Player Notes in the Draft (Jan 9)

Boston forward Loui Eriksson was the victim of a pretty wicked slash against the Penguins on Wednesday night, which caused him to have a bruised hand/wrist injury.  Eriksson missed the game on Thursday night, home to the Devils, and is only considered to be a day-to-day injury.  The Bruins next play on Saturday afternoon, away to Philadelphia, and Eriksson will likely be considered to be questionable for the contest.

Scott sits on the outside of the top 10, looking in, down in 12th place after Thursday night's action, but is only 5 points back of Stacey M. and if his team can find a way up, the race to 3rd place gets a little bit tighter and more exciting.

The Nashville Predators have had a dynamite blueline this season and smack dab in the middle of the fray is Ryan Ellis, who has been having a good year on his own.  Unfortunately, Ellis appears to have suffered a lower-body injury on Thursday night, which forced him out of the 3-2 overtime win over Dallas prematurely.  Indications are suggesting that it is a lower-body muscle injury, as he wasn't hit on the play where he left the game, so we'll wait to see what kind of tweak it may have been.  If it is a minor injury, he'll just be on the list day-to-day, but if the prognosis is worse, we'll update it on the blog.

Wilton's team has fallen off the pace for the second segment of the season a bit and an injury to one of his better blueliners will put a damper on his ability to keep up.  Wilton's team sits in 3rd in the segment, but is already 18 points back of 1st place.

On Thursday, the Flyers hosted the Capitals, trying to make up a little bit of ground on the wild card team and in planning to do so, the coaching staff wanted a little bit more grit on the blueline, opting to put Luke Schenn in the lineup and taking out Andrew MacDonald, making him into a healthy scratch.  The move must have helped a little bit, as the Flyers came away with a 3-2 overtime win.

The 28-year old defenseman hasn't been nearly as effective on the offensive side of the ledger, only picking up 9 points in 29 games, which hasn't helped Dale B. a great deal this season.  Dale now sits 19 points back of 10th place, back in 15th.

It sounds like the flu bug is making the rounds in the Vancouver Canucks dressing room, as Radim Vrbata had it earlier in the week and returned to action on Thursday, while Christopher Higgins was next on the list and missed out on Thursday's contest against the Florida Panthers.  On the plus side, it would seem that the bug isn't as devastating as some of the illnesses we've seen in the league this year and it should only keep Higgins out for the one game, likely being back for the weekend.

Not good news for Mike, who is falling into the depths of the basement and is one of the contenders for the Basement Dweller on the Newsletter this weekend, now sitting with only 6 points this week.  Mike has yet to have the pleasure of being on the Newsletter this season, but likely doesn't want to be in the infamous section.

An updated list of injuries can be found here.