Two players cleared waivers on Thanksgiving (November 26) and have been demoted to the minors, while another young Russian player has been loaned back to his KHL team for the remainder of the season. 

First, the waiver news:

The Florida Panthers sent defenseman Ville Koistinen to their AHL affiliate in Rochester on Friday while the Philadelphia Flyers sent defenseman Danny Syvret to their farm team in Adirondack. 

Koistinen, 27, was in his third NHL season but his first with the Panthers after spending the past two seasons with the Nashville Predators. Syvret, 24, started the season with the Flyers after spending most of last with their minor league affiliate. 

Both blueliners struggled this season and eventually wound up losing playing time since the start of the season. 

Syvret was on a two-way contract so he'll earn an AHL salary while in the minors but the Panthers will have to continue paying Koistinen, who signed a two-year, one way contract last season, his $1.2 million salary for this season, although it'll come off their salary cap as long as he's in the minors. 

Now for the young Russian player returning to the KHL. 

Following the lead of the Columbus Blue Jackets who earlier this month loaned winger Nikita Filatov backed to his KHL team, the Phoenix Coyotes have done the same with young forward Viktor Tikhonov, who'll return to CSKA Moscow for the remainder of this season. 

Tikhonov, 21, played 68 games with the Coyotes last season but he was playing for their minor league affiliate this year. 

Filatov and Tikhonov are expected to return to their respective NHL teams next fall in hopes of earning roster spots. 

Last Friday I blogged about keeping an eye on the Chicago Blackhawks and Toronto Maple Leafs as it appeared changes could be imminent to their respective rosters. 

At that time the news was full of reports the Blackhawks were believed close to announcing the re-signings of Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith but would need to dump some salary first to avoid violating the league's "tagging" rule, while in Toronto the media was buzzing over comments made by Leafs GM Brian Burke claiming he was working on a couple of trade options but failing those he might consider demoting one or more players currently on one-way NHL contracts. 

Since then there's been no activity by other club. 

Over the weekend there was talk the two teams had spoken and it was believed the Blackhawks were offering up defenseman Brent Sopel and either a pick or prospect, likely in return for a pick or prospect as the 'Hawks wouldn't want to take back salary in return. 

Since then report out of Toronto claim those deals were "dead" and there's been no further word about any impending trades between the two sides. 

It also appears Burke's threats of trades or demotions might've lit a fire under his team as it went 2-0-1 in their next three games, which may have prompted Burke to back off from any potential moves for the time being. 

The Blackhawks aren't necessarily under significant pressure to make a salary dumping deal now. Kane, Toews and Keith are restricted free agents next summer so they don't have to officially announce the re-signings until season's end. 

Still, it would be to the team's advantage to announce the re-signings sooner rather than later as currently they probably only have "deals in principle" with the three, and the last thing Blackhawks management wants is the possibility the agents of Kane and Toews (they share the same one) or Keith to come back and perhaps change their minds if nothing has been officially signed. 

That of course is merely speculation on my part, but it is something worth considering in all of this. 

Heading into this season expectations were high for the St. Louis Blues. 

Having missed the playoffs in the first three post-NHL lockout seasons the club overcame a slow first half to last season, finishing strong down the stretch to qualify for the 2009 playoffs. 

Despite being swept out of the post-season in the opening round by the Vancouver Canucks the feeling amongst Blues fans and some outside observers was the Blues long rebuilding post-lockout plan was finally bearing fruit. 

So it's not difficult to understand the disappointment felt by Blues fans as their team is stuck in the basement of the Central Division and sitting above only Anaheim and Minnesota in the Western Conference standings. 

So what's with the Blues faltering start to this season?

The most obvious culprit is their poor offensive production. As of this writing the Blues have scored the fewest goals of all NHL teams this season (50), and possess the worst power-play in the league. 

Sophomore defenseman Erik Johnson is currently the team's scoring leader with 15 points, and while it's great to see Johnson has recovered from last year's season-killing knee injury, when your best offensive player is a defenseman, unless he's named Bobby Orr you've got a problem scoring goals. 

Greybeard winger Keith Tkachuk has five goals and 13 points. Highly touted young players like David Perron, Patrick Berglund, TJ Oshie and David Backes have struggled with consistency. Veterans Brad Boyes and Paul Kariya are well off their expected pace. 

The Blues offensive woes have led to speculation head coach Andy Murray may have lost the room, that he's clashing with Berglund and cannot motivate the vets to step up. 

Perhaps Murray is having some trouble motivating his charges but there could be more to it than just his style. 

