Draft Player News (Dec. 7)

Missing out on mandatory team meetings are a pretty big deal to NHL teams, as Tyler Seguin found out on Tuesday night, as he missed a team breakfast on game day and was quickly made into a healthy scratch for that evening's game against the Winnipeg Jets. This sort of things happens every once and a while around the league and it generally only results in missing the next game, nothing more. Expect Seguin to be back in the line-up when the Bruins take on the Panthers at home on Thursday.

Allan S. probably didn't want to see Seguin as a scratch, but what can you do?  Allan is already on the way back up the standings, as he now sits in 11th spot, going into Wednesday night's action.

A touch of the flu was enough to keep Curtis Glencross out of the Flames line-up on Tuesday night for their 7-6 victory over the Hurricanes and they almost missed him completely and probably still did a little bit, as the team barely hung on for the win. Glencross was back at practice on Wednesday morning, so I think it is fair to expect him back in the line-up for their next game.

Dale B. could have used a guy like Glencross in that barn burner last night, but unfortunately, he missed out on all the scoring, which has kept him in 4th place through Tuesday night's action.  He's still in pretty good shape though.

Defenseman Joni Pitkanen left the game against the Flames with an apparent upper-body injury, but even on Wednesday afternoon, there wasn't much of an update from the team. The Hurricanes go again on Wednesday night in Edmonton, so I would imagine a better update will be provided, if he isn't in the line-up for the game.  If I had to guess, the lack of updates would probably have me lean towards him playing tonight, but I wouldn't take that to the bank.

In the draft, Pitkanen belongs to our pool leader, who I'm sure would prefer that Pitkanen plays tonight, but it really isn't up to him.  I don't think missing out on the defender will do much to hurt his lead, but it won't help him keep it.

Things have not improved for Blue Jackets forward Derrick Brassard, who really hasn't improved his own numbers or his play on the ice, which has forced the coaching staff to make him into a healthy scratch yet again. Brassard is supposed to be a keen offensive force out on the ice, but he has yet to do much of anything this year, so he'll continue to sit.

Unfortunately for John P., he had bigger fish to fry at the waiver draft last week or else Brassard would have been in the firing line for sure.  All John can really hope for is a trade out of town for the disgruntled centre, giving him a change of scenery.

A couple of injuries to report for the Minnesota Wild game after their tilt with the Sharks on Tuesday night, as they lost the services of both Devin Setoguchi and Josh Harding in the game. Setoguchi left with a lower-body injury, which may be knee-related, while Harding suffered whiplash after getting an elbow to the head from a teammate early on in the contest.  Both players have been good for the team in their push to the top of the Western Conference and they will likely be missed.  When further updates are provided, there will be a post about it and I have a feeling there will be.

Peter H. has enjoyed some mild success from Setoguchi this season and will likely miss him if he is out for an extended period of time, while the duo of Kristy and Don picked up Harding in the waiver draft and was only good for only a minute in the game against San Jose, which is not a good start.

It has not been the rookie season that many around Brayden Schenn were expecting, as he'll now be down for another short period of time with an upper-body injury. The team announced the injury on Wednesday, much to the surprise of myself, because I didn't see anything that led to it. Nevertheless, the team says he'll be out day-to-day for the time being, which likely means he'll be out for Wednesday night's game against the Sabres.

This isn't good news for Leon G., who was considering dropping Schenn in the waiver draft, but the news of his return from a previous injury made him keep the youngster, hoping for big things.  That isn't going to be the case for now, but he may not be out for long.

The Leafs are planning to be without Clarke MacArthur for at least another game, after missing Tuesday night's game against the Devils with an upper-body injury.  The team didn't disclose any more details about the injury, but they did say they expect to miss him for a game or two. There was no mention of where or when the injury was sustained, but if it is only a couple of games on the shelf, the details shouldn't matter too much.

The 7th place team belonging to Brenda F. will miss out on MacArthur's games, since he is on a fairly high-scoring team and she is in the middle of some good races in the pool right now.  The injury doesn't look to be too significant, so she shouldn't really lose too much ground.

The Canucks took a couple of hits in their game against the Avalanche on Tuesday night, as they lost the services of both David Booth and Roberto Luongo to injury.  Booth suffered a knee injury after a collision with Kevin Porter of the Avs and that didn't look good, although there is no real update on his condition, but I think it's fair to assume that the news will be bad.  Luongo left with an apparent neck injury, unable to finish the game, but still registered the win.  The news on the keeper is that he does feel much better, his neck is okay and could be back in the net for the Canucks on Thursday in Ottawa.

Booth belongs to the 3rd place team of Stuart G. and Jani K. has Luongo, sitting in 12th spot in the standings.  The news is certainly better for one team, compared to the other and the gap between the two teams may be able to shrink with this news.