Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Nov 22)

The Colorado Avalanche were able to welcome back Matt Duchene to their lineup on Monday night, taking on the Columbus Blue Jackets, which also meant that someone had to come out of the lineup and that ended up being forward Joe Colborne.  Colborne was a healthy scratch for the first time this season, likely due to a lack of overall production, as 3 goals and 4 points in 17 games just wasn't going to cut it.  When the team can infuse a player with 12 points in 14 games this season, you certainly want to take out a weak link.

Unfortunately for Mike, it was one of his players coming back, taking the spot of another one of his players.  The better of the two players was reinserted into the lineup, but no one wants to see a player come out for any reason either.

It's some hardcore coaching, when the head coach of a team has no problem benching one of the team's best players, because of a violation of team rules.  Defenseman John Klingberg was late to a team meeting on Monday and that cost him a game, as he was a healthy scratch for the team's game against the Minnesota Wild.  The Stars were able to pull through without their top defenseman, winning the game, 3-2 in overtime.

I don't think Jeremy will be without his second-best defenseman for any more than that game, as those kind of scratches only last for the one game, despite the result.  I don't think the Stars would be so fortunate to make it through another game without a guy that has 10 points in 19 games this season.

The New Jersey Devils were without forward Kyle Palmieri on Monday night, when they took on the San Jose Sharks, due to an upper-body issue.  The issue is being described as just general soreness, so there is no timetable associated with that sort of issue and he's currently listed as day-to-day at the moment.  It's hard to say whether or not the Devils actually missed Palmieri last night, being shut out 4-0 by the Sharks, but he couldn't have hurt their chances of getting a goal.

Palmieri has been a marginal forward for Brenda & Seward, but I would say he's already missing Taylor Hall, who's out with injury.  With 7 points in 17 games, his scoring rate isn't great, but it's better than some in the draft.  The duo will be desperate for some help next week with the Waiver Draft, as they're 22nd this morning, 35 points out of the money.