Player Notes in the Draft (Jan 15)

The Boston Bruins are preparing for life without defenseman Dougie Hamilton for the next little while, as the young blueliner has been diagnosed with a concussion and will undergo the league protocol, which will keep him out of the line-up for at least a week.  Hamilton hasn't quite lived up to some early expectations, only amassing 10 points in 33 games this season for Boston, but he is growing into a good everyday defender.

It doesn't sound too bad for Derek Wyllie and his defenseman, as the team isn't ruling him out for the long-term, so the chances that Wyllie will drop him in the second are somewhat slim.

A couple of injury notes for the Colorado Avalanche, as forward Paul Stastny missed Tuesday night's game with a leg injury, currently listed as out day-to-day, and Erik Johnson left the game against the Chicago Blackhawks with a back injury.  The early indications are that neither injury is considered too serious, but time will likely be missed and the Avalanche will likely have to make some more call-ups from the AHL.

Stastny belongs to Stacey C., right in the thick of the prize race, while Johnson belongs to John, who is climbing his way back up from obscurity to make a name for himself in the pool.

The Kings have opted to send forward Tyler Toffoli back to Manchester of the AHL this week, likely to get a bit more ice-time, as he develops as a forward.  Toffoli was a late call-up this season, which meant he was only able to register 33 games with the Kings before his demotion, where he scored 9 goals and 8 assists.  It wasn't a bad scoring rate, but it could very well be that he was seeing his minutes diminish and the team could make good use of some other bottom six talent instead.

More bad news for John, as he may want to consider a drop here, as there is some uncertainty about how long Toffoli may be down in the minors.

An upper-body injury has sidelined New York Islanders defenseman Travis Hamonic and it could cost him at least one more game, on top of the game he missed on Tuesday night, away to the Florida Panthers.  Hamonic is currently listed as out day-to-day, but on Wednesday, he was already ruled out of Thursday's game in Tampa Bay.  In 47 games, the young defender has 1 goal and 8 assists.

Clayton has already made mention that he has been contemplating using a drop on a defenseman in the second round, but there is some thinking to do between Hamonic and Jared Cowen of the Ottawa Senators.

There was a return to the press box for Ottawa Senators defenseman Joe Corvo, who seems to end up there at least once a week this season. His return bears to surprise to anyone and it almost seems like a waste of time putting this in the notes again.


Thankfully, Leo has already made mention that he will likely move Corvo with his second Waiver Draft move, so we may not be forced to know about him for very much longer.

Finally, the flu bug, which has been rampant in the Opiated Sherpa's den of late, hit Vladimir Sobotka of the St. Louis Blues this week, as he missed Tuesday night's contest against the Phoenix Coyotes.  Sobotka did return to practice on Wednesday and he is expected to make his return on Thursday, when the Blues are home to face the Kings.  It looks like his absence will be a 1-game hiccup.

Sobotka was a pick-up in the first Waiver Draft by Dale B., who has seen some good numbers from him, when he has been healthy.  Since the pick-up, Sobotka has 14 points in 16 games played.