Draft Player News (Nov. 18)

The Oilers had to scratch centre Sam Gagner on Thursday night against the the Senators because of back spasms.  Gagner was said to have been held out of practice on Wednesday, which led to his scratching on Thursday, so this has been a developing story over the last couple of days.  There is no official timetable for his return to the line-up, but he is considered to be day-to-day for the time being.

Gagner has already missed some time due to an ankle injury, limiting his play to only 11 games this year, where he has only posted 2 assists in that time.  That already makes him into somewhat of a disappointment this season, not being able to play with some of the most talented line-ups in the league these days.

In the draft, Gagner belongs to Stacey C., who currently sits in 10th place in the standings, but isn't having a great week through Thursday's action, having only 8 points in four nights worth of action, one of a few teams yet to hit double-digits.  Stacey is now 19 points out of 3rd place, still considered to be in striking distance with lots of time left in the season and a good waiver draft will certainly help him out.

In the 1st period of the Blues' game against the Panthers, the team lost Carlo Colaiacovo to a lower-body injury, which was later disclosed as a hamstring issue.  Colaiacovo, who remarkably hasn't been included on any of my injury prone lists over the last few years (but will now), has already missed some time to injury already this year and has had his season opening limited to 13 games.

In those 13 games, he has been fairly productive, picking up 1 goal and 5 assists this year, so when he is in the Blues line-up, he is doing well to earn near half a point-per-game.  Colaiacovo is definitely one of those players where there is some risk, but an equal amount of return for hoping that he doesn't get injured.

The last few weeks has seen a good climb for Chris M. in the standings, but it may get hindered by the loss of Colaiacovo from his team's line-up.  Currently, Chris sits in 12th place in the standings with 138 points, which is still in striking distance of a number of teams in the top 10.  Injuries have been a big problem for Chris this season, who ranks near the bottom in skater games played, with 158.