Afternoon Player Notes in the Draft (Nov 19)

On Saturday, the Oilers sent down non-pool forward Anton Lander to open up some space for some returning bodies.  The Oilers are expecting to have defenseman Kris Russell back off the IR tonight and they will also be having the debut of Drake Caggiula as well, as he had been injured since training camp and opened the season on the non-roster list.  Caggiula had a very good preseason, leading up to his injury, and the NCAA grad is now ready to go, albeit quite late in the year, but at least it's something.

Russell will be coming back for Grant, a big plus for the 13th place team, while Eric really wished he had Caggiula for the start of the season, as his team is now down in 23rd, 36 points back of the money.  No, the rookie wouldn't have been able to make up that difference, but he could be in much better shape.

The Ottawa Senators have obviously made their decision on their three goalies, placing Andrew Hammond on waivers on Saturday afternoon, likely to send him down to the minors, if he clears.  Non-pool goalie Mike Condon has unseated Hammond in the back-up role behind Craig Anderson and this move by the Senators will open up a roster spot for a regular skater.

This is bad news for Clayton, unless Hammond gets claimed.  He was his 14th round pick in the draft, so there was very little being put on him, but the hope was that he could return to his form, where he helped the Senators greatly, when Anderson was injured.  A claim could open up an opportunity somewhere though.