Sheet Player News (Mar. 20)

Looks like the Anaheim Ducks were nice enough to give Jason Blake the night off after taking a puck to the mouth over the weekend, as he was a scratch against the San Jose Sharks. The word that I could dig up was that the damage appears to be minor and it was likely just a maintenance day for Blake, as he probably was afforded some time to just get his head wrapped around getting back into the line-up.  Consider him day-to-day for right now.

Someone who is not day-to-day is Carolina Hurricanes forward Andreas Nodl, who is reportedly suffering from concussion symptoms after a hit from Jets defenseman Zach Bogosian.  Dealing with concussions this late in the season, there is a good chance that Nodl could miss the remainder of the season, especially since the Hurricanes are pretty well out of the Eastern Conference playoff picture, there really is no need to put him in more danger with playing too soon.  I would say that he's out indefinitely with a small possibility of coming back before the end of the year.

On Monday night, the Washington Capitals tried something a little different by scratching Box 23 forward Joel Ward.  Ward was indeed a healthy scratch and the move was made as the Capitals struggle to work their way back into a playoff position.  The move seemed to help, as the Capitals beat the Red Wings on Monday night, 5-3, so there could be enough reason for Ward to sit at least another game.  Ward has 18 points in 71 games with Washington, which isn't exactly the numbers that the club was looking for out of him, but those are the breaks in free agency.