Wednesday, October 05, 2016

Afternoon Training Camp Injury Notes (Oct 5)

The parade of stars heading back to their respective lineups continues on Wednesday night, as St. Louis forward Alex Steen is now expected to be in the lineup, when his club takes on the Washington Capitals. Steen needed some extra time to get over some off-season shoulder surgery, which kept him out of the World Cup for Sweden.

Steen is a top-100 forward, usually right in the thick of the mix, when he stays healthy, so this is good news for the Blues, that he should be good to go, when the season officially starts next week.  He is currently projected in the 65-point range, making him a top end forward for the coming year.

New Jersey Devils defenseman Jon Merrill, once considered to be a top end prospect, has not come close to where he should be in his career trajectory and it has now taken another hit, as he has suffered a significant lower-body injury and is now expected to miss another 4-to-5 weeks.  Merrill saw his first preseason duty on the weekend against the Rangers, coming off off-season shoulder surgery, but left the game early with the lower-body problem  One might assume that it is groin related, but that's just an assumption.  His projections are negligible, so it might not be the biggest loss, but something to consider, if you were thinking of him as a good sleeper option.



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