Player Notes in the Draft (Nov 5)

On Wednesday, the Blackhawks didn't have much of an update on forward Patrick Sharp, who suffered a lower-body injury on Tuesday night against the Canadiens, except that he may be out for a while.  Sharp was seen leaving the ice, unable to put any pressure on his injured leg after being hit by Alexsey Emelin in the 3rd period.  The Hawks will wait for some test results to come back and make the announcement shortly after, but I don't think anyone is holding their breath, waiting for good news.

This has some real potential to be horrible for Wyllie, who is already without a couple of forwards.  Wyllie moved a spot last week, from 13th to 12th, but has since lost that spot in the first couple nights of the week.  Wyllie is hovering around the pool average for the week in points, but it won't be enough to hold on to many spots, especially since he's down three forwards.

There is a certain possibility that Columbus defender Ryan Murray may have aggravated his surgically-repaired knee, which he had work done on in the off-season.  Murray had only just started playing again in the last week, but his return may have been premature.  The 21-year old 1st round pick in 2012 will likely have a few more tests done, but he has already missed one game, Tuesday night's game against the Hurricanes.  In four games, Murray has no points.

Murray belongs to Ryan, who now has four players on the injured list and Murray could join the other three as long-term losses.  Three out of his four defensemen are on the shelf now, so he'll need a lot of help from his forwards to try and move up.  Ryan now sits in 20th spot, down one spot from his standing at the end of Week Four.

Sounds like Zach Parise had a rough night against the Pittsburgh Penguins.  The Wild captain suffered an upper-body injury and didn't play in the 3rd period against the Pens and now it sounds like he won't be playing on the team's road trip, which they left on today, and they'll open up in Ottawa on Thursday.  There is no official word on how much time that Parise will miss exactly, so we'll keep an eye out on the exact timeline.

Pool newcomer Grant K. is in the thick of the money mix, finishing Tuesday night in 9th place, 12 points out of the money.  The loss of Parise for any period of time longer than a game or two could have some potential perils, as the Minnesota forward has been good to start the season (10 points in 11 games).  Grant's forwards rank 2nd in the pool with 73 points, through Tuesday night, and Parise is a big part of that scoring push.

It sounds like a foot injury kept Alex Chiasson off the ice for Tuesday night's game between the Senators and Red Wings, but the young winger was back on the ice on Wednesday, so all may not be lost here.  Chiasson has been good for the Sens in the early part of the season, picking up 7 points in the first 10 games of the season, but we're still somewhat waiting to see when he'll be able to play in game #11.

Wilton picked up one of the pieces that came in return for Jason Spezza from Dallas in the off-season, but he hasn't seen big advances in the return, as his team has some below-average forwards as a whole, which has led to his standing of 16th place, through Tuesday night.  Wilton could use the healthy body back in the Ottawa line-up and a bit of a hot streak soon.

As expected, Olli Maatta has undergone successful surgery to remove a tumour from his thyroid gland, which had some real potential to be cancerous.  Doctors expect the young blueliner to miss four weeks, at worst, as he recovers from the surgery, likely undergoing some tests in that time to make sure that the surgery was a complete success.  Every indication is that Maatta should be fine, but he will miss upwards of a month in recovery.

Even though we've known for about a week that Maatta would be undergoing the procedure, I'm sure it won't be any easier for Cam, who will miss out on one of his key defensemen.  Maatta has 6 points in 10 games this year and Cam's blueline ranks 4th in scoring with 26 points.  Cam currently sits in 5th place, 10 points out of the money.

The Los Angeles Kings are going to be without clutch forward Justin Williams for an undetermined amount of time, after taking a stick to the eye in Tuesday night's game against the Stars.  Williams has been cleared to fly home to LA with his teammates, but he is not expected to play on Thursday against the Islanders.  Williams will likely see some doctors upon arrival and a proper timeline will be determined from there.

Williams belongs to Mike in the draft this year and his absence won't help Mike's standing, as he has been mired in the bottom half to start the season.  Williams only has 3 points in 13 games this season, which has been a big reason why Mike has been in rough shape, especially since there are more problem spots on his roster, like Williams.

An updated list of injuries can be found here.