Player Notes in the Draft (Mar 26)

Well, it looks like development has trumped having a body in the press box down the stretch, as Ryan Murphy has been sent down to Charlotte of the AHL by the Carolina Hurricanes. Murphy has been a healthy scratch for the majority of games since his last recall and that has likely hindered his development a little.  Since the Canes are nowhere near the Eastern Conference playoff race, there should be little need to have the rookie blueliner up with the big team, unless he's going to get big league minutes.

It would seem likely that Murphy shouldn't be with the big club anymore this season, with only a few weeks to go, unless there is an injury or two, of course.  That will put a speed bump in Allan's path to the big money, a spot he has lost already this week, now sitting 2nd, 2 points back.

A bout of the flu removed Sergei Bobrovsky from Tuesday night's game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Detroit Red Wings.  The Jackets were eventual 4-2 winners in the game, but it was Curtis McElhinney who ended up registering the win and it sounds like the Columbus back-up will likely get the next start as well, but that hasn't been 100% confirmed.  The Jackets don't play again until Friday, which should give Bobrovsky some time to recover.

That was more bad news for Allan, who could have used those 2 points to tie Scott for 1st place last night.  If there is any more starts lost, his gap between himself and 3rd place, which stands at 19 points, may shrink considerably.

The New York Rangers confirmed on Wednesday morning that rookie forward Chris Kreider has suffered a broken bone in his hand and he will likely be out of the line-up for the remainder of the regular season and likely will miss some time in the playoffs, assuming the Rangers will stay in the top three of the Metropolitan Division.  Kreider reportedly suffered the injury against the Blue Jackets on the weekend.

More money position impact, as Kreider was a Waiver Draft pick-up for Chris this season, who currently sits in 3rd place, 4 points up on 4th and 5th, 5 points up on 6th.  Kreider has been decent since being picked up, scoring 25 points in 50 games for Chris.

The Ottawa Senators are dealing with a number of injuries and a few of them have some impact in the hockey pool these days.  Bobby Ryan is out day-to-day with a lower-body injury and has missed a couple of games already, while both forward Mika Zibanejad and defenseman Chris Phillips missed Tuesday night's game against the Panthers with upper-body injuries, both listed as out day-to-day.  That's a pretty solid chunk of their regular line-up out with injury, but the remainder put up a valiant effort, losing 3-2 in the shootout in Florida.

Brenda's team, which sits in 10th place, was hit the hardest here, as her team features both Ryan and Phillips and now sits 18 points back of the prizes, with only a few games left to play down the stretch.  Also in the race, Stacey M., who has Zibanejad, sits only 1 point out of the prizes and is currently the leader in the Mover & Shaker race for the week.  Things might not be so bad for Stacey's team at the moment.

The Phoenix Coyotes are in the middle of the Western Conference wild card dogfight and they are trying to find ways to claw out wins through some line-up tweaks.  On Tuesday night, the tweaks seemed to work, as they beat the Penguins in Pittsburgh with both Mike Ribeiro and Derek Morris in the press box.  Ribeiro hasn't seen much time in the press box this year, but you can't say the same for Morris, who has been a regular up there.

Mike, who sits in 9th place, missed out on a game from Ribeiro's scratch, while Morris belongs to Ryan V. this year, who currently sits in 21st.

Sounds like Logan Couture of the San Jose Sharks is nursing a sore hand after blocking a shot with it on the weekend.  Couture missed Tuesday night's game against the Oilers, to which he wasn't necessarily needed in a 5-2 win.  The scoring winger is expected to be back in the line-up soon, the weekend being the worst-case scenario, from what I've read.

Couture belongs to Dale B. this year, who took him in the 3rd round of the draft, 54th overall, and hasn't quite got the returns for the pick, as he ranks 95th in pool scoring with only 47 points in 57 games this year.

Finally, the Washington Capitals lost in the shootout to the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday night and they also lost the services of their number one pivot, Nicklas Backstrom, who suffered an upper-body injury when he was hit into the boards by Drew Doughty.  Backstrom was reportedly held out of the remainder of the game for precautionary reasons, but since we're so close to the playoffs, all of the injuries to top players will be held close to the vest these days.

An injury at the top of the table!  Scott, who just moved into top spot this week, has suffered a major injury to his 1st round pick (13th overall).  Backstrom currently sits 19th in pool scoring and has been a major reason Scott has seen such success.  If this is a long-term injury, his lead may be short lived.