Player Notes in the Draft (Dec 8)

The Columbus Blue Jackets can't seem to stay healthy this year.  Defenseman James Wisniewski is now listed as out day-to-day with an upper-body injury and is expected to miss at least two games.  There is no indication what the injury is, but there was a report earlier in the weekend that he was suffering from strep throat, so it could be an illness, although we cannot say for sure.

Chris M. is having a whale of a week in Week Ten, as he has now joined the top two teams in the pool, thanks to a 30-point week, through Saturday, and a defensive injury shouldn't derail that progress too much right now.  Wisniewski has been good this year, but so has the rest of his team.

The New Jersey Devils were without defenseman Marek Zidlicky on Saturday night, suffering from an upper-body injury. Zidlicky is tied for the lead in Devils' defensive scoring this season with 3 goals and 11 assists for 14 points, having an okay year.  Zidlicky is currently listed as out day-to-day and the Devils don't play again until Tuesday in Columbus, where Zidlicky will likely be listed as questionable, until further notice.

Zidlicky belongs to Ryan V. this season, hurting Ryan's already below-average numbers from the blueline this year.  This season, Ryan has only collected 26 points from the back end, only 9 points better than the pool's worst team in the category.  This injury, if time is missed, could be fairly big.

On a bad night for big hits and injuries, New York Rangers defenseman Marc Staal was one of those guys who were hit hard and had to leave his respective game.  Unfortunately, i am expecting to give Staal his own post with a concussion, but this has not been confirmed, so the listing will be, left last night's game with an upper-body injury after being hit by Devils forward Reid Boucher.

Remarkably, John S. has moved out of the bottom five teams this week, now sitting in 19th place and I don't see his progress getting tripped up much with the loss of Staal, as his defense hasn't been a big part of his new success.  Still, don't want to see a player hurt on your team, because you want those games played.

Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen reportedly suffered an upper-body injury against the Dallas Stars on Saturday afternoon, in the Flyers' thumping loss. According to those reports, Timonen took a cross-check up high from Jamie Benn, but the Flyers are suggesting that the injury wasn't necessarily suffered from that incident. Nevertheless, Timonen is now listed as out day-to-day with an upper-body injury and will be thought to be questionable for Monday's game in Ottawa.

Ryan V. also has Timonen this season, see above, not to mention having Derek Morris of the Coyotes, who is on the IR for personal reasons, so Ryan doesn't have much of a defense left.  It looks more like Ryan will be joining the race for Steven Stamkos, before he is in the race for money or prizes.