Player Notes in the Draft (Apr 13)

The Colorado Avalanche were already sorted out, in terms of their playoff spot, so it should have come as no surprise when the Avs decided to go with Reto Berra on Friday night in San Jose, giving Semyon Varlamov the night off completely and having J-S Giguere as the back-up. Varlamov is slated to start on Sunday in the team's final game against the Anaheim Ducks, to close the season out, so it was only one night off for the Russian keeper, as he looks to improve upon his club record for wins in the regular season.

Starting at the top of the standings, Allan goes into the final day in 1st place, 3 points up on Scott and he will have his top keeper in the net to help him out.  Missing out on one game from Varlamov and still holding the lead is good news.

There was no indication of any new injury, so that leads everyone to believe that Alex Semin was a healthy scratch on Friday night against the Detroit Red Wings. Semin has only been okay this year for Carolina, scoring 22 goals and 20 assists in 65 games thus far, and there is no indication as to whether or not he'll feature against the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday afternoon.  With the Hurricanes nowhere near the playoffs, there may be no reason to play Semin, from a franchise standpoint.

You've got to believe that Scott is hoping for an appearance from Semin on Sunday, but a marvelous performance at the same time.  As it was mentioned before, Scott is only 3 points back on Allan and he only has one more projected game on the day.  At the end of it all, he pretty well has 2nd locked up, regardless.

An undisclosed injury to Ottawa's Mika Zibanejad kept him out of Saturday's game against Toronto and is expected to also miss Sunday's game in Pittsburgh.  Zibanejad finished his season with 16 goals and 17 assists in 69 games played with the Senators, which wasn't a real breakout year, but it certainly isn't something to sneeze at.  With a decent year under his belt, the Senators are likely thinking that they do have a real talent in the 21-year old Swede.

A loss in the line-up hurts no matter how good or bad the player's season was, as Stacey M. is in the thick of it all, going into Sunday's action in 4th place.  Her team trails Wilton's side by 3 points for 3rd place, while Dale C. is now 4 points back, still in striking distance.  Stacey only has 7 projected games to be played on Sunday, while Dale leads the pool at 12.  Stacey isn't out of the woods... yet.

An early finish to the season has come for Hurricanes defenseman Andrej Sekera, who underwent abdominal surgery and will miss Sunday's finale against Philadelphia.  Sekera had already missed out on a week of action, with the injury that needs surgical correction.  The Slovakian rearguard did establish a name for himself this season, picking up 44 points in 74 games for the Hurricanes this year, firmly sitting in the top 200 in pool scoring this year and may make some early noise in next season's hockey pool draft.

Dale C. sits 4 points out of the prizes, 7 points out of the money and one of his better players, albeit a Waiver Draft pick-up, won't be able to feature in the final day of the year.  Dale does lead the pool in projected games to be played, so there is a good chance he can make that jump.

The Detroit Red Wings locked up the last Eastern Conference wild card spot this week, just by the hair of their chinny-chin-chin's and will finish their season playing away to St. Louis, which doesn't have much meaning to where they'll end up in the standings, as they'll remain the eighth seed in the East, regardless. There are a couple of injury concerns, as Daniel Alfredsson is set to sit out Sunday's game with some back pain, while Jonas Gustavsson, who missed out on Friday night's game and will likely miss Sunday's game, will be up in the press box with an undisclosed injury.  It doesn't mean too much for Sunday, but Alfredsson might be a concern when the playoffs roll around.

Now Dale C.'s projected games drops from 12 to 11, with the injury note to Alfredsson, but he still holds an extra game advantage over two pool teams with 10, but neither are fixed to challenge his team in the standings.  Gustavsson, on the other hand, likely missed out on a scheduled start with the injury, which didn't help Benson, who sits in 11th place, 5 points clear of 12th.

In anticipation of playing his final regular season game, Teemu Selanne was one of three healthy scratches on Saturday night, sitting out the first of back-to-back games, so he is able to play the last game, at home to the Avalanche on Sunday evening.  The other two scratches were forward Saku Koivu and goaltender Jonas Hiller, both sitting out of the game in Phoenix, a game the Ducks won and helped them secure top spot in the Western Conference, going into the playoffs.  If I was to offer any speculation, I would imagine all three would be dressed for Sunday's game, but I suppose there would be less of a chance for Hiller, who has been given lots of rest, ahead of what could be a long playoff run.

Selanne's absence was the biggest one in the pool, as Chris, who had held a prize position for so many weeks this season, fell at the wrong time and goes into Sunday in 6th place, 11 points out of 4th and only seven games projected for his club.  Doesn't seem very likely, barring some huge performances by all seven active players.  Koivu belongs to Cindy, who sits in 13th, 2 points out of the top half and Hiller belongs to Ryan M., who sits safely in 16th, his likely finishing position.

A couple of scratches for the Vancouver Canucks for their final road game on Saturday night in Edmonton, as defenseman Kevin Bieksa was a healthy scratch and forward Christopher Higgins was sitting out with a bout of the flu.  With the season coming to an early close for the Canucks, there was no need to push a couple of bodies, but there is no word on whether or not either of them will feature in the season finale against the Flames on Sunday night.

We're now well out of the money places, as Bieksa belongs to Clayton, who sits in 8th place, 5 points behind Stacey C., who is in 7th, and 2 points up on 9th place, Brenda.  Assuming Bieksa does come back on Sunday night, Clayton has 10 games left to be played.  Higgins, on the other hand, belongs to Leo, who will finish in 23rd place, with big buffers around his team, going into Sunday.

