Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Monday Night's Sheet Injuries & Scratches

'Tis the season to be blocking shots, tra-la-la-la, la-la-la-sonofa... Aaron Ward sat out Monday night's game against the Dallas Stars with a bruised foot and is considered to be day-to-day right now. The Box 30 defenseman missed out on a key win to help the Ducks keep their slim playoff hopes alive, but that's about all it is at the moment, as they are still trailing the Flames by 4 points and they are not even in the playoffs.

Also, Jonas Hiller did miss a scheduled start due to back spasms, which he started suffering in the pre-game warm-up. Curtis McElhinney did get the start for the Ducks and eventually the win in Hiller's place. Not entirely sure if these back spasms will keep Hiller out any further.

It looks like the Buffalo Sabres are going into full-resting mode, mostly due to injuries in these last couple weeks. You can add Thomas Vanek to the list of players already out of the line-up and he's out due to a lower-body injury, which still remains somewhat undisclosed. Sabres GM Darcy Regier did comment about his injured players, suggesting that they will all be ready for the post-season, but that was about it. If I was trying to draw a conclusion from that, it would be that these star players will get all the rest they need between then and now.

Playoff Pool defenseman, Chris Butler, was made into a healthy scratch again on Monday night. He did return to the Sabres line-up over the weekend, so he is still seeing some ice-time, for those considering taking him as your last Sabres player in the pool.

A couple of quick scratches in Los Angeles on Monday night, as both Erik Ersberg and Randy Jones were not available to play for the Kings against the Minnesota Wild. Ersberg has suffered some strained muscles in his back and was unable to play at all. The Kings recalled Jonathan Bernier from Manchester of the AHL for this week, where he'll get another start on Tuesday night. Jones was sidelined with an elbow injury and is currently considered day-to-day with the injury.

The Wild were fortunate to get Mikko Koivu back from his minor arm injury last night against the Kings and some other questionable players were deemed good to go as well, which meant another roster player had to sit and that turned out to be Chuck Kobasew. Kobasew has been struggling of late and has played himself into a solid candidate for being a healthy scratch. The Wild are getting close to the brink and will likely play some of their young players down the stretch to give them some experience.

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