Draft Player Scratches (Feb 17)

The Carolina Hurricanes have decided to shelve defenseman Ian White, as they prepare to make a deal for him to get him into a better situation.  The Hurricanes are still in a playoff position after Wednesday night's action, but  with the price of defensemen on the market today and the fact that White is an unrestricted free agent in July gives them plenty of reason to make the move.  The Hurricanes could go out and move White for another roster player that might help them make that final push into the playoffs.

In the draft, Peter H. is hoping that the deal gets done sooner, rather than later, since he could use some more points from an invigorated White in a new surrounding.

The Flyers were hoping for a little bit more roster space with the addition of Kris Versteeg, but not at the expense of an injury, as they got on Wednesday night.  Ville Leino has suffered a lower-body injury, which may be a slight groin pull, according to some outlets, and will be sidelined on a day-to-day basis.  Leino has been in somewhat of a cold patch in his production, but has seen some quality time with the likes of Daniel Briere, so more scoring should just be around the corner, when he returns, of course.

If the lower-body injury is indeed a groin pull, I would imagine Leino will miss at least another game, which may not sit too well with Stacey C., who is currently sitting in 10th place in the standings and is tied for 8th in the third segment of th season, looking for a jersey.  Stacey is already 10 points back of 1st place in that race with 41 points.

If the Maple Leafs were going to try and sell off some goaltending, some injury concerns may kibosh that notion here right away.  First off, Jussi Rynnas, who plays for the Marlies down in the AHL, has also been injured for the long-term and he was the likely call-up, if J-S Giguere was going to be moved.  On top of that, Giguere has now been hurt as well, suffering a lower-body injury in the game against the Sabres on Wednesday night, forcing him to sit as James Reimer's back-up for a couple of periods.  No word yet on the extent of Giguere's injury, but it is believed to be a groin pull as well, which puts the Leafs in a tight situation for their goaltending.

Giguere belongs to Jani K.'s team, which sits in 14th place in the standings through Thursday night's play.  I think when I'm reporting on teams this low in the standings, it's probably better to talk about the jersey race, which I will here... Jani currently sits in 11th in the race there, 15 points out of 1st, so he'll be hoping that Giguere returns quickly at an elevated need to play better.

Link to the Injury/News Page