A lower-body injury has given Valtteri Filppula some early rest this weekend, as the Tampa Bay Lightning, who are playoff bound, want one of their better players healthy and ready to go, when they open up the playoffs against the Canadiens.  It also sounds like Teddy Purcell will miss Sunday's game in Washington, as he is also dealing with the flu and could also use the rest, ahead of the playoffs.  Both players have been good this year, but are very deserving of the rest, even if home-ice advantage in the opening round is still on the line.

It does sound like Brenda will be short a man, as her team looks to move up whatever spots are available in the standings.  Brenda is only 2 points back of a move up to 8th place and is only 4 points up on 10th, which is a possible move down, that her team will have to defend against.  Unfortunately, no money to be had, despite the good races.

The Philadelphia Flyers got a scare on Saturday, as their number one goalie, Steve Mason, was forced from the game against the Penguins in the 2nd period.  Mason suffered an upper-body injury, possibly a head injury, when teammate Andrew MacDonald collided with him in his crease.  Mason has seen a resurgence in his career and was one of the reasons why the Flyers played their way into a playoff position after a rough start.  Mason won 33 games and earned 75 points, which is good for 22nd overall in pool scoring, arguably a 1st round pick this season.

Benson picked Mason in the 4th round, 96th overall, which means he was one of the better bargain picks this season, but likely won't be available for Sunday's regular season finale, home to the Carolina Hurricanes.  Benson's standing in the pool has already been mentioned, but is in trouble without his number one keeper.

In preparation for the playoffs, the Chicago Blackhawks had given defenseman Duncan Keith the final two games of the season off, after an admirable year, picking up 6 goals and 55 assists in 79 games. Going into Sunday's action, Keith was ranked 57th overall in pool scoring, which would have made him a very good 3rd round pick in this year's draft.  Keith will be a popular player in the Playoff Pool and rightly so, especially with a little bit of rest leading up to the Spring Dance.

Keith's absence didn't help Grant, who sits on the border of the top half of the standings, sitting in 12th place, 2 points up on Cindy's team, the top team in the bottom half.  Grant does have nine projected games to play, which could give him a shot at 11th place, where he is only 5 points back.

The New York Rangers did some of their own resting of players, heading into the playoffs, as defenseman Dan Girardi and forward Martin St. Louis were both scratches, along with Ryan McDonagh, in the team's regular season finale against the Montreal Canadiens.  Girardi is a defender that gets in all the shooting lanes and was a great candidate for a final game rest, while the aging veteran, that is St. Louis, gets a quick refresher before the playoffs.  Both players will be expected to feature large in the playoffs.

Girardi belongs to Wes, who sits in 14th, 7 points out of the top half, while St. Louis belongs to Ryan M., who is in 16th, mentioned earlier in the post.  Not much more to mention here.

The San Jose Sharks are heading back to the playoffs and they gave a little bit of rest to Marc-Edouard Vlasic on Friday night, when they took on the Avalanche.  On Saturday night, he did return to the line-up for the win against Phoenix, which finished the season on a high note for the Sharks.  The Canadian Olympian had an okay season, scoring-wise, picking up 24 points in 81 games, well short of being a good year in the pool, but still did okay.

Vlasic also belongs to Wes, who didn't get a great year from his defenders, only picking up 106 points from the blueline, just below average (121) this season.

The St. Louis Blues had an amazing year, which has expectations in the playoffs quite high, but the injury bug is going to make a case for them not to get off to a strong start in the playoffs. On Friday, both Vladimir Sobotka and Derek Roy were added to the injury list, missing out on the game against Dallas, where they lost 3-0 to the Stars.  Sobotka was out with a lower-body injury and Roy was out with an upper-body injury.  It is unclear whether or not either will play against the Red Wings in their regular season finale on Sunday, but both are expected to be ready for the playoffs.

Sobotka belongs to Dale B., who leads the pool in weekly scoring with 28 points in Week Twenty-Six, but sits in 15th place.  Roy belongs to Doug, who doesn't have much of a chance to get out of the basement and will finish the year in 24th.

It has been a disappointing season for Derek Morris and the Phoenix Coyotes, as the 35-year old defender did not feature much with the club in the second half of the season and may not feature in the season finale, home to Dallas, as the last game on the regular season schedule.  Morris goes into Sunday with only 17 points in 62 games for the club, which will likely part ways with the defender, as he becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1st.

Morris belongs to Ryan V. this year, as the pool newcomer had struggled this season with a number of injuries and less-than-solid play from players like Morris.  Ryan goes into Sunday in 19th place, but could move up or down, depending on the scoring results.

An upper-body injury forced Mike Cammalleri from the Calgary Flames line-up on Friday night, an injury suffered a couple nights previous, when he was struck with a high stick.  I don't think there would be much reason to have him dress for the team's finale in Vancouver on Sunday night, giving more reason to have the team's youth movement move in and get some regular season action, before the schedule concludes.  The potential UFA in July also didn't have a great year for the Flames, scoring 26 goals and 19 assists in 63 games this season.

Cammalleri was supposed to be somewhat of a safe pick for Leo this year and in a way he worked out in his favour, as his 7th round pick, 164th overall, goes into Sunday as the 133th overall scorer in the pool.  Safe is a good word, but he wasn't the huge bargain that he could have been.

There was mention in last night's broadcast of the Oilers/Canucks game on Hockey Night In Canada that Edmonton forward Sam Gagner was dealing with an upper-body injury, which forced him from the regular season finale for his club.  There isn't much for confirmation on the injury, but that doesn't seem to matter today, as the Oilers did not make the playoffs, rather they found themselves in a good spot for the Draft Lottery next week.  Gagner finished the year with 37 points in 67 games, somewhat disappointing after showing some flashes in the 2013 season.

A definite disappointment for Doug, who thought there would be some big things from Gagner, taking him in the 3rd round, 60th overall.  37 points is not befitting of a 3rd round pick, rather the 214th rank is more befitting of a 10th round pick.