that is a massive injury for the Blues. Johnson was the team’s most talented defenseman heading into the season and his loss will be felt in all situations, especially the power play.
Valtteri Filppula is going to miss the Wings’ first two exhibition games with a thumb injury. Doesn’t appear to be serious.
If Steve Gorten of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel were Jay Bouwmeester, this is what he’d be thinking. Creative idea by Gorten. Funny read and probably not far off.
Erik Cristensen has a shoulder injury but there is no word how severe it is. The Thrashers don’t have much scoring depth so if he is out for a while that would hurt the team’s chances.
Brent Sutter is expecting more from Michael Rupp, even if he didn’t say it outright. Rupp is no sure thing to make the team’s opening night line up, so I’m sure he’ll take the criticism to heart.
Kansas City didn’t even sell 12,000 tickets for the exhibition game it hosted on Monday. And the NHL is considering a move to KC…
Speaking of cities interested in the NHL, Alan Maki of the Globe & Mail touches on the idea of the NHL returning to Winnipeg. Makes more sense than the KC idea to me.