Player Notes in the Draft (Dec 6)

On the wrong (and painful) end of a Keith Ballard hip check, Anaheim forward Corey Perry left the game against the Wild on Friday night with a lower-body injury, which has been thought to be a knee injury in some reports from the evening.  Since there isn't too much on the docket for notes this morning, I've added the video clip for you to decide if that was a dirty hit or not.



Whether or not you liked it, it sounds like Perry may still be on the trip with the Ducks, there were no reports that he headed back home for treatment, so if he does miss any time right now, he'll be considered to be day-to-day for the moment.

Not good news for Dale C.'s 1st round pick this year (22nd overall), as his team sits in 3rd place, going into Saturday's action.  The Ducks play once more in Week Nine, Sunday afternoon in Winnipeg, and it will be interesting to see whether or not Perry will go.  Perry has 22 points in 23 games, so you have to believe that Dale would be missing out on a point, if Perry doesn't go.

There is a bit of positive news for the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday morning, as they expect to have forward Drew Stafford back in their lineup against the Panthers in Florida.  Stafford has missed the last few games with a lower-body injury.  Stafford has only been mediocre for the Sabres this season, scoring 12 points in 23 games, just over half a point-per-game.

Benson starts the night in a familiar place, the leader for the Basement Dweller, having only 8 points through the first five nights of action.  He only needs a couple more points than Allan on the night to bust his way loose, but he needs more points than that, if he is going to climb out of last place overall.

There is another projected return on the cards tonight, this time in Calgary, when the Flames play host to the Sharks, as they are expecting to have Matt Stajan back in their lineup. Stajan has been out since the end of October with a knee injury, but has been deemed fit enough to play.  Before leaving with an injury, Stajan had 2 points in 11 games.

With that kind of point production, you begin to wonder if Leo actually missed him in the month of November.  Leo was 23 points back of 1st at the time of injury, according to the injury post, and since then, he has lost ground, now 66 points back of 1st place.  I don't think we can put that all on Stajan's absence, but it likely didn't help.

An updated list of injuries can be found here.