Player Notes in the Draft (Oct 28)

It had been confirmed on Monday afternoon, Eric Staal will be in the Carolina line-up tonight, when the Hurricanes take on the Canucks in Vancouver, starting a Western road swing. The Canes captain has been out for the last week or so with an upper-body injury, which had really taken a toll on the Hurricanes, as the injuries really piled up on them.  We should expect to see Staal activated off the IR late on this morning.

Staal has only played in two games this season, scoring a goal and an assist thus far.

This is good news for Troy, who has just hovered around the average mark for skater games this season, also hovering around the mid-point of the standings, sitting in 13th place after Monday night's games.

So far, it looks like a good week for bodies returning to their respective line-ups, as Alex Killorn appears to be ready to play on Tuesday night, as the Lightning go back home to host the Coyotes.  Killorn was on the first power play unit in practice on Tuesday morning, which has to be considered the most positive sign that he'll return, so we'll expect him back tonight.

Definitely positive news for Dale C. in the pool this morning, but as you will see below, the positives somewhat stop here.  Nevertheless, Killorn heading back to the line-up, in a favourable offensive position, could mean good things for Dale, who goes into Tuesday night in 7th place, 19 points out of the money.

The St. Louis Blues are in Dallas to take on the Stars on Tuesday night and they may be doing so without scoring winger Vladimir Tarasenko, who is under the weather with a bacterial infection, which has been circulating through the Blues dressing room. He is listed as questionable for the evening.

As of Tuesday morning, he was still considered to be questionable.

In the pool, Dale C. has been getting some reasonable return on his pick of Tarasenko, collecting 5 points in seven games, to date.  Dale's 117th overall pick is currently ranked 174th overall in scoring, but has yet to find his stride.  I don't think he would be considered a bust pick, yet, but he's certainly no bargain right now.

It looks as though Anze Kopitar will indeed miss Tuesday night's game against the Flyers and the Kings will likely be playing a man short, thanks to some salary cap concerns.  Kopitar is considered to be day-to-day with his mysterious upper-body ailment and his availability for Thursday night's game against the Penguins will still be considered "up in the air."

Brenda & Seward managed to climb out of the pool basement with a big night on Monday, but the loss of Kopitar for Tuesday night won't help them maintain their position outside of the basement.  They now sit 5 points clear of 23rd place, but there are a lot of games to be had, so it will be an anxious evening for the bottom of the pool.

It sounds like New Jersey forward Mike Cammalleri didn't make the trip to Pittsburgh for Tuesday night's tilt between the Devils and the Penguins. The scoring winger was elbowed in the jaw over the weekend and underwent X-rays in the last couple of days, but the results of those X-rays have not been revealed, so the extent of the injury is still undisclosed.  We'll consider him day-to-day with a jaw injury for now, but there is a part of me that is expecting a little bit more.

Cammalleri becomes the second player in successive days to hit the injury list for Leo, who has enjoyed a much better start to the regular season, than what he did in his first season in the pool last year.  We won't know how long Cammalleri is out quite yet, but we know he won't help Leo's 8th place standing going into Tuesday night.

An updated list of injuries can be found here.