The Fifth Liners

With just three days to go before the Red Wings take to the ice for the first time this season, the team has added the following players to its injury reserve list. Darren Helm Patrick Eaves Jonas Gustavsson Jordin Tootoo Helm and Eaves are on the long term IR, which means that they'll miss a minimum of 10 games. Tootoo and Gustavsson are on the seven day IR. They can expect to miss the first three games of the season. Thanks to the Red Wings' Facebook page for the update.

Alex's question this week is " Anaheim are always a threat but have fallen short in recent years. What do they have to do in order to bring another cup home?" Since bringing home their first and only cup at the end of the 06/07 season, Ducks fans have been eager to lift the cup again, especially with close neighbours the LA Kings winning it so recently. A lot of the cup winning team have moved on, Chris Kunitz found further success with the Penguins, Rob and Scott Niedermayer have both retired from playing and Chris Pronger is currently signed to the Flyers. Although to be fair, he spent most of that winning postseason suspended for repeatedly elbowing people. The one thing that the Ducks don't have is consistency. Although the team has made appearances in five of the last seven postseasons, their performances have been variable at best. Offensively the team has been good. Scoring goals has never been an issue and Viktor Fasth and Jonas Hiller

Any fans of the Tampa Bay Lightning hoping to see their new 3rd overall pick Jonathan Drouin in action at the start of this new season will sadly have to wait as it has been announced by the franchise that their new hot prospect has been sent back to his former team the Halifax Mooseheads in the Quebec Major Junior League! Last season along with Nathan Mackinnon he formed one of the deadliest partnerships in junior league as they won the Memorial Cup in style! But now with Mackinnon likely to be starting at the Colorado Avalanche, Drouin will need to find another partner to help push him back to the big leagues, as Don Cherry once said "Keep your head up kid!"

Mike’s question this week focuses on last Sunday’s mass brawl that occurred between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Buffalo Sabres when a war of words between John Scott and Phil Kessel sparked an all out brawl. But as it is an unwritten rule that enforcers fight enforcers,   the question being asked here is “Did Scott break the code? And does it even matter?” This subject has ignited a furious debate among hockey fans- many believe so far that Scott didn’t just break the fighting code, he pulverised it! This incident led to Scott being given an instigator penalty along with five minutes for fighting, a 10-minute misconduct as well as a game misconduct. Kessel for his part received a match penalty for attempt to injure. Almost the two squad present served either minor or major misconducts for this fight and new Leaf David Clarkson is facing a lengthy ban for leaving the bench to join in! The physical difference between Scott and Kessel is significant seeing at the Sabres

You can rarely judge a team on its pre-season performances, but it's fair to say that things at the Rogers Arena are looking shaky. The Canucks are currently 1/4 on their pre-season games, not a great start for new coach John Tortorella . Former coach  Alain Vigneault was fired after the team failed to progress past the the first round of the last two playoffs, along with two assistants. Since joining the NHL in 1970, the Canucks have failed to lift the Stanley Cup. It's a regular occurrence than coaches are fired long before the GMs who brought them in. You can't browse the internet without tripping over people questioning  Mike Gillis ' decision. This season past has included plenty of questionable moments, including Vigneault's firing, Tortorella's hiring, Luongo-Gate  and Cory Schneider's trade to the New Jersey Devils.  Vigneault's firing was an odd move, to fire the coach who'd won more games at the Canucks than any other coach s

Mason Raymond has reportedly signed a one year deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs after a successful trail period. Raymond has lead the team in scoring pre season with 4 points in three games. After spending the last six years with the Vancouver Canucks, Raymond has accumalated over 80 goals and 178 points in 374 regular season games and was part of the Vancouver squad that made the 2011 Stanley Cup final! Mason- we wish you all the best- hope to see you in Toronto this November!

The St Louis Blues have signed forward Brenden Morrow to a one year deal worth $1.5 Million following his release for Pittsburgh at the end of last season. After a shaky half season with the Pens, Morrow will be keen to re-capture his form after a great 12 tenure at the Dallas Stars where he served as team captain. After losing David Perron,Morrow will add some key experience to the Blues offense as they seek a first ever Stanley Cup. Morrow finished last year with 25 points in 44 goals during his spilt season and currently his career total stands at 542 points in 850 regular season games and another 46 points in 92 playoff games.

There's nothing friendly about this pre-season game. What started as an altercation between Jamie Devane and Corey Tropp soon turned into a full-on line brawl, including a goalie scrap between Jonathan Bernier and Ryan Miller . Maple Leaf David Clarkson , yet to play a regular season game for his new team will likely pick up a 10 game suspension after leaving the bench to get involved. Video from NHL.com .

The Edmonton Oilers have been dealt another blow before the new hockey season starts as it has been announced that centre Sam Gagner will be out indefinitely with a broken jaw! Already short of one center due to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins being out for at least the next month as he recovers from a broken shoulder! It is rumoured that Taylor Hall will temporarily replace Nugent Hopkins at center, but there is no word from the Oilers management as to who will fill Gagner shoes this season! It will be interesting to see how Craig MacTavish and Dallas Eakins deal with this one! 

The Pittsburgh Penguins are going to be without Tomas Vokoun after the Czech goalie was taken to hospital with what turned out to be a blood clot in his thigh. Vokoun, who played 20 games last season had surgery and is expected to stay in hospital for a few days. We both wish him a speedy recovery.

David Booth is set to return from injury for the  Vancover Canucks for the first time since March 16th and is expected to play in their pre-season friendly against the Edmonton Oilers at Rexall Place according to the Canucks website. Acquired from the Florida Panthers in 2011, Booth so far has 29 points in 56 games with Vancouver but only managed 1 goal and 3 points last season due to an ankle injury sustained against Detroit.

