Player Notes in the Draft (Nov 3)

Reports are saying that Colorado Avalanche forward Alex Tanguay left the game against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night with a knee injury, shortly after falling awkwardly into the boards with teammate Gabriel Landeskog.  The early reports on Sunday morning is that Tanguay is due to have an MRI in the next couple days and the expectation is not good for him.  Right now, he'll be listed as out day-to-day with a knee injury, until there are further updates.

More bad news for Wes, who hasn't been able to keep a healthy team yet this year.  His team just welcomed back Max Pacioretty in the same game that Tanguay left, but he still has a couple of donuts left on his roster, heading to the end of Week Five.  Wes sits 17th heading into Sunday, 5 points out of the top 10.

The Edmonton Oilers were without one of their cornerstone pieces of their organization against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night, as Justin Schultz was not able to play, due to an undisclosed injury. There is some belief that the injury could be around his ribs and/or his groin.  The Oilers haven't been great with Schultz in their line-up over the last few games, but it got much worse when the Wings blew them out 5-0 at home on Hockey Night In Canada.  Schultz will be listed as out day-to-day for right now, but we should be seeing an update soon.

Bad news for Brenda F., who still sits in a prize position, 4th place, after Saturday night, but has the least amount of points in Week Five among the prize teams and only has a 5-point gap between herself and 5th & 6th place, heading into Sunday.  The loss of Schultz, if it is long-term, could be devastating.

The injury news came late on Saturday night, as the Los Angeles Kings were still evaluating Jarret Stoll with an undisclosed injury after their game against the Nashville Predators.  The early indications are that Stoll suffered a lower-body injury and until there is any indication, he will be listed as out day-to-day with an undisclosed injury, awaiting confirmation.

Even more bad news for Doug K., who has now dropped down to the bottom of the table in Week Five.  He is now mired with the bottom three teams, with only 2 point separating 22nd to 24th, they may be battling down there for a while, unless injuries creep up.

With the New Jersey Devils already down Travis Zajac heading into Saturday night's tilt against the Philadelphia Flyers, at game time, they were also without their captain, Patrik Elias, to illness.  There was no indication that this illness was related to the major bug he had already gotten over earlier this season, but whatever it is, it was enough to keep him out for Saturday.  Sunday morning, it was also announced that neither Zajac or Elias will be made available for their game against the Wild on Sunday evening.  Both are still listed as out day-to-day.

The loss of Elias is bad news for Chris M., who's team is only 2 points out of 1st place and had three projected games on Sunday, including Elias.  If Chris is to make a jump into 1st on Sunday, he'll need a big day from both Jaromir Jagr on the New Jersey side and Jared Spurgeon on the Minnesota side.

I cannot find anything to say otherwise, but it looks like Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Luke Schenn was a healthy scratch on Saturday night, as the team played the New Jersey Devils. All the talk in Philadelphia was about Steve Downie, Vincent Lecavalier and Ray Emery, but Schenn was among the scratches on Saturday night and there has been very little posted about it. We'll call it a healthy scratch right now, but if there is any update, we'll try and post it up here.

If it's just a night off, that isn't quite a bad thing for Dale B., but the leading candidate for the Mover & Shaker this week would have preferred to have all of his players on the ice last night.  Dale has moved into the conversation for prizing, sitting in 8th after Saturday, only 14 points back.

With the return of Dan Boyle to the San Jose Sharks line-up, that meant that someone had to come out for their game against the Phoenix Coyotes and that someone was Matt Irwin.  It was defenseman for defenseman in the line-up, as Irwin hasn't been quite as good as he may have been expected to be, picking up only 3 assists in 13 games for the Sharks.  Not sure what the plan is going forward for Irwin, but healthy scratches can lead to minor league demotions.

Not only was it one for defenseman for the other for the Sharks, it was the same for Ryan M., who has both Boyle and Irwin.  In total, Ryan made no gains on the games played side of the ledger, but Boyle did score a power play goal, so there was a gain there. Ryan finished the night in 19th place, 12 points out of the top 10.

On Sunday morning, the Washington Capitals announced that defenseman Dimitri Orlov will be heading back down to the Hershey Bears of the AHL, after a stint with the big club that wielded no games played, only a couple of healthy scratches.  Orlov was likely up with the club, just in case, and his presence wasn't needed on his return.  He'll head back to the minors and pick up some valuable minutes and will likely be the first call-up, when needed.

Orlov remains as Chris M.'s only donut on his current roster, but it isn't really holding him back too badly, as he still sits in 2nd place.  Chris' blueline is still averaging half a point per game played, but he just isn't getting the games played to take the lead in the pool.