Kunitz Out Two Weeks

Well, there is a combination of good news and bad news out of Penguins camp today. First, the bad news, as Chris Kunitz will now be out of the line-up for two weeks with an unspecified lower-body injury. Apparently, Kunitz has been hampered by the lower-body injury for the last little while and the team has now decided that he should take two weeks off and get himself back up to 100%. To me, that would suggest a strained muscle of some sort, likely a groin.

Kunitz has had somewhat of a inconsistent start to the season, scoring three goals and nine assists in the first 19 games of the season, but you could speculate that the lower-body injury that will now sideline him has been keeping him from living up to some of his scoring expectations.

Now, for the good news. It is expected to see Evgeni Malkin back in the line-up for the Penguins, which will likely lessen the load on Sidney Crosby and likely even out the attack across the top two lines. Malkin has been out since October 29th with a shoulder injury.

Kunitz going out is a blow to Clayton's Draft team, that has already fallen out of the money positions this week. Kunitz was taken in the 7th round of the Draft, 106th overall.

Kunitz is a member of Box 19 on the Sheet, where he was taken once. We leaves the line-up as a lower-end player in that box, trailing Vaclav Prospal of the Rangers and Steven Stamkos of the Lightning, who are one-two in scoring there.

The return of Malkin will please Chris in the Draft, as he's getting his 1st round pick back, and the eight teams in the Sheet pool that have him in Box 17.