The NHL season got underway over the weekend in Europe. The Lighting and Rangers played twice, as did the Senators and Penguins.

Thanks to the coverage on Versus, here is what Hockey Guy learned about this teams:

Rangers: Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist looked very good, despite earlier concerns about sore knees. Center Scott Gomez was flying. Newcomer Wade Redden played like an all-star on defense. Newcomers Markus Naslund and Nikolai Zherdev will get every chance to score goals this season as they replace Jaromir Jagr and Brendan Shanahan.

ESPN.com liked what it saw of the Rangers.

Lightning: New coach Barry Melrose has lots of work to do. The top line of Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis and Vaclav Prospal did not excel in the new “puck control” scheme, so Melrose started shuffling his deck. With defenseman Paul Ranger sidelined by a shoulder injury, young Vladimir Mihalik got a long look. Veteran goaltender Olaf Kolzig appears ready to battle Mike Smith for playing time.

“I hope our guys are embarrassed by that second period,” Melrose told reporters after Tampa Bay’s 2-1 loss Sunday. “I know the coaching staff was, and I’m sure our ownership and management were. Our guys are trying to win without working and that doesn’t happen.”

Senators: Inconsistent goaltender Martin Gerber picked up where he left off last season, creating an opportunity for newcomer Alex Auld to play more. Newcomer Filip Kuba look strong on defense, piling up four assists. Top forwards Dany Heatley, Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson were in midseason form. Ottawa was very assertive on the penalty kill.

Penguins: The absence of defenseman Sergei Gonchar (shoulder surgery) and Ryan Whitney (broken foot) caused a power play outage. Young fill-ins Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski are skilled but raw. Veteran winger Petr Sykora missed the weekend’s game, allowing Tyler Kennedy to play with the big boys. Jordan Staal will get every chance to break out this season as Evgeni Malkin’s linemate.

For some more fantasy hockey fodder, check out Hockey Guy’s story here.

AROUND THE RINKS: Atlanta’s top goaltending prospect, Ondrej Pavelec, rejected his assignment to Chicago of the AHL. With teams in Russia offering jobs, he will try to force the organization to trade him to another NHL organization or loan him to European team . . . Mats Sundin hung around the NHL’s lid-lifters in Sweden but offered no insight on whether he will return this season. It appears he wants to pull a Roger Clemens and return for the stretch run . . . Marian Gaborik sounds sincere about re-upping with the Wild for the long haul, but he seems destined to enter this season with the matter unresolved. That will put the onus on the Wild to either extend his deal or trade him while he still has big value. HockeyBuzz suggests Gaborik will only do a sign-and-trade deal, with a handful of teams on his destination list. But how many teams can afford to add a max-salary player? . . . The Bruins are shopping several players to gain some salary cap relief. While dealing Marc Savard seems like a bad idea, it’s more plausible that deals for Peter Schaefer, P.J. Axelsson or Andrew Alberts could materialize . . . Bryan Berard wasn’t able to play his way onto the Flyers roster in camp, so the Blues ought to take a long look at him. John Davidson likes the kids he has, but Berard would clearly help the PP. The Penguins might also take a look at him after struggling on the PP in Europe without Sergei Gonchar running the show . . . Young power forward Bobby Ryan earned a spot on one of the top Anaheim lines with a strong preseason, but the team’s lingering cap issues forced the team to demote him to Iowa of the AHL, at least for the near term . . . Injury-plagued Sabres center Tim Connolly couldn’t stay healthy during the preseason, raising questions about his viability for this season . . . The Capitals could play Sergei Fedorov on defense some this season, mimicking what Scotty Bowman did with him in Detroit.