Draft Player News (Feb. 3)

Before the Blackhawks game against the Oilers, the team made veteran defenseman Sean O'Donnell into a healthy scratch again, which shouldn't come as a big surprise at all, given that we have seen him in the press box a number of times already this season.  O'Donnell had a pretty good stretch of games with the team, but this may have been a scheduled night off for him, since the team is down in Calgary on back-to-back nights on Friday.

This wasn't one of Munden G.'s better picks in the draft this year, as O'Donnell wasn't normally known as a scoring defenseman in most circles, but injuries kept him from dropping the veteran defenseman and now it's indifference that kept O'Donnell around.

In the game against the Oilers, the Blackhawks lost centre Andrew Brunette to an undisclosed upper-body injury, which the team will re-evaluate on Friday and likely provide an update after they finish on the ice, if they skate at all, in Calgary.  I wouldn't expect Brunette to go on Friday night, just for precautionary reasons, but the team will likely make his status a priority going into the weekend.

Brunette has been mildly disappointing for Wes M. this season, as the veteran centre is only ranked 270th in pool scoring after Thursday night, with 19 points in 52 games, one of quite a few disappointments this season for him.  Wes' injury-plagued team has only registered 418 skater games to date, nearly 60 games worse than any other team in the pool.

The Sharks' number one goalie, Antti Niemi, was a scratch on Thursday night, as he left practice on Wednesday after taking a puck in a "sensitive" area on his body.  The Sharks don't expect their number one guy to miss any more time than just one game, which was likely a scheduled start, but a little extra rest probably wouldn't hurt for the stretch run either.

This isn't exactly what Clayton C. wanted to see, as his team is chasing down 1st place in the pool, having a good night on Thursday doing so.  Again, the extra rest may have done him some good, but since the Sharks won on Thursday, it kind of feels like it was 2 points missed out on.  Clayton will go into the weekend only 7 points back of top spot, as the waiver draft comes to a close.