Player Notes in the Draft (Oct 13)

There are plenty of high expectations placed upon young defenseman Dougie Hamilton, heading into the 2014 season and since the Boston Bruins were three games into the season, before last night's game, the team was already measuring him up to see where he was. Hamilton was without a point in the first three games of the season and the Bruins were 2-1-0, so they felt it was a good time to scratch Hamilton and give him a look at the ice from the press box.  There should be no expectation of this being a permanent move, just a quick kick in the rear end, hoping to jump start his game.

It is a game missed for Wyllie, however, who has dropped down to 18th place after Saturday night.  Wyllie has been off to one of his better starts in the draft and seeing as how everyone is so close to start the year, it wouldn't take too much to get back up into the fight again.

The return of Ryan Wilson to the Colorado Avalanche line-up meant that Matt Hunwick had to be sent down to the AHL to open up a roster spot, but who was going to come off of the starting line-up to make room for Wilson? Well, the answer came at game time against the Capitals last night and it was Tyson Barrie. Barrie, through the first four games, only had 1 assist, so it was he that drew the short straw.  It is hard to say what the plan is going forward, since the Avalanche pummeled the Capitals, 5-1, on Saturday night, but it is foreseeable that Barrie could spend some more time in the press box after that game.

It was bad news for Stuart, who did open up a little bite more breathing space between himself and John, 23rd and 24th place, giving him a 5-point cushion, heading into Sunday's action.  Unfortunately, he is still 4 points behind of 22nd place.

There was a lot made of the new Oilers head coach, Dallas Eakins, scratching former 1st overall pick, Nail Yakupov, for the game against the Leafs on Saturday night, but not having a solid two-way game and making some mental mistakes, really cost the young Russian forward.  Unfortunately for the Oilers, everyone was awfully guilty of not playing a solid two-way game, as they gave away four 1-goal leads, including a game-tying goal with only 31 seconds left to send the game into overtime and losing it there.  I would imagine that benching Yakupov may only be the tip of the iceberg in Edmonton.

Things were not getting any better for Stuart, who couldn't catch a break with some of his players on Saturday.  Stuart has a below-average number of skater games played, by only a couple, but he has a team that has played 11 less skater games than the leader in the field, Grant.

A personal emergency forced Montreal captain, Brian Gionta, to fly home and miss out on Saturday night's game against the Canucks and will keep him questionable for the team's next game, Tuesday in Winnipeg.  There are very few details, but as it is a personal emergency, there really is no more details needed, as a matter of privacy.  He is considered day-to-day out of the line-up.

Tough break for Allan S., who received Gionta in the 12th round, which isn't a bad pick-up late in the draft.  Gionta has a goal and an assist in his first four games this season, which is helping Allan to stay right in the mix, finishing Saturday night in 7th place.

Also being held pointless in the first four games of the regular season, showed Pierre-Marc Bouchard the stairway up to the press box on Saturday night, as the Islanders tried to infuse a little bit more scoring life in their line-up for their game against the Predators, in Nashville, but it didn't exactly work, as they lost, 3-2.  Bouchard really does add some depth down the middle for the Islanders, so I don't imagine that he'll be out of the line-up for too long.

Being held pointless was not what Kristy & Don were hoping for, as they were trying to make up for the loss of some injured players in the preseason waiver draft and now the player he was replacing in the end, Viktor Stalberg, actually returned in this Islanders/Predators game.  Stalberg didn't get a point, but still...

The Ottawa Senators were not off to the most confident of starts in their first three games of the season, 1-0-2, to start the year and in San Jose for game number four.  The line-up move to help generate some positivity was defenseman Joe Corvo heading up to the press box, who appears to lost a little bit of confidence with the coaching staff, likely with some of his defensive play.  In two games played, Corvo does have a pair of assists, so his offensive game still appears to be there.

This is the second game that Corvo has sat out, but I don't think he'll be out for too long, which is good news for Leo M., who has him this year.  Leo is in 22nd place, but he is only 9 points out of the top 10, which is only a good couple nights away right now and Leo does have that team to jump right up, as long as they're not being scratched.