Player Notes in the Draft (Mar 15)

A little tweak to his lower body was the description that the Sabres coaching staff gave to why defenseman Zach Bogosian wasn't in the lineup against the Rangers on Saturday evening. He's listed as out day-to-day and we'll have to wait and see what the team says about his availability for Monday's game against Washington.

Bogosian doesn't have a great deal of impact on the money, but it will give Wyllie another body off the roster to help him towards the Olli bobblehead. After Saturday night's action, Wyllie now sits 4 points clear of Allan, but both teams put Ryan back in the race this week. Wyllie still has an edge though.

Surprisingly, it wasn't a back-to-back situation for the Montreal Canadiens that caused a healthy scratch for veteran defenseman Sergei Gonchar, but there he was, in the press box for the game against the Islanders.  Montreal doesn't suit up again until Monday night in Tampa Bay, so it could be just the team tempering his ice-time in preparation for the playoffs, even if it isn't a back-to-back situation.

This isn't ideal news for Wes, because having players sit down the stretch is aggravating and then not knowing when he might sit is even worse.  Wes' lead over 4th place is now sitting at 10 points, heading into the last day of Week Twenty-Three and he has 5 projected games to go.

Another late scratch to a lineup on Saturday night was Nashville's James Neal, who wasn't able to go with an upper-body injury.  There were no details about how and when Neal got hurt, but some local papers are suggesting that Neal may have been playing hurt over the last little while and that it may have caught up with him.  With the Predators safely in the Western Conference playoff picture, it may not have been a bad idea to sit him, just for his own sake.

I don't think Grant S. would have agreed with sitting him for the sake of being safe, because his lead over 3rd place still isn't that safe, but if he was playing hurt, how much could Neal have possibly have provided against the Kings?  Grant has seen his lead increase this week, now at 21 points.

It appears that Ryan Strome was given a night off on Saturday night, possibly due to some cold play of late, only 1 assist in his last five games would do it.  Strome has been very good for the Islanders this season, as he has picked up 14 goals and 43 points in 70 games to this point and he has really found a niche in their lineup.  Strome currently ranks 112th overall in pool scoring and he should be expected back in the fold for the team's next game, Tuesday night in Chicago.

Troy is in the middle of a good dog fight for a number of top 10 positions, as there has been some openings from 8th to 10th.  Currently, Troy is 11th, only 4 points back of 8th.  If this healthy scratch gives Strome a boost, his team will be better for it.

Well, the Penguins certainly missed some scoring punch on Saturday afternoon, as Sidney Crosby was a late scratch before the game against the Bruins with an illness and then Evgeni Malkin left the game after four minutes of ice-time with an undisclosed injury.  With the Penguins playing again today, home to the Red Wings, it will be interesting to see their availability is for the key match-up.

Of course, these are two big players that would have an impact on the pool and both teams that they belong to are only in the third segment race, as Stuart and Leo missed out on more chances to improve their standing in that race.  If both players can suit up on Sunday, then things won't be so bad.

It doesn't look like the run of injuries that Alex Burrows has been dealing with in the 2015 season has ended just yet, as he was scratched for Saturday's early game against the Maple Leafs, due to an undisclosed ailment. The coaching staff are leading us to believe that the injury is minor and that he should be back soon, so he'll stay on the list as out day-to-day.

Burrows was a Week Eighteen pick-up for Clayton, which hasn't really panned out for him at all in the last five weeks.  Clayton has only seen 2 points from 10 games played from Burrows, one of the big reasons why he has been stuck in 4th since the draft activation.  Going into Sunday, he's still 10 points out of the money.

An updated list of injuries can be found here.