Afternoon Player Notes in the Draft (Feb 15)

The Anaheim Ducks sent ruffian Jared Boll back up to the press box to be a healthy scratch for the game against the Minnesota Wild. It was a move that you could argue worked, as the Ducks pulled off a 1-0 win against the Wild. Boll will probably find his way back to the press box on a semi-regular basis, so this post will be a regular in the coming weeks.

Troy's team is not off to the best of starts in the PIM pool after a couple nights this week, as his team has only mustered a single minor penalty.  The absence of Boll certainly stings.

Leading up to the game between the Sabres and the Senators, there was a hint that forward Evander Kane would miss the game, due to being under the weather and come game time, the rumours were indeed true.  Kane was held out of the game, but he's listed as day-to-day, which means he could be back before too long.

Just another skater game missed for Tony's team.  Remarkably, there is one team that has had worse luck in the skater games department and it belongs to Mike.  Tony's team has 10 more games played than Mike's team.

The emergence of Frederik Claesson's offense may have limited the days that Chris Wideman sees on the Ottawa blueline going forward.  Wideman was a healthy scratch for the game against the Sabres, but the Sens gave up a 2-1 lead late in the game, so that could open the door back up for the 27-year old, as the Sens don't want to be giving up that sort of lead late in the game.

Brian must have been hoping for a little bit of offense from him, as he picked him up in lieu of an injured defenseman, but he's just as good as an injured player, when he is a healthy scratch.  His lead has shrunk down to 4 points this week, as it all gets very interesting again.

The Vancouver Canucks were set to take on the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night, as they were getting Evgeni Malkin back from injury, but two of their better defensive centres were both hit with injury and couldn't match-up against two of the best centres in the game.  Both Bo Horvat and Brandon Sutter were held out, due to injury, both considered minor and both are listed as day-to-day.  Horvat dealing with a bone bruise after blocking a shot and Sutter is just listed as general soreness, being banged up.  It is unclear when either will return, but they hope it isn't long.

Both John S. and Stuart each missed out on a skater game in Pittsburgh from these two, but John is now 20 points back of Stuart and Stuart is 17 points back of the money and the time for getting a hot streak is now.