More Player Notes in the Draft (Jan 8)

With news that Drew Stafford is ready to come back to the Buffalo Sabres tonight, facing off in Carolina, it has occurred to me that he likely wasn't placed on the Injured Reserve, as one report suggested, rather, he was likely made into a non-roster player.  Some reports out there, right?

Stafford will be activated for the game tonight and his projected games will return to Benson's totals for the week.  Benson is quickly moving up the standings, now sitting in 20th and only 5 points back of 18th.

Speaking of non-roster players, Zach Parise has now been moved to this designation, following the passing of his father, former NHL'er J.P. Parise.  Zach had already been granted a leave of absence from the team to be with his ailing father and now with his passing, there will be some time needed for all the proceedings.  He will be clear to return, when he is deemed ready to go.

Grant K. is already having a tough time gathering skater games this week, as his team has only seen eight games through the first three nights of the week, but his team has had 6 points in those games, so at least his team is producing with what they have.

In a less-than-busy week, a 10-game night has a lot going on.  Tonight's games should play on a number of different story lines, which keep this pool rather interesting.

In the Mover & Shaker race, Cam leads the way and he has Craig Anderson starting for the Sens.  He is being chased by Benson, who has Semyon Varlamov going for the Avalanche and Kari Lehtonen going for the Stars, Dale B., who goes goalie-less, and Wes, who has Mike Smith going for the Coyotes.

For the Basement Dweller, Tony still hasn't seen a point yet this week and he won't see any from his goalies tonight, as he is goalie-less again.  Stuart only has 1 point this week, but he has Roberto Luongo going for the Panthers tonight.

Other than Benson, Allan, Brian and Grant S. each have two goalie going tonight.

Two non-pool goalies are projected to start tonight: Cam Talbot of the Rangers and Niklas Svedberg of the Bruins.

An updated list of injuries can be found here.