Draft Player Scratches (Feb 11)

The Buffalo Sabres are still awaiting some tests, but it looks as though defenseman Steve Montador may have suffered a concussion last weekend against the Maple Leafs on Saturday.  Montador failed a neuro-psych test after the game and was held out of Tuesday's contest, as well as Thursday's game, after showing the symptoms.  It would be hard to go from concussion-like symptoms and not confirm it to be a concussion, so I would have to imagine that Montador will likely miss some more time, get his first re-evaluation early next week, checking to see if he can re-join the team after a mandatory week off.

This is even more bad news for Wayne H., as he seems to be losing players from all over the map in these past couple weeks.  Wayne still sits in 6th place in the standings, 4 points back of 5th, 5 points up on 7th.  Not a very safe position to be in at the moment.

Joni Pitkanen of the Carolina Hurricanes was a late scratch for the team against the Flyers on Thursday night, as he is suffering from a leg bruise.  The veteran rearguard apparently suffered the injury while blocking a shot in a game earlier this week and it is likely causing enough discomfort for him not to be able to skate and/or provide somewhat of a weak spot, which could be exploited by the opposition.  I wouldn't be surprised if he missed at least one more game.

Pitkanen belongs to Derek W. in the draft this season and he has been overtaken again to drop down to 20th spot in the standings this week.  The battle for the basement will likely last for the remainder of the season and injuries are the biggest cause of this battle at the moment.

The Colorado Avalanche have allowed their number one goalie, Craig Anderson, to take a leave of absence from the team on a day-to-day basis.  Anderson has flown home from the team, who is currently travelling on a road trip through the Eastern time zone, playing in Columbus on Friday night.  There was no indication as to how long Anderson will be out, but we're hoping that all is well at home.

Benson G. has fallen out of the money spots in recent time, having been overtaken by his brother in the pool and still allowing teams below him to get closer and closer as the season draws to a close.  Benson is now 9 points out of 4th place and now without his second goalie, he may be in tough picking up some valuable points this weekend.

Finally, the Florida Panthers may have suffered another injury, as Dimitri Kulikov left the game in the 2nd period against the Sabres with a lower-body injury and did not return to the game.  There are no details at the moment as to the extent of the damage done or how he suffered the injury, so we'll have to wait on word, likely later on Friday morning/afternoon.  This could be another big loss for a team that is quickly finding itself further and further back in the playoff race.

Kulikov was a second waiver draft pick-up of Stuart G., who has just recently taken over 4th place in the standings, leaping over his brother Benson.  This isn't quite as bad as losing a starting goalie in the league, since Kulikov is a defenseman and was taken late, but it does slightly offset the loss that was written about above.  We'll have to see how much of an impact it really has.

Link to the Injury/News Page