Player Notes in the Draft (Mar 11)

Sounds like a straight-up bout of the flu or something that kept Dallas defenseman Jason Demers out of the lineup on Tuesday night against the Flyers. Demers was acquired from San Jose earlier in the season and between the two clubs, he has 3 goals and 20 points in 66 games. He is currently on the list as out day-to-day and I would imagine that his status would be leaning more towards probable for Friday's game in Washington.

There was also an injury in the game against the Flyers, as rookie defenseman John Klingberg left another game early, this time with an upper-body injury, after being hit by Zac Rinaldo in the 3rd period.  Klingberg didn't miss any time earlier with a lower-body injury, but this injury could be a little more significant, but we'll wait and see for an official word.

Both players belong to teams in the top 10, as Demers belongs to the 10th place team that belongs to Troy and Klingberg belongs to Dale B.'s team, which sits in 7th place.  It would sound like Troy won't be without his for too long, while it isn't safe to say whether or not Dale will be without his for long.  Either way, their teams need to start making more noise in the standings or they won't have a shot at 3rd place.

One of the biggest surprises of the season, Nick Foligno with the Blue Jackets, was the next victim of the bug that is now terrorizing the league. He sat out Tuesday night's game against the Hurricanes and is currently listed as out day-to-day. After Tuesday night's action, Foligno is ranked 31st overall in pool scoring with 24 goals and 58 points in 63 games, having a hell of a season, especially with his All-Star nod earlier in the year.

Nothing has been made official yet from the New York Islanders, but there is something brewing with defenseman Nick Leddy.  Leddy was reportedly hurt on Monday night against the Maple Leafs and he ended up missing Tuesday night's game against the Rangers, dealing with an upper-body injury.  He is currently on the list as out day-to-day, but there is an indication that he could be out for longer.  He has been a big part of the surge that the Islanders have been making this season, scoring 10 goals and 29 points in 68 games.

The Tampa Bay Lightning offered up an injury update on forward Ondrej Palat, who left last night's game against the Canadiens after blocking a shot in the 2nd period.  Okay, it was more of a post-game update, where they said that the young Czech forward went for X-rays, but that was about it.  A lack of updates in the morning may be a bit concerning for the team, but we'll wait for the official word before we set off panicking in the streets.

So, Foligno, Leddy and Palat all have something in common... they belong to Wes in the pool this year.  Wes' team has yet to pick up points in the week and that means that he is losing ground to Grant S. for 2nd place and Clayton is gaining ground, albeit very little ground, to him for 3rd place.  Wes' teams have historically had injury problems and this is not the time, nor the positioning of his team to get them now.  Wes will be white-knuckling to the finish now, if this keeps up.

The Washington Capitals are preparing to play Wednesday night's game, home to the Rangers, without one of their offensive defensemen in Mike Green. Green is reportedly dealing with an upper-body injury and it will cost him at least tonight's game and possibly one or two more, depending on how his rest heals him up.  The defenseman says that his injury is nothing serious, but knowing how injury prone he is, it shouldn't come as a surprise, minor or major, that he's hurt at this point.

Green has been good for Troy this season, picking up 5 goals and 38 points this season for the Capitals, but this is now Troy's second player on this post, which doesn't bode well for his 10th place standing.  If Green is to miss more time than one game, it could be concerning for Troy, possibly falling out of the top 10.

The Maple Leafs might be tolerating a number of losses in a row in the 2015 season, but they absolutely won't tolerate players who are late for team meetings, especially if they have "a history" of this sort of thing. On Wednesday, the Leafs announced that they have enforced a team suspension on forward Nazem Kadri, who will miss the next two games for his failure to report to a team meeting on-time.  Of course, in the centre of the universe, this is a pretty big deal, especially since losing games is old hat to the Toronto media.

Brian is now on the verge of taking over 4th place in the standings, after he has gotten off to another blinding start to Week Twenty-Three.  He's now 2 points back of 4th and now 17 points back of 3rd place and really making a charge.  Missing out on Kadri may slow him down a little, but not likely too much.

An updated list of injuries can be found here.