US Turkey Day Notes

Well, it's the American Thanksgiving and I have a little extra time to write some more notes for the pool today. I can't honestly believe how many players are on the injured list of mine. It just amazes me how many players can make it through the season playing 82 games nowadays.

The Rangers lost the services of Sean Avery (Chris) again on Wednesday night, but it might not be for too long. Avery left last night's game with a wrist injury, but the first x-rays did come back negative, so he could be back in the line-up in no time.

Devils youngster Travis Zajac (Peter) took a pretty big hit in the game versus the Penguins last night and left the game with a stiff/sore neck. He's currently listed as out day-to-day with his neck injury and will be a game-time decision on Friday.

Another injury that may have been rushed back this season has happened in Florida. Defenseman Mike Van Ryn (Dale C.) hasn't felt right in the last few games he played because of his surgically repaired wrists. Van Ryn may miss some substantial time in the coming weeks for some rehab or a second opinion. This is all speculation, but you have to believe, if you're wrists don't feel good, you probably don't want to play with a stick.

Paul Ranger (Dieter) will now sit out of the Lightning line-up for an undetermined amount of time due to a shoulder injury. Ranger was held out of the game against the Rangers last night (funny that). The Lightning are in a bit of a tailspin at the moment and the Sherpa should know... he hasn't gotten a point out of the goaltending for quite a while. Ranger's absence shouldn't necessarily help, but the Canucks have played better without their best defensemen.

Speaking of the Canucks better defensemen... Sami Salo (John B.) could be back in the line-up as early as Sunday. The new faces on the blueline have played well with the absence of Salo, Kevin Bieksa (Peter) and Mattias Ohlund (Dale B.). So when Salo possibly returns this weekend and Ohlund is back on Sunday, then the likes of Luc Bourdon (Box 23) should be the odd man out and hopefully the Canucks only get better.

There was also an odd amount of healthy scratches last night from pool players, I found. When you have pool players, you don't actually believe that many of them will be scratched from the line-up very often. Well, last night, Kurtis Foster (Box 5), Marc-Andre Bergeron (Dennis), Michal Rozsival (John P.), Fredrik Sjostrom (Box 8) and Steve Eminger (Box 22) were all scratched last night. I thought there were a few more, but these guys lead the list of scratches last night. Maybe it's just nice to have links on the injury page.

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