Afternoon Player Notes in the Draft (Oct 5)

A lower-body injury has now sidelined Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf, as he was not on the ice for the morning skate ahead of their opener against the Coyotes tonight, and it was confirmed later by the coaching staff that Getzlaf won't be in the lineup either.  He's currently listed as day-to-day, but there was no indication about how serious the injury is or how long he'll be out for.

It is an incredibly bad start for Eric's team, as a couple of players getting sent down to the minors ahead of the season starting and then his 3rd round draft pick goes down with injury.  His team was among the 23 teams that picked up a point on opening night, but it could get tougher with bodies falling off the list.

How about some positive news? The Nashville Predators have activated forward Nick Bonino ahead of the game against the Bruins, one of the early games tonight. Bonino hasn't seen a lot of on-ice action since he went down with his broken leg in the playoffs, but he has been deemed good-to-go, so off he goes.

Mike's team got on the board with a win last night, but that was his only 2 points, but a solid boost to his lineup is a healthy Bonino.  There certainly are no worries here, as he has had ample time to recover, it'll now be about shaking the rust off in game situations.

The Boston Bruins are prepping for the Predators with players coming out of their lineup, instead of going back in. Patrice Bergeron and David Backes are not expected to dress tonight, as Bergeron's previously reported lower-body injury will keep him out and Backes has been suffering from a bout of the flu in recent days.  Both are considered to be day-to-day and they may be ready to go for the team's next game, which goes on Monday afternoon with the Avalanche in town.

We had a feeling that Bergeron may not go for Brenda & Seward tonight, but Backes not going for Neil was a bit of a new one.  Again, it doesn't sound like something to get too excited about, but making hay early makes the season a little easier to stomach.

The early part of this season, a season in which they have yet to play a game in yet, has been nothing but curveballs coming from the Vegas Golden Knights. The Golden Knights claimed Malcolm Subban from the Bruins on the waiver wire this week and they seem to think that Subban is a cut above Calvin Pickard and they have opted to keep their new acquisition and put their previously apparent backup waivers on Thursday.  Pickard was an expansion draft pick from the Avalanche in the summer, but the Golden Knights see more of a future with Subban and they don't want to keep three goalies around, so the move was made.

There are no guarantees about how the Pickard situation will go down, as he could get claimed by another team, pass through unclaimed and hang around or go unclaimed and be sent down to the minors for a while.  For Steve, I would be hoping that Pickard gets claimed on waivers by a team in need, instead of waiting for Vegas to play him now.