Player Notes in the Draft (Jan 3)

The Carolina Hurricanes have some concerns about their goaltending situation, as they have three goalies on the roster, all of which would have to clear waivers and only two of them can play at one time. The return of Anton Khudobin was met with a lower-body injury to Cam Ward, so the problem has been ducked for a little while, but what will happen when Ward is deemed healthy? Nevertheless, Ward missed last night's game and is expected to miss Saturday night on Long Island.

The return of Khudobin gave a win to Ryan V. on Thursday night, as they beat the Washington Capitals and likely took a start away from Ward and Benson G., who ended up with nothing for the result.  Ryan could use the points, as he struggles near the basement of the standings, while Benson has fallen out of the top 10, sitting in 12th after Thursday.

Now, I only have the flu bug graphic up, because it is the only illness-type GIF I have for the blog, but it sounds like Josh Harding is still not feeling his best, related to his MS treatments.  Harding sat out Thursday night's game against the Buffalo Sabres and there is no indication as to when they might expect him back in the crease.  Harding is currently listed as day-to-day for right now, but he did just spend some time on the Injured Reserve, as he had made some changes to his treatments.

This was definitely the risk that needed to be assessed when taking a guy like Harding, no matter how good his numbers may be.  Unfortunately for Doug, Harding hasn't exactly gotten him out of the basement, like he hoped he would, which is really unlucky.

As it was mentioned in yesterday's notes, the Montreal Canadiens are not having a great time and the rotation of players in and out of the press box is the best indicator of how poorly they are doing.  Daniel Briere was a healthy scratch earlier in the week and he remained up there on Thursday night and then he was joined by defenseman Aleksey Emelin for the game as well.  The Habs managed to pull out a 6-4 win in Dallas, which was a definitely positive, but with these scratches done, you begin to wonder if the winds of change are ready to blow through this line-up.

For John, he has now missed back-to-back games from Briere and now Stacey M. has missed out on a game from one of her Waiver Draft pick-ups this season, as Emelin has sat for the first time in her service.  Stacey finished the night in 4th place, 1 point out of 3rd.

The St. Louis Blues and their goaltending hasn't been the steadiest over the past few seasons and it was fair to think that it would continue right away in the 2014 season.  Remarkably, it took until the New Year before there was any call-up of Jake Allen, but it has happened, as Jaroslav Halak was sent home ahead o the team's game against the Kings, likely to keep the illness away from the rest of the team.  Halak is listed as out day-to-day and would have to be considered questionable for Saturday's game, home to the Blue Jackets.

This now puts both goalies for Doug on the shelf, both dealing with illnesses.  Doug sits 7 points back of 23rd place and may not have any help from the crease for the rest of the week.  This appears to be getting worse, before it gets better.

Phoenix Coyotes defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson was the victim of a hit from behind by Blue Jackets forward Derek MacKenzie, forcing the talented blueliner from the game with potentially, a serious upper-body injury.  Reports on the injury have not been confirmed on Friday morning, but the NHL Department of Player Safety has already called MacKenzie for a hearing, so there should be some implications to their decision, based on the injury.

Scott is right in the thick of the prize race in the top 10, but if he loses out on one of his key defenders, this could put his prizing in jeopardy.  We will have to wait and see what the injury prognosis is, but being only 9 points out of the prizes, he could use all hands on deck.