Sunday, December 13, 2015

Afternoon Player Notes in the Draft (Dec 13)



One injury that was missed here at the blog, was an update on Torrey Mitchell, who was selected at the Waiver Draft, but was dealing with an injury. The reminder came on Sunday morning, as the Habs re-assigned forward Christian Thomas to the AHL, signalling that someone was ready to come off the Injured Reserve, which is most likely going to be Mitchell. Mitchell was placed on the IR back on November 20th with a lower-body injury, but he still had good enough numbers to be selected in the Draft, 10 points and 22 PIM in 20 games.

Derek W. took Mitchell in the draft, dropping Washington forward Andre Burakovsky, and he now figure into the PIM pool, if just slightly, as his team only sits in 6th, but 72 minutes out of top spot.  Not sure Mitchell will be good for that, but he could get into the top five before too long.

Speaking of players close to returning, it sounds like Benoit Pouliot will be back before too long for the Oilers. He's been on the IR since the end of November with a lower-body injury of his own, he was on the ice with the team on Sunday, as they start their 4-game road trip in Boston on Monday and then play again against the Rangers on Tuesday. It sounds like Pouliot is more likely to come back on Tuesday and be back for good, playing only one of the two back-to-back games, saving him from re-injuring himself.

This will be a welcome return for Mike this coming week, since his team is still reeling a bit from injuries this year.  He opted to keep Pouliot on his side through the Waiver Draft, so we'll see if his loyalty to the player gets rewarded.

Click here for the updated injury/news page on the website

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