By the numbers

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By the numbers

8

Number of points needed by Ottawa Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson to reach 1,000 for his career. Teammate Alexei Kovalev is right behind Alfredsson at 990.

41

Games needed by Boston Bruins forward Mark Recchi to tie legendary defenceman Ray Bourque (1,612) for eighth place on the career games played list. If he stays healthy, Recchi could haul in Larry Murphy (1,615) for seventh place as well.

.333   

Winning percentage in season openers by perennial Stanley Cup contender San Jose Sharks, second worst in the NHL behind the Anaheim Ducks. The Sharks had won only four of 18 openers going into their date Friday with the Columbus Blue Jackets in Stockholm.

Quotables

I have to look after one kid at home and now 22 on the road.

Joe Thornton

The San Jose Sharks centre became a proud papa in the summer and then was named team captain, replacing the retired Rob Blake.

I was disappointed with his play. He has a lot of potential, but you have to earn your playing time here. Reputation doesn't mean anything to me.

Dale Tallon

The Florida Panthers general manager explains why he put former Vancouver Canucks prospect Michael Grabner on waivers, only to see the New York Islanders scoop him up. Grabner was supposedly a key element in the draft-day deal in which Keith Ballard landed in Vancouver.

Around the rinks

Leave it to the New Jersey Devils' wily general manager Lou Lamoriello to finagle the NHL's salary cap to suit his purposes after all. After months of angst about which core player or players Lamoriello might have to dump to accommodate Ilya Kovalchuk's $100-million (all currency U.S.) contract, the answer was zero. By putting the concussed Bryce Salvador on long-term injured reserve, designating Anssi Salmela as an injured non-roster player, and starting the season with a 20-man roster, the Devils squeezed in just under the $59.4-million limit. Generally, players don't mind these small rosters either because it leaves no uncertainty about who gets in the lineup and who sits. If you're healthy, you play. The problems will only begin if the Devils suffer any minor injuries in the early going. A player with a serious injury can go on long-term injury reserve (LTIR) and the team gets immediate salary-cap relief. But if the problem isn't that serious, the Devils could find themselves playing a man or two short, the same way the Calgary Flames did a couple of years ago, when they, too, backed themselves into a cap corner.

The Devils' neighbours, the New York Rangers, are usually in a similar cap predicament, but dumping Wade Redden and his $6.5-million contract left them with the flexibility to add Ruslan Fedotenko, the former Philadelphia Flyers, Tampa Bay Lightning and Pittsburgh Penguins forward. Fedotenko starts as a top-six forward, thanks to injuries that will keep Chris Drury and Vaclav Prospal on the injured reserve to start the year. Drury is recovering from a broken finger, Prospal from off-season knee surgery. Fedotenko, free-agent signing Alexander Frolov and the talented but fragile Marian Gaborik represent the sum total of New York's offensive thrust, and Fedotenko, despite a seven-point preseason, is coming off just a 30-point year with Pittsburgh.

Remember Mikael Tellqvist, the Toronto Maple Leafs' third-round pick in 2000, who played 113 NHL games, divided mostly between Toronto and the Phoenix Coyotes during the last decade? Tellqvist is in the Continental Hockey League (KHL), playing for Dynamo Riga. Like a lot of goaltenders, he was farmed out against his will, hoping to return to the NHL as a bargain-basement backup once his contract expires.

The Anaheim Ducks will give defenceman Cam Fowler, the 12th pick in the 2010 draft, a month or so to show if he's ready to play in the NHL. They also hope it's enough time to see if Toni Lydman can recover from a perplexing attack of double vision that forced him to miss all of camp. Lydman was signed as a free agent to offset the losses of Scott Niedermayer and James Wisniewski. It was hoped Lydman could play top-four minutes on a Ducks team trying to rebuild its defence on the fly. A year before, they also lost that Chris Pronger fellow ...

As if the Minnesota Wild didn't have enough problems, they have suspended the once promising James Sheppard, who shattered his left kneecap in an off-season ATV accident and wasn't healthy enough to participate in camp. That removes Sheppard's $800,000 salary from the payroll, and you would think be the tipping point that gets the Halifax-born, ninth overall pick in 2006 out of there. Minnesota forced Sheppard into the NHL as a promising teenager when he wasn't ready, and four years later, there are questions about whether he'll ever be an NHLer. Nobody needs a change of scenery more than Sheppard.

Is there another young player with a greater opportunity off the start of the year than Logan Couture (ninth overall in the 2007 draft)? The San Jose Sharks' prospect had nine points in 25 NHL games last season and about a million frequent-flyer points, shuttling back and forth between the minors and NHL. Couture starts the year with 83-point Patrick Marleau on the left side and 82-point Dany Heatley on the right. The idea is to get more balanced scoring, and to give new captain Joe Thornton, a left-handed centre, a right-handed shot playing right wing. That would be Devin Setoguchi, who had a breakout 65-point year two years ago playing with Thornton, but slumped to just 36 last year, playing mostly on the second line with Joe Pavelski and Ryan Clowe.

There are six NHLers within a dozen games of the prestigious 1,000 games-played milestone, but four are not in the league and may come up just short. The closest is Dean McAmmond at 996, who was released from his New York Islanders tryout. Also closing in: Wade Redden (994), Stéphane Yelle (991) and Robert Lang (989). The only two within range on NHL rosters are Ottawa Senators defenceman Sergei Gonchar and Flames centre Craig Conroy, both at 991.

After a summer of salary-cap angst, the Blackhawks' opening-day lineup has changed dramatically. Gone from opening night 2009 roster are Cam Barker, Dustin Byfuglien, Ben Eager, Colin Fraser, Cristobal Huet, Aaron Johnson, Andrew Ladd, John Madden, Antti Niemi, Brent Sopel and Kris Versteeg. Adam Burish opened the year on injured reserve. This year, the new faces are Bryan Bickell, Jake Dowell, Fernando Pisani, Jack Skille, Viktor Stalberg, Nick Boynton, Nick Leddy, John Scott and Marty Turco, with Brian Campbell opening up on injured reserve. The backup goalie, Corey Crawford, was actually on the roster last year, as the Blackhawks were permitted to take an extra netminder to Europe to open the season. And if you're doing the math, you are correct: That's 11 out, nine in. The Blackhawks are starting the year two short of the maximum 23 players permitted on the NHL roster.