It's questionable as to whether or not it he would have helped against Anaheim, but Adrian Aucoin (Box 11) missed the game with a shoulder injury. The injury isn't supposed to keep Aucoin out of the line-up for too long... which is quite important for those Flames, as they need all the defense they can get.
If you were looking at Anton Volchenkov's (non-pool) 4 assists this season and thinking he would be a good second round pick-up... you may want to think again. First of all, 4 assists isn't that many. There are better defensemen out there for picking. Secondly... he had suffered a broken finger last night against Nashville and should be out for about a month. Sorry, if I burst your bubble.
A head shot is now apparently worth a game... just ask Ed Jovanovski (Chris). Jovanovski received a one-game suspension for giving Marian Gaborik (Clayton) a shot to the head in Wednesday's game. It begins to make the Sherpa wonder if this is going to be a regular occurance in the NHL from now on.
I suppose if you're looking for a goalie that gets some minutes nowadays, you may want a starting goalie. Did you know, no one has the starting goalie for the Kings? Jason LaBarbera is still available, but he's only working at less than a point-per-60 minutes of play. Granted, if you have a goalie that isn't playing... anyone would do, right?
The leading goal scorer in the available pool had yet another one and an assist last night for the Blues. Brad Boyes is still available, but he may still be tagged as an inconsistent youth player, hence the lack of enthusiasm to pick him up. I don't suspect he'll be around too much longer, as his numbers will soon be hard to pass by.
With Jaroslav Spacek (Dieter) being snapped up, that leaves Chris Campoli as the top-rated defender available for the pool. Campoli will likely be snapped up in the second round, unless one or two teams remaining in the first round are looking for defensemen.
Now, Chris may disagree, but Sean Avery's (Chris) doctors are saying he'll need surgery to clean up what was left over in his surgically repaired wrist. Avery will miss 8 to 10 days after the surgery is complete, which adds up to about five games.
With Columbus' record at the moment, you would have to believe that they are getting help from all sorts of new names... most of which are available during the Waiver Draft. Jiri Novotny has 4 goals, 6 assists and a concussion. Do you still want to pick him up? This is just a heads up... he will more than likely sit a week, missing 3 or 4 games. If you still want to pick him, consider this your warning.
Stars winger, Jere Lehtinen (Box 07) is the leading candidate to be a forward on your team... no... wait. That's not true. I'll tell ya why. Lehtinen has just undergone hernia surgery and will be out anywhere between 8 to 10 weeks. Fortunately, he will be available for you during the Week 20 Waiver Draft that goes in February.
Could you possibly call this a reward for not killing anyone on the ice? Well, Braydon Coburn (Box 23) is 6'5" and 220lbs, so it's definitely possible that he might, knowing the Flyers luck. Anyways, Coburn signed a 2-year extension on Wednesday that's worth $2.6 million altogether. Coburn has 8 assists so far this season, which is nothing to sneeze at.Well, since there's an injury in the ranks of available players, it would make Brad Boyes the next best available forward. Boyes is having a pretty good start to the season, one which the Leafs wish they could have harnessed when he was in Toronto. Boyes is sitting with 13 goals and 5 assists in 21 games this season. Boyes will be a popular look here in the next pick or two.
Also up at 18 points, 7 goals & 11 assists, Mike Comrie has worked himself into a good position to jump into the pool. Comrie has found some magic with some of the other new faces on Long Island. The Islanders this season are playing near the top of the Atlantic Division and Comrie is a big part of that effort.
18 points seems to be popular... 7 goals and 11 assists is also the total for Montreal's Tomas Plekanec. Plekanec is breaking out somewhat with the squad that is second in the Northeast Division. There's still some mixing of the lines in Montreal, but overall, Plekanec has performed quite well despite his mix of teammates.
One more player has 18 points in the pool, but this time it's only in 19 games... and he is coming off the injured list tonight. The Blackhawks are preparing to welcome back Jason Williams into the fold and the Hawks should have a pretty healthy line-up against Tampa tonight. Williams' point production before his groin injury was something else and now he'll have full advantage of a healthy team. Good news for all Blackhawk holders... and future ones.The next best defenseman in the pool is now Chris Campoli of the Islanders. Campoli has had himself a great start to the season, but has slowed a bit in recent games, but the Islanders have only played 21 games. Campoli has 2 goals and 9 assists for 11 points this season, one goal better than two of his defensive counterparts (listed below).
There's a great big mess in Toronto at the moment and still Pavel Kubina has 11 points (1 goal). Kubina hasn't seen many points of late, but if the Leafs could ever right the ship, he'd be in line for a major production increase over the next couple weeks. But if you don't like the Leafs, there probably isn't enough reason in Kubina to start now.
An injured Cory Murphy isn't quite healthy yet, but he may be quite soon. His 11 points in 19 games is pretty good on a Panthers team, which historically hasn't seen much production from the blueline. Murphy is listed on the injured page already and he is still listed as out day-to-day, so he might be valuable come Monday, when all players get activated.
Goaltenders have been pretty popular in the top part of the Waiver Draft and since the starters are the most coveted, you may want to have a look at Mike Smith. Smith has been strong in the Dallas net this year, taking valuable minutes away from Marty Turco (Dieter). He's a bit of a gamble, if you're looking for a starting netminder, but when he does play, he seems to be invaluable to the Stars. Smith currently sits with 6 wins and a shutout for 14 points.Originally thought to be a healthy scratch, Duvie Westcott (Box 10) is actually out indefinitely with concussion-like symptoms. Westcott was placed on the Injured Reserve on Tuesday and will likely miss an extended period of time. Whatever you do, stay away from Westcott.Scoring winger, Simon Gagne (Peter) will now likely sit out for at least another couple weeks, but even that is rather doubtful. At this point, indefinitely is really how long Gagne is going to be out.A non-indefinite amount of time off belongs to Scott Hartnell (Box 21), who received, as predicted, a two-game suspension. It doesn't surprise me, obviously, but a stiffer penalty could have been handed out... it probably would have been a little more appreciated by the fans.The prognosis isn't good on Mike Van Ryn's (Dale C.) wrist. The Panthers defenseman is going in for more checks on his surgically repaired wrist and if surgery is needed, his return time will be quite some time away.On the bright side, Martin Havlat (Marcus) will likely join the Blackhawks in the line-up tonight as the Hawks host the Lightning. Havlat has yet to play with Jonathan Toews (Chris), but it doesn't seem too likely that they'll play together in any 5-on-5 situations. Havlat is now coming back from a major shoulder injury, which has kept him out since the first game of the season.Mike Smith, 
Dan Ellis, 
Mathieu Garon and Jason LaBarbera are your next best bets.
Coveted number two pick in the Waiver Draft, Pascal Leclaire (Marcus) could not finish the second period against the Oilers last night as he "tweaked" his hamstring and had to let Fredrik Norrena (Clayton) finish the game in a loss. The reports about Leclaire's injury are that the hamstring is just a little sore and may sit for the rest of the week. A little bit of rest before he goes active in the pool.
Despite a couple of points in the past week, Duvie Westcott (Box 10) became a healthy scratch again for the Blue Jackets. Westcott has been a regular scratch for Ken Hitchcock and shouldn't really be considered as a good idea if you are to drop someone in Box 10.
The Penguins are hoping to have Sergei Gonchar (Wes) back in the line-up on Wednesday after the defenseman went down with an injury on Saturday. The injury isn't considered serious and he is expected back sooner rather than later.
