Draft Player News (Nov. 26)

I wonder if you could say that the honeymoon is over between the Anaheim Ducks and defenseman Kurtis Foster, a relationship that got off to a slow start with an injury, met by a goal upon his return to action then only an assist since, playing in eight games for the Ducks, being a healthy scratch yet again this season on Friday night against the Blackhawks.  The Ducks are already in a tight spot near the bottom of the Western Conference standings and not gaining much ground, so roster shuffles have been needed.

This doesn't bode well for Allan S., who is struggling mightily before the first waiver draft of the season, having only 5 points through Friday's action in Week Eight, looking at the Basement Dweller for the week and a much better pick than he was going to have a week ago today.  The race around him had gotten better, but injuries have really taken their toll, not to mention the healthy scratches.  Going into Saturday's action, Allan sits in 14th spot with 163 points, 5 points back of 11th and 2 points up on 15th.

The Hurricanes were without defenseman Jay Harrison on Friday night against the Jets, citing an upper-body injury for his absence.  The injury does appear to be minor, as he was able to practice on Thursday, so his absence is likely for precautionary measures, more than anything else.  With Derek Joslin hanging around the press box from game-to-game, there was no need to put Harrison in danger of getting injured any further.

Earlier in Week Eight, it really looked like Darren S. was going to make that push to try and catch Ryan M. for 21st place in the pool, possibly working his way out of the 1st overall pick in the waiver draft next week, but there is a 13-point gap with only two days worth of action to go, so I don't really see that happening at the moment.  For his sake, I think we'll see Harrison back in the line-up for the Hurricanes soon, so I don't think he'll be a candidate to be dropped.

An injury update on Brendan Morrow, as the team has now placed their captain on the injured reserve, with no exact timetable to return from a back/elbow injury, which he suffered last weekend. Morrow was thought to have a minor injury, with the expectation that he wouldn't be out of the line-up very long, but now he'll not be rushed back into the line-up, the team will wait for him to get to 100% before he returns.  There is no exact timetable at the moment, but now the Stars can call up a new player to the active roster.

This is bad news for Benson G. in the pool, who sits in 11th spot with 168 points, 3 points out of the top 10 and in need of a good rush here at the moment.  Benson sits right in the middle of the pack and will get an okay pick in the first round of the waiver draft, but with the race around him so tight, he could drop on a night like Saturday, which is very busy and his pick could improve without losing too much ground.