Player Notes in the Draft (Jan 8)

The Calgary Flames welcomed back forward Mikael Backlund from injury on Wednesday night against Detroit, as the Swedish pivot missed 29 games with an abdominal injury, which required surgery. His presence was immediately felt, picking up a goal and an assist in the 3-2 loss.  Also returning to the lineup from being a healthy scratch was forward Mason Raymond, who also had an impact, opening the scoring with a goal.

Coming out of the lineup, as a late scratch, was Jiri Hudler, who's wife was going into labour at game time and he was forced to miss the contest against his former team.  He should be good to go when the Flames play next, Friday at home to Florida.

This was all big news for the bottom of the standings, as 23rd place Wyllie had Backlund return, 19th place Leo had Raymond return and 18th place Mike had Hudler out for a game.  There wasn't much of an impact on the money here at all.

An upper-body injury cost Red Wings forward Johan Franzen the game against the Flames on Wednesday night.  Speculation suggests that Franzen may have been hurt the night before in Edmonton, after taking a hit in the 3rd period, but he did manage to finish the game, so there isn't a lot of clarity about what the injury could be or how long he could be out for.  For now, he'll be listed as out day-to-day and that's the way it will be for the time being.

This injury has an impact on a team that's in the money, but I don't think this will have much of an effect on Grant S.'s chances of losing out on 2nd place for now and he really doesn't have a great chance of catching 1st at the moment either.

An updated list of injuries can be found here.