Morning Notes: Three Stars, Sabourin, Gusev

The NHL has released their Three Stars for last week and at the top of the heap is the reigning Calder Trophy winner. Elias Pettersson had nine points in four games for the Vancouver Canucks—one of which he was held scoreless entirely—and now sits sixth in the entire league in scoring. The 21-year old is a huge part of the turnaround in Vancouver that has the Canucks sitting in third place in the Western Conference with a 9-3-2 record.

Second and third went to Jakub Vrana and Mike Smith respectively, an impressive resurgence for the 37-year old goaltender especially. Smith struggled last season with the Calgary Flames but has found new life with their rival Edmonton Oilers, posting a .931 save percentage through his first nine games. The Oilers are one of the only teams ahead of the Canucks in the west, thanks in large part to the goaltending tandem that has been excellent so far.

• There is more good news for Scott Sabourin, who has been released from hospital and is now back in Ottawa recuperating. The 27-year old appears to have avoided major injury after a scary collision with Boston Bruins’ forward David Backes on Saturday night that left him unconscious for several minutes on the ice.
• Nikita Gusev is expected to return to the lineup for the New Jersey Devils when they take on the Winnipeg Jets tonight, but is still someone to keep an eye on as the season progresses. Gusev was made a healthy scratch the last three games by head coach John Hynes, but will now get a chance to play thanks to an injury to Jesper Bratt. Bratt will not be traveling with the team to Winnipeg according to team reporter Amanda Stein, but could join them later on their Western Canada road trip.