Player Notes in the Draft (Jan 2)

The Anaheim Ducks might be one of the hottest teams in the NHL at the moment, but that doesn't mean that they're happy with their everyday line-up. On Tuesday night, Dustin Penner was a healthy scratch, like he has been in a number of games previously already this season.  Penner has 24 points in 33 games this season for the Ducks, but he has also been scratched eight times.

Penner was one of Tony's Waiver Draft picks this year and hasn't seen the same production rate that Penner has done all season, only picking up 7 points in 14 games this segment.  Since the Waiver Draft, Tony's team has dropped from 15th to 20th, through Wednesday night.

The Dallas Stars were without veteran forward Ray Whitney on New Years Eve in their game at home to the Los Angeles Kings.  Whitney was listed as out day-to-day with a bout of the flu and should be good to go when the Stars go again, tonight at home to the Montreal Canadiens.  Whitney has not had the usual season for himself, only scoring 4 goals and 12 assists in 33 games for the Stars this year.

Wes has Whitney this season and he hasn't enjoyed much success out of his 5th round pick this year.  Wes' team has dropped down to 19th place, where they have been hovering around since the Waiver Draft.

The season doesn't seem to be improving for Edmonton Oilers forward Nail Yakupov, who found himself in the press box as a healthy scratch again on New Years Eve, as his team was in Phoenix, taking on the Coyotes.  Yakupov has been scratched three times now this season and only has 14 points in 39 games.

Yakupov has been one of many problems on Stuart's roster, as his team has not gotten up past the 21st position in the standings this year, currently sitting in 22nd through Wednesday night's action.

The Montreal Canadiens were without forward Daniel Briere on Tuesday night against the Carolina Hurricanes, but there has been very little mentioned about why he was out of the line-up.  There is nothing in the injury report, which may suggest that the veteran winger was a healthy scratch for the game, which was something that would be considered unexpected.  Montreal is in Dallas tonight, where Briere would be expected back, if he was indeed a healthy scratch.

Briere belongs to John in the pool this year and John is enjoying a surge up the standings, now that his team has some more health and structure.  John was back in 24th place in Week Three, but has since climbed his way out of the basement and now sits in 15th place, 25 points out of the top 10.

The word out of the San Jose Sharks camp is that forward Tommy Wingels is dealing with an upper-body injury, which he sustained last weekend, forced him out of Tuesday night's game against the Anaheim Ducks and will be considered questionable for Thursday night's game, home to the Edmonton Oilers.

Wingels was a Waiver Draft pick-up for Ryan M. this season and since he went active, he has chipped in with 2 goals and 4 assists in 16 games, helping Ryan's team move up from 20th to 13th, since that Waiver Draft.

Leading up to Wednesday's Winter Classic game, Daniel Alfredsson missed out on Monday night's game against the Nashville Predators, as the team cited an upper-body injury.  Fortunately for the Wings, Alfredsson only missed that one game and was ready to go for Detroit in the outdoor game, where he scored a goal in the 3-2 shootout loss to Toronto.

Alfredsson has been one of Dale C.'s key forwards this year, scoring 30 points in 36 games for the Red Wings, making up for 9.7% of Dale's total scoring.  Dale goes into Thurdsay's action n 11th place, only 1 point back of 10th and 11 points out of the prizes.

The oft-injured Tampa Bay defenseman Sami Salo was in the press box, dealing with an upper-body injury on Wednesday night, as his team visited Salo's former team, the Vancouver Canucks.  Salo is listed as out day-to-day for now, likely questionable for Friday's contest in Calgary.

Salo belongs to Leo in the pool this year and hasn't been very good this season, scoring only 7 points in 34 games.  Leo's defense has been slightly below average this year, picking up 52 points in total, but that's just one of the reasons why his team is in 21st spot.