Afternoon Player Notes in the Draft (Oct 11)

There is a real threat of the Sabres starting the season without Ryan O'Reilly or Kyle Okposo in their lineup on Thursday, as they are both listed as questionable for their opener against the Canadiens.  O'Reilly was hurt in a preseason game and is dealing with a lower-body/torso/back problem, while Okposo has a bruised knee.  If either or both were to miss time, they would remain on the injury list as out day-to-day.  Both players still have some time to heal up and get ready and I would imagine they could get themselves up for it, since it is opening night and all.

Day-to-day injuries won't remove any projected games from team totals, so Dale B. and Wes won't have anything to drop their totals off any more right now.  There will be a bit of concern if they can't go, that doesn't get them off to the best of starts.

Defenseman Kevin Klein may not be in the opening night lineup for the Rangers on Thursday, when they host their cross-town rivals from Brooklyn.  Klein is reportedly day-to-day with some back spasms.  The Rangers may open the season with an extra defenseman on their roster, while they wait for Klein to feel better, but we'll have to wait and see what the final word is.

Marcin isn't off to a great start before the puck drops, as his team has already seen a goalie demoted to the AHL this week and now an injury to the blueline.  He'll need his forwards to really pick up the slack at the start of the year, while all of the issues get ironed out.

We're still trying to figure out why and for how long, but what we do know is that the Dallas Stars have put forward Cody Eakin on the Injured Reserve on Tuesday, as they released their current 23-man roster to start the season, making way for Lauri Korpikoski, who was signed to a deal this weekend after being cut from Calgary's camp.

Without more details, it's hard to say when Wes will get his forward back, but at this point, we would have to assume it was retroactive to a game in the preseason, which may make him eligible to come back before too long.  The Stars open their season on Thursday night, home to the Ducks, but there is no word on whether or not Eakin will be there.

The Columbus Blue Jackets announced their 23-man roster for the deadline on Tuesday afternoon and not on there was forward Alexander Wennberg, who was sent down to the minors to start the season, making way for Lukas Sedlak and/or Pierre-Luc Dubois.  It is still rather early in the year to panic too much, especially since Dubois could be a 9-game tryout at the top level, but it is hard to say at this point.  The Jackets are going a bit younger and it will cost someone in the pool.

I think Stacey C. can really put them blame down on Mike, who looked after his team on this one.  This could have been one of those sleeper picks that they snuck onto his team, when his list ran out at the draft.  Who is really to say, right?  This move took Stacey out of top spot for projected games in the week, but his team will remain busy, starting on Wednesday.