FanHouse AndrewBrunette

When the NHL trade deadline passed Wednesday without the Minnesota Wild making a significant move, no one was really surprised. After all, the Wild have never really been known for their deadline aggression. Not only that, but they are on the fence when it comes to buying or selling, and those teams usually tend to stand pat at the deadline, hoping to sneak into the playoffs with what they already have.

General manager Doug Risebrough had a chance to do something significant Wednesday. Instead, he may have committed his biggest blunder by not pulling the trigger on a deal for his best player.

One of the perks of signing a guy like the Wild's Andrew Brunette is that you can rely on him to be in the lineup, despite his style of play. He's a rugged leader, and he goes in the tough areas. When he gets in the tough areas, he makes things happen.

Brunette played in 509 consecutive games, dating back to New Year's Eve of 2001. That streak, which was the longest active consecutive games streak in the NHL, ended Saturday night in St. Paul, where the Wild beat Detroit 5-2.

Penguins 4, Lightning 3: I feel as if I've said this before, but this could be the game that turns the Penguins season around. It has to be. If it doesn't spark something with this group, nothing will.

Trailing 3-0 in the third period, Evgeni Malkin transformed himself into a one-man wrecking crew as he scored a pair of goals -- including the game-winner in overtime -- and assisted on another in Pittsburgh's 4-3 overtime win against Tampa Bay. After Malkin scored the Penguins first goal of the night, Mark Eaton and Petr Sykora scored a pair of goals in the final six minutes of regulation to send the game to overtime.

Sykora's goal came on the power play after Gary Roberts -- who became a cult hero of sorts during his year-and-a-half stay in the 'Burgh -- was suckered into a foolish penalty by Matt Cooke.

There are certainly at least two really good teams in the NHL's Western Conference. Defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit and fast-starting San Jose appear in the clear to duke it out for the right to play for the Stanley Cup later this year.

Of course, we know that anything can happen in a best-of-seven series. In addition, we still have half a season left to play. What we don't know is which team in this conference is set up to challenge either the Red Wings or Sharks. They've beaten - at least once - pretty much everyone who has stood in their way, including each other.

While the top of the conference appears to virtually locked in place at this point, there are still serious battles to be fought, especially for the last four positions in the West. Currently, eight teams are separated by just six points. St. Louis, the last-place team in the West, is just nine points out of eighth.

Welcome to the NHL FanHouse 2008-09 season preview. While other sites are previewing "30 teams in 30 days," we decided to take advantage of the extra time off before the start of the season to bring you all 30 previews over the next three weeks. We're counting down in reverse order of finish from last season in each conference every weekday from now until October 3. Look for an Eastern Conference preview every morning and a Western Conference preview every afternoon. Click here to read them all.

Who's In: Andrew Brunette, F (FA-COL); Owen Nolan, F (FA-CGY); Marc-Andre Bergeron, D (Trade-ANH); Marek Zidlicky, D (Trade-NSH); Antti Miettinen, F (FA-DAL); Craig Weller, F (FA-PHX)

Who's Out: Brian Rolston, F (FA-NJ); Pavol Demitra, F (FA-VAN); Todd Fedoruk, F (FA-PHX)

What's Changed: Hopefully, the Wild found some stability. General manager Doug Risebrough acknowledged he made a mistake by employing ten players in contract years last year. As a result, there was a lot of player movement over the summer. Rolston should have been re-signed during the previous off-season. Once it was clear he would test free agency, it was also clear he wouldn't be back.

Risebrough tried to make up for his blunders (too many free agents and not re-signing Rolston) by taking a stab at Marian Hossa, placing a bid for Kristian Huselius, and also making a play at a contract extension for Marian Gaborik. None of these moves have been successful, however the potential for a Gaborik deal is far from dead as of this writing.

(Of course, this hasn't stopped fans of other teams from dreaming.)

Who's In: Scott Hannan, D (FA-SJ), Ryan Smyth, LW (FA-NYI), Jeff Jillson, D (FA), Dale Purinton, D (FA)

Who's Out: Patrice Brisebois, D (FA-MTR), Ken Klee, D (FA-ATL), Antti Laaksonen, LW (FA-Swiss), Brett McLean, LW (FA-PHX,) Pierre Turgeon, C (Retired), Ossi Vaananen, D (FA)

What's Changed: There was quite an exodus from the Rocky Mountains this summer, as the Avalanche lost six members from their active roster, and brought back only four.

This, however, went fairly unnoticed compared to the headlining signings of Ryan Smyth (away from the clutches of the Oilers) and Scott Hannan.

Smyth was the perfect signing for the Avalanche, who lacked a strong power-forward type that could take severe punishment and chip in offensively. The bulk of the Avalanche forward corps are either grinding checkers, or offensive-minded finesse forwards. Smyth's disturbing presence in the corners and in front of the opposition's net will free up even more room for the likes of Joe Sakic and Marek Svatos.

While the Avs failed to make the playoffs last season, they finished the season quite strongly, and hope to keep the momentum going heading into this season. With the fourth best Power Play in the NHL in 2006-07, and the most goals scored by any NHL team in the second half of the season, the Avalanche are an offensive powerhouse that will be hard for any team to handle.

All too often, fantasy league GMs chase after the shiny baubles, paying far too much for past production while not looking at likely future point totals and the big picture.

For good fantasy league players, they can abuse these chicken-headed GM's by gouging them with a big fat juicy carrot (or bag of seeds) right in front of their faces. Nobody ever wins their league by playing nice. Hype up your players, and prepare to reap the windfall.

There are a few good players that would be well worth waving around the trade market, given that their production next season is very likely to fall off to some degree. Rather than bank on the chance these players MIGHT another great season, let somebody else take the risk for you.

1. Andrew Brunette, Colorado Avalanche

SEASON  TEAM  GP  G  A  PTS

03-04   MIN   82 15 34  49

05-06   COL   82 24 39  63

06-07   COL   82 27 56  83

Talk about your career seasons! Andrew Brunette found the fountain of Youth (Joe Sakic) in Colorado and had himself his best season ever.

Unfortunately, Brunette isn't too fleet of foot, and is approaching his 34th birthday. One has to believe that his amazing streak of luck with his health and production will come to an end. Brunette will also be conceding some ice time to some of the Avs' younger forwards and, perhaps, Ryan Smyth.