FanHouse Ray Emery

Newsmakers in the NHL: During the regular season it's our Weekday look at the previous night's action and some of the storylines taking place around the league. Have a tip or something you want linked? Send it in to nhlfanhouse@gmail.com.

Blue Jackets 5, Canucks 3: It's a long season, and when all is said and done I have no doubt that Roberto Luongo will once again be at the top of the pile when it comes to NHL goaltenders. His first three starts of the season, however, have been quite forgettable, and Monday's game against Columbus was certainly the worst. Luongo was lifted after giving up four goals on just 12 shots, including three in a row to start the second period. Through three starts he's stopped just 50 of 61 shots.

---

---

FanHouse's Christopher Botta reports from Flyers' training camp

VOORHEES, NJ - Former heavyweight boxing champion Joe Frazier visited Philadelphia Flyers training camp on Monday and met with goaltender Ray Emery. The new Flyer is honoring the local legend this season with an image of Frazier on his goalie mask.

Emery presented Frazier with a Flyers jersey, while the boxer presented the goalie with a DVD of "The Thrilla in Manilla" and signed it for him. "That's very cool. Thank you, sir," said Emery, clearly touched.

FanHouse begins its four-part preview of the upcoming NHL season. Check back every Thursday from now until opening night for the rest.

The calendar has flipped past Labor Day in the States, and that means the start of the NHL's regular season is fast approaching. We're going to take one last look back at the summer and discuss the best and worst moves -- in some cases, non-moves -- of the offseason. Who took a step in the right direction and who took a step back?

It's officially the offseason, meaning the time is right to look into the future. We continue our division-by-division preview of the potential wheeling and dealing with the Atlantic Division.

It will be an interesting summer for the five teams in the Atlantic. Four teams made the playoffs, including the eventual Stanley Cup champion, and the one team that didn't make it -- the New York Islanders -- holds the first pick in Friday's draft, which isn't a bad consolation prize. All around it was a pretty successful season for these five teams.

Heading into the offseason, the Philadelphia Flyers have, roughly, $42 million committed to 11 players for the 2009-10 season, and none of those players happen to be a goaltender. That's because the team's two-headed monster from this past season, Martin Biron and Antero Niittymaki, is eligible for unrestricted free agency, and there's really not a long-term solution banging down the door in the pipeline to the NHL.

Put it all together, and it leads to the news we heard on Wednesday that the team is interested in signing free agent goalie Ray Emery this offseason.

Newsmakers in the NHL is a weekday morning attempt to clear yesterday's rebounds and look to the day ahead.

Blues 5, Blue Jackets 2: After knocking off Columbus in a shootout on Saturday, the St. Louis Blues completed their weekend home-and-home sweep of the Blue Jackets with a 5-2 win at Nationwide Arena. Patrik Berglund picked up a goal and two assists for the surging Blues, while Brad Boyes scored his 30th goal of the season, giving him two straight 30-goal campaigns.

T.J. Oshie made some highlights on Saturday for his crushing hit on Rick Nash, and followed it up on Sunday with his 14th goal of the season.

Former Ottawa Senators goalie Ray Emery hasn't been having a good time in Russia lately. It wasn't that long ago that Emery went bonkers and attacked his team's physical therapist after getting pulled from a game. Now, word has leaked that Emery is upset about his salary. Things have gotten so bad that Emery didn't return to Mytishchi Atlant following the KHL's break last week, and the club is threatening legal action.

Ray Emery gained quite a reputation in the NHL for having a gigantic chip on his shoulder. He was routinely at the center of controversy in Ottawa for fighting opponents, teammates, coaches, motorists and, well, pretty much everybody. He's currently playing in Russia with Atlant Mytishchi of the KHL, and was recently involved in an incident on the team's bench.

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: Jarkko Ruutu, F (FA - PIT), Filip Kuba, D (Trade - TPA), Alex Auld , G (FA-BOS), Jason Smith, D (FA-PHI), Brendan Bell, D (FA-PHX), Ryan Shannon, F (Trade -VAN), Brad Isbister, F (FA-VAN)

Who's Out: Ray Emery, G (FA - KHL), Andrej Mezaros, D (Trade - TPA), Cory Stillman, F (FA - Florida), Luke Richardson, D (UFA - Unsigned), Wade Redden, D (FA - NYR), Brian McGrattan, F (FA - PHX), Mike Commodore, D (FA - CBJ), Lawrence Nycholat, D (Trade - VAN)

What's Changed: The Blue Line, that's for sure. Redden's departure was written in the stars last fall, so there's no surprise there. We'll see how well he handles the pressure of playing in New York, since we all saw how well he handled it in Ottawa. If you think this team is Cup material, consider this addition by subtraction. Then again, one has to have a defense to even get to the playoffs, and Redden is solid enough to get you there.

Couple that with The Lisp holding the line on contract numbers with Mezaros and we have the first trade of the Cap Era forced by the threat of an RFA Offer Sheet. So, out go two of the team's Top 4 defensemen (not to mention rental Mike Commodore) and in return come Filip Kuba, Alexandre Picard and war-horse Jason Smith. What's changed is that Ottawa's blue line will be meaner than previous versions as both Mezaros and Redden are not what you'd call physically dominant.

There are multiple press reports this morning that Ex-Ottawa goalie Ray Emery has signed a one-year contract with Atlant Mytischi of the new KHL. Our pal Dmitry Chesnokov is passing along an English translation of an interview from the pages of Sovetsky Sport. This time, Pavel Lysenkov was on the scene with an interview with Atlant's GM Leonid Veisfeld about the signing. Here's the translation:

LV: "Actually, so far we only have the English language version of the contract signed ... Now I am waiting for the Russian language version of the contract with a signature. Until I receive it can't attest that Ray Emery will play for Atlant next season. I remember so many cases when players changed their minds at the last minute."

PL: But still, the possibility of Emery playing in Russia is close to 100%. Please explain to us why you decided to negotiate with this goaltender?