Draft Pool Scratches (Oct 9)

There has been a lot of juggling in only the second game of the season for the Blue Jackets, as defenseman Kris Russell was demoted to the press box after a less-than-favourable performance on opening night against the Predators on Friday. Russell has jumped into a regular roster spot with the Jackets, but he would be wise to not take it for granted. Russell does have some quality puck-moving abilities, which Columbus hopes to exploit, but his head will have to be in the game to get that to work.

In the draft, Russell belongs to Darren S., who picked him 227th overall, in the 11th round, which may have been a bit rich, considering how he's adjusted to the Blue Jackets in previous years.  Certainly, he has the potential, but it will be tough to realize.  Darren currently sits in a tie for the Basement Dweller in Week One, with one more day of action to go.

The Red Wings are, not surprisingly, being rather hush-hush about the status of forward Tomas Holmstrom, who didn't dress for the club on Saturday.  It is unlikely that Holmstrom was made into a healthy scratch, as his style of play is a hard one to really screw up and displease the coaching staff with, but I suppose anything is possible.  There is also some suggestion that a previous knee ailment may have been the cause, but until there is confirmation, we'll consider him healthy.

Holmstrom belongs to Munden G. in the draft, who picked him in the 12th round, making him into a very good pick.  If Holmstrom can stay healthy for the majority of the season, there certainly is some potential for him to become quite the bargain pick in that round.  Munden goes into Sunday's action in 4th, but no one is playing for him during the day, so there is potential to drop early.

When there is a three-goalie system on a team, one of them has to be a healthy scratch. It's just the way it has to be. On Saturday, the Islanders decided to go with Al Montoya for the start and have Rick DiPietro as the back-up for their game against the Panthers, which meant Evgeni Nabokov was the healthy scratch for the game.  There hasn't been any clear indication as to how the Islanders will proceed with their goaltending situation, but they are obviously not afraid to surprise some people.

Fortunately for Allan S., he can afford to be patient with Nabokov, who he picked in the 5th round of the pool, mostly because he currently sits 2 points out of 1st place after the first few days of the season.  Allan does have an active goalie in Ilya Bryzgalov, so points from the crease won't be a big concern without the Islanders goalie, for a while.