Wednesday Morning Notes

I don't know about you, but I'm finding that there are s lot of personal reasons floating around for players to miss games these days. Last night, it was Travis Moen who sat out of the Ducks' game against the Sabres in Buffalo. The Ducks go again in Boston on Thursday night and there is no word as to whether or not Moen will be able to make it on time for the game. Don't be surprised if the Box 8 forward doesn't quite make it.

The Blue Jackets decided on scratching Box 12 defenseman, Christian Backman, on Tuesday night against the Flames in Calgary. Backman has been somewhat of a regular scratch this season for Columbus, showing up more and more as the season winds down. In 51 games, the veteran defender has only 2 goals and 5 assists for the Jackets, which is far from what was expected of him when he was acquired in the off-season.

The Blackhawks are not hopeful that they will get Cam Barker back into their line-up any time soon. Barker left a game on the weekend after blocking a shot with his leg and the coaching staff has indicated that he will be out indefinitely for the time being. The Waiver Draft pick of John P.'s has been good since being picked up in Week Eighteen, picking up a goal and 6 assists in 11 games.

In Minnesota, the Wild have caught a bad break... Owen Nolan's toe. Nolan, a Box 7 forward, was one of the Wild's hottest players of late, but ended up taking a puck off the toe in their game against Chicago on Sunday, which led to the broken toe. His current status is out indefinitely and will likely be re-evaluated in the next few weeks before any sort of return. The Wild were without his services last night against the Kings, in a 2-1 shootout loss.

The Predators have learned that they will be without the services of Radek Bonk for the next few weeks, as he has suffered an upper body injury. The Box 5 forward has suffered offensively this season, having only 20 points in 56 games this year. He hasn't been the best prospect for your pool team this season, unless you picked him up really, really late. Bonk should be dropped, likely not to be picked up again this year, as the Predators have been getting offense elsewhere.

It's been a yo-yo season for Lasse Kukkonen, a Box 29 defenseman, as he was recalled from the minors yesterday, only to be a healthy scratch for the Flyers' game against the Capitals on Tuesday night. Since Kimmo Timonen was out with the flu, the team needed some extra insurance to make sure they could field a full unit against the high-powered Capitals team, but it turned out Kukkonen wasn't part of those playing plans.

It's been a little while since Keith Yandle was up in the press box, see the Week Fifteen Newsletter for the last time it was mentioned, but he has now managed to be sat for the past couple games, Saturday in Los Angeles and then again in St. Louis on Tuesday night. The Jeremy Waiver Draft pick has had a good string of games, with some decent results as well. It doesn't seem far-fetched to think that they young defender needed a rest or the team wanted to give David Hale another good shake at it.

The Lightning will be without Box 14 defender, Lukas Krajicek, for an undetermined amount of time, due to a hip flexor injury. Krajicek has also spent some time on the shelf due to an upper body injury earlier in the year, but for the most part, has been a pretty steady mainstay on the blueline for the flailing Lightning. In 52 games, Krajicek has only managed 1 goal and 10 assists between Tampa Bay and Vancouver.

Click here to see an updated injury page.