Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Oct 24)

Detroit defenseman Mike Green left Friday night's game against the Calgary Flames after taking a huge hit from Flames forward Josh Jooris in the 1st period and he wasn't able to return. The Red Wings cited an upper-body injury for the injury prone defender, so we'll keep a close eye on his situation.  Green was able to skate off under his own power after the hit, which has to be a huge plus, but that wouldn't necessarily rule out a head injury, even though his head wasn't a point of contact, both from the body or the ice.

Green was taken in the 5th round of the draft by Benson, using his 127th overall pick to select the scoring defenseman.  The early returns were not quite positive, however, only picking up 1 assist in the first seven games of the season, currently ranking 451st in pool scoring.

It may seem fair to think that the upper-body injury that removed Michal Neuvirth from a game in the week will keep him out of the lineup a little bit longer, as the Philadelphia Flyers have announced that they have recalled goaltender Jason LaBarbera for tonight's game, home to the New York Rangers.  No new details have been released about Neuvirth yet on Saturday, but it would be a fair assumption at this point.

This likely means that Steve Mason will indeed get the start for the Flyers (and for Derek W.), while Neuvirth, who was the hotter of the two goalies, would likely miss a start for Neil tonight.  If the injury is more severe than day-to-day, he'll get an updated post, but for now, we'll just assume it's a night off to get to 100%.

After registering a win in Winnipeg on Friday night, Tampa Bay Lightning number one Ben Bishop is finally going to get a night off. The Lightning announced that Kristers Gudlevskis has been recalled from the AHL and he is expected to get the start on Saturday night against the Blackhawks.  With Andrei Vasilevskiy still on the shelf, finishing up his recovery from a blood clot, they have turned to Gudlevskis to get the start, while back-up Kevin Poulin will remain at his post on the bench.

Since it's back-to-back nights, this really wouldn't be considered a missed start for Allan, who did finally manage to qualify for Week Four in the goalie survivor pool on Friday night.  Bishop will be back in the net next week and things will be back to normal.

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