Draft Player News (Dec. 11)

Scary moment for the Boston Bruins, who saw their over-sized captain fall to an awkward lower-body injury on Saturday night against the Blue Jackets.  Zdeno Chara was hurt after a collision with Antoine Vermette, which seemingly caught him in the wrong place, forcing him out of the game.  The Bruins are playing this injury close to the vest, not saying much about the injury, certainly nothing concrete to report about.  I would expect an update sooner, rather than later, if the injury is serious.

Chara belongs to the pool-best defense crew, which is on Stuart G.'s team this season.  Stuart's defense is probably the only thing really keeping him in the money conversation, as his forwards have only been 'good enough,' while his goaltending has been good.  Stuart sits in 3rd going into Sunday, hanging on by a few points.

The Flames did not have the services of playmaking forward Alex Tanguay on Saturday night for their game against the Oilers, as he was dealing with a small bout of the flu.  In his place, the Flames called up young forward Greg Nemisz to handle some of the ice-time left behind, but it was like the Flames didn't even miss one of their top scorers, handling the Oilers with ease, beating them 3-0.

Tanguay belongs to the basement-dwelling team of Darren S., who could have really used the help on the scoresheet last night, as he may likely fall into the paragraph of doom on the newsletter for Monday morning.  The gap is widening between his team and 21st spot, as his waiver picks haven't kicked into gear yet.

As a player, when you're a one-man wrecking crew out on the ice, hitting anything that moves, it is going to put a serious stress on your body.  Just ask Cal Clutterbuck of the Wild, who is out yet again, due to another lower-body injury.  I believe I saw the quote, 'it's the same, but it's a little different' or something along those lines, which means he just can't stay healthy at the moment. Clutterbuck is expected to be in the line-up on Tuesday for their next game against the Jets.

See the paragraphs above.  Clutterbuck is also a pick of Darren S. and even the return of both himself and Tanguay in their next games, won't likely be enough now.  The gap is 18 points and growing.

Scary moment for the New York Rangers, as Artem Anisimov left the game on Saturday night against the Sabres after hitting his head on the glass late in the game.  The Rangers say that he is okay and that he should be good to go for Sunday's contest at home to the Panthers.  The game is a normal evening game on a Sunday night, so the team should have ample time to make sure Anisimov can play at his fullest extent before taking the ice.

Thankfully, the injury does not sound too serious for Scott G. to consider, but his team has just taken an absolute lickin' this year.  Scott's team is now in 11th place in points with 219, already 10 points out of the top 10 and is falling in the skater games played category, now having a team below-average in skater games played with 288 (average is 302).  Scott's goaltending is also falling below average, so health is a major concern.

The Flyers suffered a couple of injuries on Saturday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning, as both Claude Giroux and Ilya Bryzgalov left the game with injuries and didn't return. Giroux had an accidental knee-to-head collision with teammate Wayne Simmonds, which forced the league's leading point-getter out of the game, late in the 2nd period. He will be re-evaluated before the team's next game, but according to GM Paul Holmgren, it isn't too serious and he was kept out of the game as a precaution. Bryzgalov suffered some tightness in his lower-body in the 2nd period, played a little bit in the 3rd period and he decided he couldn't go on. Again, the injury was not too serious, but when dealing with a lower-body injury and a goalie, he might get an extra couple days of rest.

Big concern for injuries here, as the Flyers are already hurt real bad, losing it's two core players for any amount of time would be a pretty severe hit.  Although it doesn't sound too bad, which is good news for Clayton C. (Giroux) and Allan S. (Bryzgalov), who have been counting on these guys for good points this year.  Clayton currently sits in 7th, while Allan is in 12th and their positions should feel threatened until their players return to game action.

The injury bug continues to nibble their way through the Pittsburgh Penguins line-up, as a consistent favourite, Jordan Staal, has fallen to another injury, this time, of the lower-body variety and it held him out of the line-up for their game against the Islanders on Saturday night.  Of course, the coaching staff was not going into many specifics, but they will say it is something that is a day-to-day thing and that's how they'll consider it going forward.

Finally, Wes M., who is also in the running for Basement Dweller for Week Ten, didn't need to see Staal out of the line-up for the Penguins and is certainly hoping that he will be back before too long, as his team is falling deeper and deeper into the standings.  Going into Sunday's action, Wes goes in holding the 16th spot, with some significant fears of falling before rising.