Player Notes in the Draft (Sep 29)

Welcome to the first player notes in the draft post of the season. This will be where you fill find the minor news and notes about the players taken in this year's hockey pool. This is close to a daily dose of news, so keep tuned into the blog, follow the RSS feed or follow me on Twitter, I will be posting the links to the blog posts there. I will try to find updates as they come along, just to keep everyone abreast of what's going on. At the bottom of each one of these posts, there will be a link to the news page, so just in case you've missed something, you can flip back and forth, as there will be links to the blog posts from there.

Saturday night against the Bruins, Detroit Red Wings forward Gustav Nyquist went knee-on-knee with an opposition player, being forced from the game and not coming back. The team, relieved, announced that there is only some minor soreness in the knee of their breakout winger and no serious damage done. Nyquist scored 28 goals in 57 games for the Red Wings this season, getting a late start, due to salary cap issues.  He will remain on the list as out day-to-day and we should expect him to be ready for opening night.

Nyquist was taken in the 6th round by Derek Wilton, 118th overall, which could end up being quite the bargain, since he finished the year 120th overall in scoring and he didn't play a full year.

It sounds like the Anaheim Ducks pulled Dany Heatley from last night's game against the Kings after the 2nd period for precautionary measures, as he didn't come back out for the 3rd period. The quotes after the game from the coaching staff suggested that he was okay, but if you're getting pulled from a game, that has to mean something. He will likely remain on the list until he plays again, listed as out day-to-day with an undisclosed injury.

Heatley was a 14th round pick (the last round), 310th overall selection for Stacey C..

It sounds like Los Angeles Kings forward Marian Gaborik is living up to his injury prone status a little bit in camp, as he is now suffering from a "body" injury, according to the team's coaching staff.  Whatever it may be, I would think that the prognosis wouldn't be too serious, as he is just missing out on preseason and training camp action, so there could be some preservation involved here as well.  This will be something I will keep an eye on anyways.

On Saturday, Stacey M. took Gaborik 107th overall in the 5th round.  His numbers did improve in Los Angeles, helping the team win everything, so it is expected that he'll have an even better year, with a full one on the West Coast.

Toronto Maple Leafs forward David Booth left Sunday night's game against the Buffalo Sabres after blocking a shot with his foot. The official word from the Leafs was that Booth left the game with a lower-body injury and wouldn't come back, so this will likely be a day-to-day issue, which isn't too bad, since we still have over a week to go until the puck drops on the regular season.

Ryan M. picked Booth in the 13th round of the draft, 282nd overall.  That would mean that there is very little risk involved here.

There was an update given to the status of two Winnipeg Jets forwards, as Evander Kane appears to be ready from whatever ails him (an undisclosed injury), but he will likely be held out of Monday night's game against the Oilers. Dustin Byfuglien (undisclosed) is not doing quite as well, with what is believed to be a lower-body injury, as he doesn't appear to be quite ready yet. Like it was mentioned earlier, there is still over a week to go until the season starts, so there shouldn't be any panic here.

Pool newcomer Grant K. has Kane this year, taking him in the 5th round, 95th overall, while Tony D. took Byfuglien, 129th overall in the 6th round.  Byfuglien's drop in drafting position is likely due to his move back to the forward lines from the blueline in camp.

An updated list of injuries can be found here.