Player Notes in the Draft (Mar 5)

The week of the oblique muscle injury? Wild defenseman Marco Scandella is one of a few players to already be diagnosed with an oblique injury, but it doesn't sound to be quite as bad as Columbus non-pool forward David Clarkson, who may be done for the year with his. Scandella missed out on Tuesday night's game against the Senators and he could miss upwards of about a week, by one report I have seen on Thursday morning. He will remain on the list as day-to-day, until the team puts him on the Injured Reserve or announce anything else in the coming days.

Scandella belongs to Stacey C. in the pool this year and as much as his team is having an okay start to Week Twenty-Two, his team hasn't seen much improvement in the overall standings. In the third segment, his team sits in 5th place, 20 points behind the leader, but only 6 points behind 2nd place, so he has some movement to make up in that regard. Getting Scandella back sooner rather than later will certainly help.

The Red Wings welcomed defenseman Kyle Quincey back to their lineup on Wednesday night against the Rangers and with the acquisition of Marek Zidlicky at the deadline, this means that someone had to be squeezed out and there is no one easier to squeeze out than Jakub Kindl, who has been a healthy scratch on many occasions already this year.  Unless the blueline really staggers in Detroit, it doesn't seem very likely that Kindl will see nearly as much action as some of his teammates down the stretch.

This news just perpetuates how bad of a year Dale C. has had with his defensemen, as his total points from the back end are nearly half of what the pool average is this year and only one-third of what the leaders have in the position.  Dale still sits in 6th place, 27 points out of the money.

In one of the strangest situations that has happened in hockey in recent memory, the Florida Panthers went through Tuesday night's game against the Maple Leafs with two injured goalies for the better part of the game. Roberto Luongo took a puck up high, which forced him from the game, then Al Montoya came in and suffered an injury of his own, but managed to come back out of necessity. In the 3rd period, Luongo, fresh from a trip to the hospital, suited up and finished the game.  The after-effects doesn't sound very good for either goalie, as the Panthers made a couple of recalls from the minors, while the team awaits the news and they will get their first test, tonight, at home to the Stars.

This has the potential to be a crushing blow to Stuart, who has Luongo on his side this year.  His team is only 9 points out of the top 10 and it is his team that sits in 2nd place in the third segment standings, thanks in part to Luongo's minutes in Florida.

The hopes of a Winnipeg Jets team in the playoffs are certainly going to be tested with the news that Dustin Byfuglien left Wednesday night's game with an upper-body injury, likely related to his right arm/shoulder, and wasn't able to return to the game.  The stalwart defender/forward has been a pivotal force in where the Jets sit in the NHL standings and without him, they become a little more vulnerable on the boards

It has been a real run of bad luck for Tony, who was sitting in 3rd place, back in Week Thirteen and now his run has taken him down to 15th, with some real potential to drop even further, especially with the loss of Byfuglien.

An updated list of injuries can be found here.