Player Notes in the Draft (Oct 4)

Anaheim Ducks forward Jakob Silfverberg was the unwilling victim of Raffi Torres' unceremonious return to the carpet at the NHL Department of Player Safety.  As we hear that San Jose's Torres is getting the call, we now await the news about Silfverberg, who clearly took a shot to the head from Torres in a very frowned upon fashion.  Torres was ejected from the game for the hit and Silfverberg had to leave the game, likely with a head injury.

Pool newcomer, Eric W., picked up Silfverberg in the 9th round, in what could be a very bargain basement pick, but that all depends on how bad this injury is to start the season.  At first glance, it looks like it will be a pretty rough injury.

The Calgary Flames shut down forward Jiri Hudler earlier than expected in their game against the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday night, their final preseason tilt, before they get going on Wednesday against Vancouver. The team is quoted to say that it is just a minor injury and that he was shut down for precautionary reasons. There is no reason not to believe them at this point, so he'll just be on watch for opening night.

Hudler, a 4th round pick in yesterday's draft, taken by last season's 2nd place finisher, Grant S., should be ready to go for opening night, but it still isn't something you want to see, before the season even starts.

One of last year's huge playoff performers, Tampa Bay's Tyler Johnson, was also lifted from Saturday night's preseason finale for the Bolts against the Florida Panthers with an undisclosed injury.  In all likelihood, this is somewhat of the same kind of situation as Hudler above, as there are very little details about the injury and one would assume that a major injury would warrant an explanation, while cautionary moves don't.

For Neil B., he may have lucked out a little bit as well, thanks to the rush of goalies and defensemen in the first few rounds, as Johnson dropped all the way down to 62nd overall in the draft, taken in the 3rd round.  As long as Johnson is ready for opening night, Neil will have a great pick here.

Finally, one more minor injury note to report this morning, as the Winnipeg Jets lost the services of forward Mathieu Perreault in Saturday's game against the Flames,  The team reported that he suffered a lower-body injury and that should come as no surprise to the pool, as he is a member of the Injury Prone List since 2014.  His status for opening night will likely be updated before the games start, so if there is anything major, we'll be right on top of it here on the blog.

It really didn't look like Mike had much luck or did a great deal of homework before the draft, as his team is dealing with injuries from top to bottom and adding Perreault to that list is just bad luck.  If he's back before the start of the year, it won't hurt nearly as bad.

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