Sheet Player News (Mar. 16)

The Hurricanes called on defenseman Bobby Sanguinetti on Thursday to take the spot of Box 28 defenseman Jaroslav Spacek, who is dealing with a back problem at the moment.  Spacek has been having a rough 2012 campaign, marred with all kinds of injuries and issues, which has limited him to only 44 games this season, scoring 5 goals and 10 assists in the process.  Spacek is considered to be day-to-day for right now and I don't think there will be any rush to get him back, considering the team's playoff position, which is not a real playoff position.

It looks like there is a bit of a rotation between Florida Panthers forwards Mike Santorelli and Marco Sturm, as they appear to be taking turns in the press box of late. On Thursday, it was Santorelli's turn up in street clothes and since the Panthers had a convincing win over the Bruins, I would imagine he would stay up there for another game.   The Panthers currently have the Southeast Division lead heading into Friday night's action and it looks like they'll do everything in their power to try and keep the spot.

This is the first of a number of Playoff Pool injury updates, which we'll see going forward, especially when the sheet gets finalized. Kevin Klein of the Nashville Predators missed his 8th straight game on Thursday night, dealing with an upper-body injury, but the reports do have him as practising with the team, so he could be featuring in the line-up before too long again.  Klein has 15 points in 54 games with the Predators and there is no guarantee that he will have a spot in the Playoff Pool, especially if his health doesn't improve over the weekend.  The Sheet gets locked in on Monday, so stay tuned.

It doesn't look like young Penguins forward Eric Tangradi has yet to do enough for the team in his call-ups, as he still remains one of the first players to be scratched when players become healthy again. With the return of Sidney Crosby, Tangradi was moved back upstairs as a healthy scratch and we'll now wait and see if he gets sent back to the AHL to help his minor-league team down the stretch or if he'll stay up with the club, just in case.  I would imagine that he would stay, since the club would not likely want to blow a recall in the last few weeks, keeping them handy in the last few weeks.

A couple of healthy scratches in the San Jose line-up on Thursday night, as they try to find some regularity in their line-up, looking to get back into the Western Conference playoff picture.  The team did indeed welcome Martin Havlat back into the line-up, which meant that Michal Handzus came out as a healthy scratch.  I would guess that both players would figure into the opening night roster in the playoffs, but they have to work on getting there first.  Also being a healthy scratch on Thursday was defenseman Colin White, who is on the Playoff Pool sheet, since he has a knack of being a good playoff player.  He was a scratch again for the Sharks, like he has been on a number of occasions this season.  If the Sharks don't make the playoffs, then it really won't matter about him.

A couple of injury notes for the St. Louis Blues on Friday morning, as Box 7 forward Jason Arnott was held out of their game against the Carolina Hurricanes with some general body soreness, something that a team would give a maintenance day to a player for.  Arnott will be considered out day-to-day for right now.  I would think he'd return before too long.  In the game against Carolina, Box 6 forward Andy McDonald was checked awkwardly into the boards and had to leave the ice favouring his shoulder.  McDonald has missed a ton of games to a concussion and since his return from that, he has been very productive, so this could be a huge loss.  He will be re-evaluated this weekend and his inclusion on the Playoff Pool hinges on the test results.

UPDATE: After an evaluation on Friday, the Blues have announced that McDonald will be out of the line-up for at least the next two weeks with a shoulder contusion.  The team will re-evaluate him at the end of the month and they will see where he is at then.