Sheet Player News (Mar. 3)

A fairly bad season for Ducks back-up goalie Dan Ellis has gotten worse and the likelihood that he sees any more action in the crease this season is next to nil.  Ellis, who has already been sitting out with a sports hernia, underwent groin surgery on Friday, which will keep him out of the line-up for the next 4-to-6 weeks, which pretty well concludes his regular season.  After this week, there will only be five more weeks of action and the Ducks are so far out of the playoff race, that it seems very unlikely that they will make it.  Ellis will finish the season with only 3 points, thanks to 1 win and 1 assist to his name.

We are now at a point in the season, where teams can start to carry more players on their roster, if the salary cap can allow it and the number of minor-league recalls have now been capped, so there should be a few extra players getting scratched between now and the rest of the regular season.  In the press box on Friday night for the Blackhawks were Box 4 forward Brendan Morrison and Box 7 forward Michal Frolik, each have been regular scratches for a good portion of the season.  The Blackhawks are safe in the playoffs, for now, but their depth hasn't done anything to help their slide down the Western Conference standings, neither have the injuries.

The Florida Panthers are scheduled to play in back-to-back home games on Saturday and Sunday, so it was decided that veteran defenseman Ed Jovanovski will get one of those nights off and it appears to be Saturday's game against Nashville.  With the Panthers firmly entrenched in a playoff spot, okay not firmly at all, but in a playoff spot, the team will look to preserve some of their health, especially on back-to-back nights and start preparation for the playoffs now.  Jovanovski is scheduled to make his return on Sunday against the Senators, a key Eastern Conference match-up.

Newly-acquired Box 25 forward Nick Palmieri suffered an upper-body injury on Friday night, when the Wild took on the Red Wings. There has been no update on Saturday morning from the team or the media outlets, so his availability for Sunday's game is still up in the air.  I would imagine that if he does miss the game, he will be listed as out day-to-day with the injury.  The Wild play in the evening on Sunday, so the update may come a little bit later and unless the update is something long-term, we probably won't have an update on the blog, since he wasn't terribly popular in the pool.