Draft Player Scratches (Feb 15)

It was quite a lopsided win for the Flames in Denver on Monday night, as they took the further-depleted Avalanche out back and shot them, 9-1.  Olli Jokinen was the star of a 5-goal 1st period, but was also the victim of a vicious knee-on-knee collision from the Avalanche's Philippe Dupuis, who received a 5-minute major for kneeing and a game misconduct on the play.  When the 2nd period had started, Jokinen did return to the ice and managed to play a regular shift for the most part, but he and non-pool teammate, Tim Jackman, were both made unavailable for the 3rd period as precautionary measures.  Both players were listed as leaving the game with lower-body injuries.

All it took was the 1st period last night to make Derek's new found faith in Jokinen look pretty good, as he collected on a pretty good night on Monday.  Actually, Jokinen, since being picked up in the second waiver draft a couple of weeks ago, has collected 10 points in 4 games for Derek, keeping him in the race for 19th spot in the standings.

I don't expect the injury to be too bad for Jokinen, especially since he was able to play in the 2nd period.  As the game's goal tally for the Flames got higher and higher, there was plenty of reason to make sure nothing like that happened again to the team's hottest scorer.

It appears that the ear problems for Mike Green have yet to go away, as he missed out on Monday night's game in Phoenix against the Coyotes, with what the coach has described as inner-ear trauma.  The Capitals, who are already struggling with their day-to-day situation in the Eastern Conference, look to be losing out on their top defenseman, who suffered the injury in question a couple of weeks ago against the Penguins.  Green did try a return over the weekend for the Caps, but obviously, there are still some issues to be dealt with.

Things continue to get worse for Larry D. and his team, as he continues to give up ground to some of his competitors, that are now nipping at his heels for 12th place.  Injuries and cold players have no doubt been sinking Larry as of late, as both Jussi Jokinen and Michael Del Zotto have also been regulars out of his line-up.  After Monday night, Larry sits 1 point ahead of both 13th and 14th place, 9 points up on 15th.

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