Sheet Player News (Jan. 25)

A sore foot from blocking a slapshot was enough to keep Flames Box 9 forward Lance Bouma out of the line-up for their last game before the All-Star break against the Sharks. With Alex Tanguay and Brendan Morrison back in the line-up, the team didn't have to use any call-ups or anything to help out with the loss of a body in the line-up.  There was no word as to whether or not the youngster suffered anything more than a bruise on his foot, but the days off for the All-Star break will definitely give his foot time to lose some of the swelling.

The Carolina Hurricanes were already on their All-Star break, beginning on Tuesday, so they decided to make sure that Box 25 forward Zac Dalpe had some playing time during the break, so they assigned him to the AHL for exactly that reason. Teams will send down some of their players that don't have to clear waivers to play in the AHL, making sure their development continues over the next week.  The likelihood is that Dalpe will be called back up to the team when the break ends.

Things have not improved over the course of this season for projected Columbus Blue Jackets back-up goalie, Mark Dekanich, who has been dealing with an awful ankle injury all year long. Dekanich was hurt for the long-term in training camp, finally found a way back on skates, but was hurt in the minors, suffering a setback earlier in the year. Well, it appears that another setback has been had and the Box 16 goalie will not likely play in the league this year, which is a shame, because this was supposed to be a breakout year for him.

Quite possibly, the same path is being given to Sean Bergenheim, that the Panthers gave to Scottie Upshall on his return to the roster from injury and that was just a slow start, lessening the risk of further injury due to rushing back into the line-up.  Bergenheim was a healthy scratch (or so it appears) for the Cats on Tuesday night, as the team hosted the Flyers before the break, giving the Box 23 forward an extra night off before the break.  With almost a week off, I would imagine that both Bergenheim and Upshall will be able to go full throttle when the schedule resumes.

Another young player has been sent down to the minors on Wednesday morning and this doesn't come as a surprise at all. Box 25 forward Eric Tangradi was a healthy scratch on Tuesday night for the Penguins game against the Blues in St. Louis.  Tangradi has been an injury replacement player all year long for the team, which has actually afforded the young centre a fair bit of ice-time this year, given the state of the team's health and all.  An assessment of the team's overall health after the break will likely determine the likelihood of Tangradi's recall.

Getting a jump on development during the break was the St. Louis Blues, who acknowledged early on that Ian Cole likely wouldn't dress for the the team against the Penguins, so they sent him back down to the AHL, likely to get some ice-time there.  Cole has been up with the team for the bulk of the season, but he has been a healthy scratch more often than not this year, but obviously the team sees some value in him being the seventh or eighth defenseman on the roster.

An upper-body injury was enough to keep Jets forward Alex Burmistrov from the line-up on Tuesday night in New York.  As the report goes, Burmistrov suffered the injury on Monday in Carolina, having to leave the game against the Hurricanes and they were not able to return.  There has been no specific report as to what the injury actually is or if there is a timetable for his return, so we'll just call him out day-to-day for the time being, hoping for the best.