Sheet Player News (Dec. 21)

It looks like Box 30 defenseman Marc-Andre Gragnani is still drawing the ire of the coaching staff for a lack of production (or something along those lines), as he was put back up in the press box on Tuesday night, when the Sabres took on the Senators in Ottawa. Gragnani has 9 points in 30 games for the Sabres this season, which is below some projections for him this season, but he still isn't a terrible option in his box on the sheet.

A couple of injury notes from the Panthers camp... Box 20 forward Sean Bergenheim was scratched from the line-up on Tuesday night because of a groin injury, which he suffered on the weekend and was deemed unable to play.  He's currently day-to-day for the time being, but with a groin injury, I wouldn't be surprised if he was shut down until after the break.  In the game on Tuesday night against the Coyotes, Box 5 forward Mikael Samuelsson left the game after being hit by Shane Doan, now speculated as being a back injury.  Samuelsson only just recently returned from some residual issues from off-season surgery and there is some fear that this new issue could be tied to it.

I have seen some conflicting reports here, but it appears as though Box 20 forward Bobby Butler was a healthy scratch for the Senators, but I have in my notes that he may have suffered a groin injury, but it's hard to say for sure at the moment.  Nevertheless, Butler did not dress for the Senators for their game against the Sabres on Tuesday and any further participation in the line-up is questionable at the moment.  With only 6 points in 23 games, he's nowhere near a viable option for his box this season.

A lower-body injury is the reason why veteran defenseman Adrian Aucoin was out of the line-up for the Coyotes on Tuesday night, as they took on the Panthers. I have him listed as out day-to-day for the time being, but this injury came in time to make room for Rostislav Klesla, who returned from his own injury on Tuesday night.  Haven't seen much word about the severity of Aucoin's injury, but he is among the worst options in Box 11 this season, so even if you did have him, he would be worthy of being traded away from your team.

A lower-body injury has also sidelined Box 27 defenseman Paul Martin from the Pittsburgh Penguins line-up. Martin suffered the injury on Saturday night and the extent of the injury still hasn't been disclosed, so this is about all we know at the moment.  The Penguins have been cursed with injuries to many players already this season, so this is just another drop in the bucket, in a sense.  The Penguins were able to welcome Ben Lovejoy to the line-up after missing time with a broken wrist, so there wasn't any need to call-up anyone else from the minors.

The Penguins were also able to have Jordan Staal return to their line-up, which made Box 25 forward Eric Tangradi into a healthy scratch on Tuesday night and on Wednesday morning, since there were no new injuries to the forwards, the Penguins sent the young forward back down to Wilkes-Barre Scranton of the AHL.  Tangradi is not a good option in Box 25, since he is an injury replacement player this season and he hasn't made the most of his time with the big club, making the decision to send him down easy.