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Opening night roster choices in Vancouver, New Jersey, LA, and Philly cause a stir

With teams setting their final rosters for the start of the season, some of the teams with salary cap issues are making what appear to be curious moves but may ultimately prove to be nothing more than paper shuffling for the bookkeepers.

Devin Setoguchi Cory Schneider

Vancouver Canucks goaltender Cory Schneider keeps his eye on the puck as San Jose Sharks Devin Setoguchi crashes in front of the net during the first period of an NHL preseason hockey game Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jonathan Hayward)

AP

In Vancouver, the Canucks recalled defenseman Lee Sweatt while sending goalie Cory Schneider and forwards Jeff Tambellini and Alexandre Bolduc to Manitoba in the AHL. In actuality, sending Schneider and keeping rookie Swedish goalie Eddie Lack on the roster helps give the Canucks a few more days to figure out their more-realistic salary cap situation since they won’t play their first game until Saturday.

While rookie Cody Hodgson is on the roster now, expect him to be headed to Manitoba by Saturday as well so the Canucks will have their actual game-ready crew set to go. It’s a fun dance to do when dealing with the cap.

In New Jersey, the Devils made a surprising move sending rookie defenseman Matt Taormina to Albany in the AHL while recalling rookie center Adam Henrique. Henrique didn’t play in any Devils preseason games and initially appeared to be an early cut in camp.

Instead, he’s back on the roster for the time being and making sure the Devils are $35,835 below the salary cap with Bryce Salvador and Anssi Salmela officially put on LTIR.You can get a pretty sweet car for that amount of money, but not another player as the Devils roster, as we talked about yesterday, is at 20 players.

Some Devils followers, like John Fischer of In Lou We Trust,

Brayden Schenn, Mikkel Boedker

Los Angeles Kings’ Brayden Schenn, left, battles Phoenix Coyotes’ Mikkel Boedker for the puck during the third period of an NHL preseason hockey game game in Los Angeles, Thursday, Sept. 23, 2010. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

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goalies.

As for the Los Angeles Kings, you might actually need a program on opening night to figure out who some of the players are. While the Kings didn’t have a lot of roster turnover to speak of in the off-season, training camp brought through a lot of new faces that will make their debuts with the team.

Among them, former first round pick centerman Brayden Schenn, defenseman Jake Muzzin, and forwards Kevin Westgarth, Andrei Loktionov, Trevor Lewis, and Kyle Clifford. If you’re a fan of the AHL Manchester Monarchs you’ll know a lot of those guys, but chances are the youth movement in Los Angeles will take you by surprise. The most surprising of this group are Muzzin and Clifford. Head coach Terry Murray will certainly have his options available to him to juggle things as the pressure to build off last year’s playoff appearance will certainly be high.

Sergei Bobrovsky

Philadelphia Flyers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, of Russia, blocks a shot in the third period of an NHL preseason hockey game against the New York Islanders, Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2010, in Philadelphia. Philadelphia won 3-1. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

AP

In Philadelphia, Ian Laperriere’s potentially season-ending news about dealing with post-concussion syndrome is causing many hearts to sink, but through that a new name has emerged as a potential cult hero. Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky is already getting a lot of love from Philly fans for making the team in Michael Leighton’s absence. Given how tenuous the situation in goal can be in Philly, Bobrovsky could just end up being the starter at some point this season. Meanwhile, forward Andreas Nodl found himself being temporarily shuttled to Adirondack in the AHL while the Flyers get things better squared away concerning Laperriere and Leighton.