Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Jan 24)

The Ducks are not resting on their laurels atop of the Pacific Division standings. On Monday night, defenseman Sami Vatanen was a healthy scratch against the Jets and that sort of move might have lit a fire under the division champs, as they were able to pull a 3-2 win out on the road. Vatanen hasn't had a terrible season, to date, by any imagination, but battling complacency was likely on the docket with this move.

Mike's team is already struggling to find games on the schedule in this shortened week and missing a game due to a healthy scratch is the last thing his team wants to see.

The Flames were in Toronto on Monday night, starting back-to-back nights on the road, and they did so with the scratching of both forward Micheal Ferland and defenseman Jyrki Jokipakka, trying to find a little jump in their lineup, but it seemed to do quite the opposite, as the flat Flames dropped the game 4-0 at the ACC.  One would have to think that one or both players would be back in the lineup for tonight's game in Montreal.

Derek B. may have missed his forward than Scott missing his defender, especially in the penalty minute race, as the game took a bit of a nasty turn, you would know that Ferland would find his way into the middle of that kind of fracas.

The flu bug continues to circulate and another pool player had fallen ill on Monday night, as Avalanche forward Matt Duchene missed the game against the San Jose Sharks.  Duchene hasn't exactly been on top of his game this season, along with the rest of the team, having only 28 points in 40 games played this season, it has been somewhat disappointing.  The absence certainly didn't help, as the Avs dropped a 5-2 decision on the night.

Another body on the list for Mike's team, which currently sits 17th, already down a spot this week, and only has 17 games projected through the rest of the week.  This is the week to drop a little bit, helps improve the Waiver Draft pick spot.

Bad news for the Montreal Canadiens, as Alex Galchenyuk re-aggravated his knee injury and he has been ruled out of tonight's game with the Calgary Flames in town.  Galchenyuk's season has been limited to 30 games, so far, which stings, because he has 27 points in those games, scoring at a very good clip.  Currently, he ranks 149th in pool scoring and he has already missed some significant time to injury.  He's day-to-day right now, but I'm sure there will be more tests to be had and he'll get his rest over the All-Star break.

The season has not been kind to Dale C.'s team, which has seen more inconsistent play than it has suffered through as many injuries, but that's not to say that injury hasn't played its part.  His team will start Tuesday night in 21st place, 63 points out of the money.