Saturday Morning Notes

Good news for the Hurricanes on Friday night, as Tuomo Ruutu did not miss any time for the Canes with his reported upper-body injury, so Wes was fairly relieved in the Draft. The Canes also welcomed Zach Boychuk to their line-up, thanks to the injuries that had occurred in the week. Neither player in the line-up was enough for the Hurricanes to avoid a loss to the Maple Leafs.

The Blackhawks are already in tough without Jonathan Toews in their line-up, but it might get a little bit worse, as Dave Bolland took the night off on Friday to rest an ailing back. There is some suggestion that Bolland's back problem is much more serious than taking a night off, as he has reportedly taken a couple cortizone shots this year and he could go under the knife for surgery. If that is the case, the blog will be updated.

Okay, a little bit of an update here today for the Avalanche. It turns out that Ruslan Salei has not been a healthy scratch over the first month of the season, as I finally dug out that he has been dealing with a back injury as well. He has been skating, but as of yesterday, he will be out of the line-up longer than a week, shorter than a month.

John-Michael Liles looks to be returning to the injured list after leaving the game last night night against the Blackhawks with a shoulder injury. He is considered day-to-day at the moment, but he will likely be re-evaluated this weekend for a more definite answer.

T.J. Hensick was also a healthy scratch in the game for the Avalanche. He'll need to step up his game a little more, if the Avalanche are to keep up their great start.

The Dallas Stars managed to sneak away a victory against the Canucks on Friday night, despite not having James Neal, their leading goal-scorer, due to a groin injury. The injury isn't considered too serious, but he will also likely miss the game on Saturday in Minnesota. He'll likely get the go-ahead after this weekend, because the Stars don't go again until Thursday, where they are in San Jose to take on the Sharks.

The Coyotes appear to be healthier today, as the team decided to send Mikael Boedker back down to San Antonio of the AHL. I believe he got to see a couple more NHL games with the Coyotes, which was good for him, but the demotion was not good for anyone who has him in a straight one-year fantasy pool. He's going to be a good keeper, but not today, tomorrow or likely next week either.

The Canucks played back-to-back games against the Wild and the Stars on Thursday & Friday, but were without forward Steve Bernier for both games, because of the flu symptoms. Bernier is not said to have the H1N1, rather just a seasonal flu and he should be good to go for their next game on Tuesday in St. Louis.

The Capitals are holding their breath before their game at home to Florida tonight, as they lost both Mike Green and Jeff Schultz to injury in their match-up against the same Panthers on Friday night. Green left the game with an upper-body injury and didn't return, while Schultz left with a lower-body injury, also not returning to the game. Both players will be re-evaluated before Saturday's match-up and it will likely be updated tomorrow morning, if its something major.