Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Jan 26)

On Tuesday night, the Ottawa Senators were without forward Mike Hoffman for their game against the Capitals, a game which they won, 3-0.  Hoffman was held out of the lineup, thanks to that ugly flu bug that has been traveling around.  The Senators will conclude their pre-All-Star schedule with a game on Thursday night against the ### and Hoffman's status is still questionable, leading up to the game.  Don't be surprised if he's a game-time decision, one that could go either way.

Derek B.'s team has been doing its best to improve its Waiver Draft selection this week, dropping down to 24th in the standings, but could still move up the overall table, as his team is only 3 points back of 22nd.

The San Jose Sharks also had scratched forward Joonas Donskoi again, Tuesday night against the Jets in Winnipeg, since his production has not seen any immediate increases since the last time he was sent up to the press box for an aerial view.  The Sharks were able to pull off a win on the road, which suggests that Donskoi may not make an appearance before the team gets their break this weekend.  The Sharks host the Oilers to conclude the schedule this week tonight and I would expect Donskoi to be a scratch again.

Mike's team is another trying to improve their Waiver Draft spot, dropping from 16th to 18th, and if the Sharks don't dress the Finn, he has a good chance to stay down below, and his team even has a chance at dropping one more spot tonight, if all goes well.

The Pittsburgh Penguins will conclude their pre-break schedule with a game in Boston tonight and it sounds like they will be without both Evgeni Malkin and Patric Hornqvist, both dealing with lower-body injuries.  The injury for Malkin will mean that he will also miss the All-Star festivities in Los Angeles, but it could be some precautionary rest and the team is choosing to miss a game before the break, citing injury, rather than missing a game due to suspension for skipping the marketing game.

Today's post seems to be about the basement teams, as they get ready for improvement in the Waiver Draft this week.  Tony's 23rd place team has Malkin, while Derek B.'s 24th place team has another appearance in the post with Hornqvist.  These two are separated by only 1 point, but only Derek really has a shot at the PIM pool, while Tony will likely just try to gain some sort of dignity through the Waiver Draft.