Player Notes in the Draft (Jan 5)

Buffalo Sabres forward Drew Stafford suffered an upper-body injury on Thursday in a collision with the Minnesota Wild's Matt Cooke. The Sabres have listed him as out indefinitely with the upper-body injury, but haven't featured any more details on the injury, which doesn't come across as good news at all.  On Saturday, Stafford missed his first game with the injury, sitting out for the game against the New Jersey Devils.

Stafford has 13  points (4 goals, 9 assists) in 41 games this season.

Bad news for Benson, who now has three forwards on the shelf for an indefinite period of time, as Stafford joins both Pascal Dupuis and Tomas Hertl.  Benson's team has maintained 12th place in the standings in Week Fourteen, thus far.

Tyson Barrie of the Colorado Avalanche has now only played 25 games this season, which has got to be somewhat of a disappointment for the 2014 season and in those 25 games, he has only scored 2 goals and 6 assists.  Well, he was a healthy scratch again on Saturday night, as the Avalanche played against the San Jose Sharks, a game the Avs won, 4-3.  I don't imagine that Barrie will figure back in before too long without an injury.

Stuart's defense is well below-average this season, picking up only 46 points this season (average is 63) and Barrie is one of those reasons why his team has suffered in the back end.  Stuart finished Saturday night in 23rd, 6 points back of 22nd and 7 points up on 24th.

Beginning to wonder about the effects of the Winter Classic on Detroit Red Wings forward Pavel Datsyuk. Datsyuk didn't practice after the outdoor game and was held as a game-time decision for Saturday's game, which he was eventually held out of. Datsyuk has been dealing with a lower-body injury and is currently listed as out day-to-day for right now.

Datsyuk, much like most of the Red Wings, has had a rough season, playing 35 games, scoring 15 goals and 7 assists.  When he's in the line-up, he's an effective player, but he has missed some considerable amounts of time already.

Ryan V. finished up Saturday night in 22nd spot, but I don't think you could put too much of the fault on Datsyuk, who has missed eight games, but he has produced in the games he has played.  Ryan is now 10 points out of 21st, so he'll need Datsyuk back soon.

The Minnesota Wild placed defenseman Jared Spurgeon on the Injured Reserve on Saturday, but he is on with an undisclosed injury.  The Wild coaching staff seemed confident that Spurgeon will be out for at least a few weeks, so we'll make of that what we will.

Spurgeon has been decent for the Wild this year, picking up a goal and 11 assists in 43 games this year.  Might not be one of the better defensemen, but he hasn't hurt Chris' team at all.  His projected games for the next few weeks have been taken down, which will add some anxiety to a team already in the running for the Basement Dweller in Week Fourteen.

Both Joe Corvo and Patrick Weircioch were off the news/injury list all week, drawing into the Senators line-up without a hitch, until Saturday, that is. The two defenders have been in and out of the line-up on a regular basis and they both had seats in the press box on Saturday, as the team took on the Habs. With a 4-3 win, I would imagine that the Ottawa coaching staff will continue to ride the hot hands.

Corvo has 10 points in 24 games and Weircioch has 14 points in 29 games, neither are terrible point totals, but their two-way games are always held in question.

Both defensemen belong to bottom-third teams, as Leo has Corvo and Doug has Weircioch, neither have good offense numbers from their defensemen, but it is a drop in the bucket for their seasons.

Philadelphia Flyers forward Matt Read was pulled out of Tuesday's game early with an upper-body injury and was listed as questionable/probable for Saturday night's game against the Phoenix Coyotes, but in the end, he was held out of the game and continues to be listed as out day-to-day.  His upper-body injury is undisclosed, so we won't be able to speculate on when he might be able to return.

Read has been scoring at just under half a point-per-game pace this year, picking up 10 goals and 9 assists in 39 games this year.  The Flyers, as a whole, were not scoring a great deal at the beginning of the season and very few have picked up the pace on the team.

Mike has Read this year and isn't too far out of the race, only 30 points out of the prizes.  The way teams have made up some points this year, it doesn't seem out of reason that Mike could stage a comeback in the third segment.

Another name that has been on and off the news/injury list this season is San Jose's Matt Irwin.  On Saturday night, Irwin sat against the Colorado Avalanche, which didn't seem to help their cause much, as the Sharks lost the game.  The Sharks have seen some inconsistency in their game, so they're trying to find some ways to pull out some wins.  There was no indication as to whether or not Irwin will dress for the Sharks on Sunday, in Chicago.

Irwin belongs to Ryan M. this year, who sits in 13th place after Saturday, 17 points out of the top 10.  Ryan has been dealing with some new injuries, so these scratches are just piling on some recent problems.

The Hurricanes have an interesting injury situation, as they host the Nashville Predators on Sunday, as Eric Staal left Saturday night's game with a lower-body injury.  Details have been limited, given it is a pre-game announcement, but the Hurricanes have already called up Aaron Palushaj and placed Riley Nash on the IR to do so, it doesn't seem likely that the captain will play.  We'll hope for some updates for the Newsletter tomorrow.

Grant has opened up a sizable lead this week and could afford a game without Staal, but if this is a long-term injury at all, the landscape up at the top of the standings changes for the "more interesting."

The Toronto Maple Leafs also suffered an injury last night, but they are leaning towards it being a minor issue. Forward David Clarkson, who has already missed plenty of time to suspension this year, suffered a foot injury on Saturday night against the Rangers, in their 7-1 blowout loss. Clarkson's injury is believed to be a bruise, so he may be able to go on Tuesday, against the Islanders.

Wes has had another difficult year with injuries this season and Clarkson, his Waiver Draft pick-up, might add to those concerns.  Wes finished Saturday in 18th place, 30 points out of the top 10, which could be too far away from the prizes this year.