My question this week once again turns to the city of St Louis as Mike poised this particular question to me:  “The St. Louis Blues are rebuilding their team, the big money signing of Bouwmeester and the extension of Pietrangelo show the team's commitment to its core group of players.T.J. Oshie and David Backes are great players but will the Blues need to shore up its group of forwards if they really want to challenge for the cup?”  Very good question Mike, so let’s go to work. In a city still reveling from the St Louis Cardinals victory in the 2011 World Series of Baseball, blues fans have had little to cheer about in recent years. Last year on paper appeared to be a success as the Blues finished Fourth in Western Conference and pushed the LA Kings all the way in their playoff quarter final and were only narrowly defeated in six games. St Louis now have a potentially great defensive pair after Calgary Flames’ financial problems forced them to trade Jay Bouwmeester last sea

Dallas Stars fans can now put a face to the new owner of the C emblem next season as Jamie Benn has officially been named as team captain for next season. After the departure of former skipper Brendan Morrow and Jaromir Jagr last season, the forward will have the hopes of the franchise resting on him for next season. The 24 year old led the Stars in scoring last year with 33 points and since been drafted 129 th overall in 2007, he has made his mark at the American Airlines Arena and so far has chalked up 82 goals and 193 points in 263 games. Upon his announcement, Benn informed the media "I'm deeply humbled and honoured to be named the captain of the Dallas Stars. I look forward to representing this organization, my teammates, our fans and this great city in our pursuit to bring another Stanley Cup to Dallas." Fellow forward Ray Whitney and defenseman Steve Robidas have been named as Alternate’s as Dallas seeks to rebuild on a season to forget last year.

The St. Louis Blues ! There's been a lot of trades made this season, but Alex has challenged me to find the best off season trade this year. There's a lot of contenders to choose from, but one trade really stood out for me. After missing five of the last eight playoffs, the Blues have been steadily rebuilding. The main focus is on the blueliners, superstar Alex Pietrangelo has just been locked into a seven year contract and in April the team picked up Jay Bouwmeester from Calgary. The Blues are hedging their bets in Bouwmeester, paying him 2 million a year more than the high earning forwards T.J. Oshie and David Backes. The trade for Bouwmeester meant that the Blues gave up their first round draft pick as well as two of their prospects. A small price to pay for a guy who's played 635 consecutive games. Is this a step on the road to building a Stanley Cup winning team? Maybe. Time will tell.

Tim Thomas will definitely be joining his tryout for the Florida Panthers after his release from the New York Islanders months before. Originally his invitation was met with a slightly negative response (which was shared by other invitees Jose Theodore and Ilya Brzygalov) but with starting goalie Scott Clemmenson currenly Florida only having one experienced goalie injured, Florida only has Jacob Markstrom in net. The two time Vezina trophy winner if successful will provide valuable experience and the former Bruins keeper will keen to get back in the spotlight after a non playing season last year- good luck Tim both of us here are routing for you!

Jason Spezza has been announced as the Ottawa Senators new captain. He takes the position made vacant by the departure of Daniel Alfredsson.

St Louis Blues fans can breathe a sigh of relief as today defenseman Alex Pietrangelo has signed a brand new 7 year deal worth over $6.5 million per season. Having missed the start of training camp while negotiations were ongoing- Blues management are no doubt thankful to have wrapped this up with the season start so close! Pietrangelo led the Blues defense in scoring last year with 34 points in 47 games and also scored a goal and 1 assist during the playoffs. Since being drafted in 2008, he has racked up 29 goals and 121 points in over 224 games! Upon announcing this extension, Blues GM Doug Armstrong said "We're excited to have Alex in the fold for the next seven years as he will continue be a key component of our franchise."

... a secret. In slightly bizarre news from the Scotiabank Saddledome, Calgary Flames coach Bob Hartley has been talking about there was really only one choice when it came to replacing Jarome Iginla . He won't say who that choice is though. Click here for the full non-story . I'm sure we'll find out soon enough. It's definitely a strange news week.

One of the biggest talking points north of the border recently has been the Nazim Kadri situation, the two parties have been discussing a deal for a while now and finally something has been agreed. Kadri will remain a Leaf for the next two years and pocket a reported 5.8 million. Why has it taken so long to get to this point? Toronto Maple Leafs GM Dave Nonis has been open about the situation, Kadri's camp were looking for a long term big money contract, while the Leafs were looking at more of a bridging contract. Kadri told reporters that the "deal is fair for both sides" but based on the original five or six years previously mentioned, this seems like a big concession on Kadri's part. This is understandable though. Kadri is a good player, but he's not yet proven himself to be worthy of big money. In 99 games, he's scored 26 goals. Last season he didn't make the top 20 goal scorers. Watching Kadri play, he clearly has talent, but it makes sense f

With the  retirement of Miikka Kiprusoff , the Calgary Flames are left without a starting goalie. At a time when the Flames are rebuilding the franchise, this is a headache that Jay Feaster can really do without. So who can step up and take the number one spot? The Flames played four goalies last season. Kiprusoff and Joey MacDonald took most of the games, while Leland Irving and Daniel Taylor played eight between them. This leaves Feaster with two likely outcomes, does he promote MacDonald to the number one spot and allow Irving or Taylor to back him up? Or does he spend some money and bring in another experienced goalie. Either option is risky. The Flames aren't exactly on solid ground right now. MacDonald is only entering his second season with the Flames but he's an experienced goalie, having defended the nets for Detroit, Boston, Toronto and the Islanders, as well as some affiliates. I've no doubt he'd make a decent number one goalie. The other option