Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Oct 23)

The Arizona Coyotes lost the services of forward Antoine Vermette in Thursday night's action against the New York Rangers, leaving the game in the 2nd period with a lower-body injury.  Of course, even early on in the season, details were not available right after the game or first thing on Friday morning, so we'll wait for something a little bit more concrete either later in the day or at the morning skate before Saturday's contest against the Senators.

Neil climbed back up to the top of the heap on Thursday night, but has potentially lost another body.  Vermette hasn't done anything in seven appearances with Arizona this season, so Neil lead is in spite of Vermette, but nevertheless, you don't want to see injuries, even to your worst players.

Alexander Barkov was seen after Thursday night's game against the Chicago Blackhawks with one of his wrists heavily wrapped up.  The young Florida Panthers forward had to leave the game last night with an upper-body injury after blocking a shot in the wrist area, but the team would localize the injury in their report.  We likely won't hear too much about the injury until after the swelling goes down and tests can be done, so we'll wait... patiently.  The Panthers are in Dallas on Saturday, so it shouldn't be too long.

Barkov has been good this season, helping Ryan to the money area of the standings, picking up 6 points in his first seven games with the Panthers, but unable to score anything this week.  Ryan finished the night in 2nd place, now 5 points behind 1st place.

Finally, a late game injury for Ottawa's Mike Hoffman likely has the team concerned for the weekend.  Hoffman reportedly left Thursday night's game against the New Jersey Devils, late in the 3rd period, apparently dealing with a lower-body injury.  Hoffman has been very good to start the year for the Sens, picking up 4 goals and 4 assists in his first seven games this year, so their offense has been fueled by his presence, undoubtedly.

Cindy hasn't had too many bright spots to start up the year, but Hoffman is certainly one of them.  Her team currently sits in 18th place after Thursday night, 23 points back of 1st place, which isn't bad, considering how many weeks are left in the year.  Hopefully, this injury isn't too severe.

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