Feeling Praguey: News and Notes from The First Game of the 2008-2009 NHL season

It feels good to write that.

No I'm not in Prague (though that would be cool), I'm still sitting at my desk in the Chair of Woe, but I thought I would share my thoughts on the first game of the season:

- The best player in this game, for either team, was Tampa Bay Goaltender Mike Smith. He stood on his head through two periods to keep this thing close robbing Markus Naslund more than once. That said I still can't recommend that you waste a draft pick on him. Smith appears to be embroiled in the first goaltending controversy of the year as Olaf Kolzig will get the start tomorrow. An eye might want to be kept on the post game reports as Smith took a high shot to the left arm, his glove hand, near the end of the game and had trouble shaking it off.

- The Mullet is no more. A shave and a trim and Melrose looks positively believable in the coach role. Scissors do not a good coach make however. The one thing that was noticeably different about this Lightning team was their strategy on the penalty kill, collapsing around the forwards and allowing opponents to take the shot from the point and the perimeter unmolested. It was largely successful through two periods but was directly responsible for the game winning goal by Brandon Dubinsky. As Teams get their powerplays rolling into mid-season form Smith or whomever is in net is going to get absolutely decimated by point shots.

- I'm saying it right now... Stamkos needs more ice time. He saw only two minutes of ice time through the end of the first but was responsible for 2 of the Lightning's best scoring chances in the game. Barry has to get creative and find more ways to get this kid on the ice as he is already their third best player.

- Dubes! Don't get too excited yet. Dubinsky's goal was nice, and a sniper's shot but most players at the NHL level should have been able to score that goal with that much room and time. I like Dubes but he was invisible for most of the game. Give him time yet unless you are in a deep league.

- Zherdev was also mostly invisible.

- That Naslund, Gomez, Drury line looks really good. Naslund knows where to hang out for Gomer's passes and Drury is right there to try and pick up the garbage goals. If he hasn't been drafted yet I would suggest you grab Drury in your leagues as he is about to have RW eligibility, greatly increasing his value.

I'll be back with some thoughts on Ottawa v. Pittsburgh in a few.

Free Preview: My overwhelming thought through 2 and a half is that neither goalie is going to be good enough to handle their respective team's lack of D over the course of a full season.