Breaking Down the Booth-to-Vancouver trade

Panthers GM Dale Tallon is at it again. He is hard at work tinkering with his blueprint to turn around a franchise that has been far too inept for far too long, the Florida Panthers. This time, he has traded one of the few players who was around during the pre-Tallon era, David Booth, to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for forwards Marco Sturm and Mikael Samuelsson. Also going to Vancouver is a 3rd round pick for 2013 and forward Steven Reinprecht along with his beautiful head, who has been on loan overseas for the past 2 seasons. I'll be analyzing this trade piece-by-piece and delivering the final verdict on who got the better of the deal. Check it out after the jump.

Quick Hits: October 17th

Blueshirt Banter: The NY Rangers blog discusses the implications of the injury of D Michael Sauer to the PK

TSN: In the lone game last night, Hart Trophy winner Corey "Scorey" Perry lifted the Ducks over the St Louis

NHL: Over the weekend, super rookie Ryan Nugent-Hopkins got his first career hat trick, one I'm sure is going to be the first of many

Yahoo: Drew Doughty, he of the massive shiny new contract, was placed on the injured list after suffering an upper body injury Saturday night in Philly

NHL: Hot off the presses, we've learned that Blue Jackets center Jeff Carter has a slight fracture in his foot

Quick Hits: October 15th

We're gonna be taking you around the league for the news and storylines of last night and today.

Aaron Asham regrets the WWE-style taunting but not laying the smackdown on young Beagle

TSN: Jason Blake suffers scary forearm injury

Puck Daddy: our friends over at Puck Daddy discuss tonight's return of Mike Richards to Broad Street

NHL.com Former Rangers great Kevin Weekes gives a goaltender's perspective on tight angle shots

New York Post: Isles' Dipietro out indefinitely with a concussion after shot rang off his mask

Goals of The Week

5. Claude Giroux goal vs. Boston

4. Brad Richards goal vs. Anaheim

See the rest of the scintillating goals of the week after the jump.

Peter Forsberg and the Legacy he Leaves Behind

Last night, the Colorado Avalanche had a night in honor of Peter Forsberg that, unfortunately for Avs fans, was ruined by the Red Wings of Detroit. Although Colorado could not pull off the victory, it still was a great night for a player who, along with Joe Sakic and Patrick Roy, led the Avalanche to prominence and established them as one of the most formidable teams in the NHL from the mid-90's until the lockout of 2005. Peter Forsberg leaves the game of hockey arguably the greatest Swedish hockey player of all time; I believe that an argument could also be made for Nicklas Lidstrom. Forsberg's unparallelled stickhandling and tireless work ethic along with incredible strength made him one of the toughest players to scout in the NHL. There was a period of 7 or 8 years or so where no matter what you couldn't keep him off the scoreboard. He was a perennial all star and was always in the conversation of the top 10 forwards in the NHL. His 885 career NHL points will always remind us of what could have been. Although Forsberg had all the talent in the world, his unfortunate career-long battle with a chronic, nagging foot injury is what some people will remember about him. For all the skills he possessed, the biggest challenge for him was staying out of the trainer's room. But for when he was on the ice, he was always the go-to guy for the Avs. There never was and will never ever be another Peter Forsberg. We here at Toe Drag wish him well in his life after hockey and maybe hope to see him in an analyst's role sometime in the future.

3 days in and already 4 shutouts

it's only 5-days into the NHL regular season and we've witnessed an impressive 4-shutouts from 4 different goaltenders, let's take a look:

James Reimer: the toronto maple leafs goaltender was the 1st to get a shutout, stopping 32 shots from the montreal canadiens in the maple leafs first game of the season, in front of the home crowd. reimer went on to gain "1st star of the game" honors.

Ilya Bryzgalov: the philadelphi flyers goaltender picked up a shutout in their 2nd game of the season against the new jersey devils (after defeating the boston bruins in their 1st game) on the road, bryzgalov stopped all 20 shots that came his way and was the 1st star of the game.

Jose Theodore: making his florida panthers debut, the veteran goaltender stopped all 27 shots, blanking the new york islanders in long island.

Ty Conklin: the detroit red wings goalie stopped all 29 shots, helping the red wings defeat the colorado avalanche, spoiling peter forsberg night for the colorado fans.

Tweeting During Games

AFP PHOTO / JONATHAN NACKSTRAND

Many games throughout the year, I'll be doing commmentary and talking about the games on twitter. You can follow the guys from Toe Drag @toedraghockey. Today I'll be gamecasting the Rangers and Ducks game in Stockholm, so follow us on twitter if you can't catch the game on tv or just want to hear some opinions. So far it's no score in the first, but both teams have had their chances. So head on over to twitter and follow @toedraghockey as soon as you can.