Day one - of a long season

Despite the boring NHL games in Europe last weekend, the league's regular season kick-offs tonight and I wanted to catch you up on the latest...

Sergei Zubov - is gone from 4-6 weeks with surgery on his hip. Expect him back late October early November. Not deadly for the Stars as they existed without him for sometime last year, but their PP will not be nearly as potent without him manning the point. On the flip side, Niskanen, Boucher and Robidas will all see more minutes as a result.

Nik Khabibulin - after being placed on waivers last week and no takers, it looks like the Blackhawks will try and move the former #1 within a week. Likely destinations are the LA Kings and also now entering the talks are the Ottawa Senators, who might take a flyer on the Bulin Wall if the Hawks take Martin Gerber back as part of the deal. The Sens would likely also need to jettison someone else to make the deal work under the salary cap as well (i.e., Donovan). Watch the Sens close out of the gate, if Gerber struggles, the talks will heat immediately. For the Kings, it's all about making sure they are at the league minimum as well as storing a potential trade asset at the deadline as well as not wrecking Bernier's psyche by having their young stud goalie see 40 shots per game.

In Vancouver, the Canucks added some needed grit in the addition of Shane O'Brien and the versatile Michel Ouellet from the Lightening for Lukas Krajicek and mid-level prospect Juraj Simek. O'Brien's offense is under-rated, but he'll be counted on to add some toughness for the Canucks defence. Krajicek has some puck-moving ability and Lightening brass are stock-piling slick puck-moving defencemen in attempts to get as many rearguards as they can that may get the puck up to their very talented forwards.

In Montreal, Chris Higgins has had a sore groin for almost the entire camp, and remains on shelf for the start of the season. This is not good news for the Habs. Higgins needs to be healthy for them to win, and this smell like it could turn into an issue that may linger for the entire season. Higgins owners be warned.