For those not following the Islanders (I know, I know, who would miss it?!), Moulson had a productive preseason on Tavares’s wing. They go back a ways and have some chemistry, so expect him to keep getting a heavy dose of TOI for now alongside Tavares and, so far, Kyle Okposo. They were definitely a fun line to watch in the opener.

Spent a lot of time working with Craig Rivet on his game, and projects to be a similar player.

He’s also in the power play discussion as the Sabres don’t really have a proven defense point man with Spacek gone.

Matt Carkner has been a huge surprise in Ottawa’s first two games. During the pre-season, he beat out Brian Lee for a spot on the blue-line for two reasons: Lee was waiver-exempt while Carkner isn’t, and Carkner adds a much-needed physical presence. However, the guy is 29 and had only played 2 NHL games prior to this year, and was perceived by many to be a huge liability on the back-end.

Somehow, though, he’s held his own. He’s kept his game extremely simple, and through solid positional play has impressed me (and obviously the Senators brass). I hope he can keep it up.

Has been a pleasant surprise for the Sharks so far.

I think the Ryan O’Reilly experiment in Colorado is just that, an experiment. He’s getting his nine games in the show and then he’s back to the O. Galiardi however, should stick with the big club.

He hasn’t really done much in the first three games (0 pts, +2), but he had a really good preseason and seems to be a very smart player. On the wing with Gagne and Richards, it should be easy for him to put up some impressive numbers this year.

now has 5GP 1G, 4A 5PTS

He’s become a fixture on that line with Morrow and Ribiero. If he continues to play there and get some powerplay time he’s going to be in the running for the calder.