Tkachuk is on pace for another 20-plus goal season but he'll be turning 38 later this season and his best days are well in the past. Boyes seems to have been plagued by consistency issues throughout his career and may be going through another trough. 

Kariya started strong this season but his performance quickly tailed off leading to suggestions that at 35 his career might be coming to an end. 

Reliable center Andy McDonald was sidelined earlier in the season by injury which also had an impact upon their offense. 

As for the younger forwards it could be a combination of coping with heightened expectations and perhaps believing their own press. 

Still, despite the rough going early in the season the Blues have ample time to turn things around, and there are some promising signs which suggest they could. 

For one, their goaltending tandem of Chris Mason and Ty Conklin have been solid, with a combined goals-against average of 2.27 and the league's second-best combined save percentage (.923). 

They've played well defensively when short-handed, sitting with the fifth-best penalty kill thus far

As noted earlier Johnson is having a terrific season thus far, and has points in all but two games this month. 

McDonald has looked good since returning from injury and like Johnson has points in all but two games he's played in November. 

Ultimately though it all comes down to their offense. If most of those currently struggling with their scoring can regain their groove the Blues should start climbing up the standings.

Time fortunately remains on their side but it also remains to be seen if they can put it to good use to get their offensive game working again. 

- NHL center Andrew Ebbett is on the move again. 

Just over a month after being claimed off waivers by the Chicago Blackhawks from the Anaheim Ducks Ebbett has been claimed again, this time by the Minnesota Wild. 

Ebbett, 26, was placed on waivers by the Blackhawks after only ten games for two reasons; to make room on the roster for winger Marian Hossa's long-awaited debut as a Blackhawk, and to allow the club to free up some much-needed cap space. 

OK, there's also a third reason: he wasn't as good a fit as hoped when the Blackhawks claimed him earlier in the season in hopes he'd provide depth at center. 

After having a strong debut performance last season with the Ducks (32 points in 48 games) Ebbett did not have a good training camp this season and saw action in only two games before the Ducks placed him on waivers. 

His play with the Blackhawks failed to improve, potting only one goal in ten games. 

The Wild however are struggling big time this season due in part to injuries to key forwards so they're willing to take the chance on Ebbett in hopes he might regain his form with them. 

This could however be his last best chance to stick with an NHL club this season because if he fails to perform well in Minnesota he likely won't be claimed again should he go on waivers a third time. 

- Journeyman forward Matt Pettinger signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Vancouver Canucks earlier this month as injuries took a bite out of their forward lines, but as the club gets healthier Pettinger lost his spot on the roster. 

He cleared waivers on Saturday and was demoted to their AHL affiliate in Manitoba. 

In seven games with the Canucks Pettinger had 2 points in 7 games playing on their fourth line. Unless the injury bug strikes again he's likely to remain in the AHL for the remainder of this season. 

NHL fans and in particular those in Chicago and Toronto should keep an eye on the Blackhawks and Maple Leafs as there could be some changes coming to their respective rosters albeit for vastly different reasons. 

The Blackhawks are believed poised to announce the re-signings of forwards Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews along with defenseman Duncan Keith but owing to a rule in the NHL collective bargaining agreement (CBA) they might have to dump some salary first. 

Kane, Toews and Keith are eligible for restricted free agent status (RFA) in July so in order to prevent rival teams from trying to sign them away via offer sheets the Blackhawks have reportedly negotiated new long-term contracts for the three, which would take effect in 2010-11. 

The problem however is that the rumored combined salaries of those new deals would push the Blackhawks payroll for next season to over $60 million committed to 16 players. 

That violates what's known in the CBA as the "tagging rule", which in a nutshell means a team cannot commit more to next season's payroll than this season's current cap limit, which is $56.8 million. 

To make the re-signings of Kane, Toews and Keith official the Blackhawks will have to dump around $4 million in salary either via trade or demotions to get under $56.8 million. 

As for the Maple Leafs, reports out of Toronto claim GM Brian Burke has run out of patience with his struggling roster, which finds itself mired dead last in the league's overall standings following Thursday's 6-5 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. 

Burke admitted he's considering some trade options and wasn't ruling out the possibility of demoting some players on one-way NHL contracts to the minors. 

He didn't single anyone out but it's believed Jason Blake, Mikhail Grabovski, Nikolai Kulemin, Garnet Exelby and Luke Schenn could be among the potential candidates for demotion. 

Don't expect Burke to find many takers for most of those aforementioned via trade and while Schenn is struggling big time in his sophomore season the Leafs GM isn't going to shop him, preferring instead to send down to the minors in hopes it'll help the 19-year-old blueliner regain his confidence.