Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Oct 13)

In the desert, Coyotes starter Antti Raanta did not come back out to play after the 1st intermission, as he reportedly had suffered a lower-body injury against the Red Wings as well. The coaching staff seemed to believe that this injury is not related to the issues that Raanta was dealing with in the preseason, which doesn't give us very much, in terms of information, but at least it's something. There is no timetable for a return just yet.

Ryan was goalie crazy in the first couple rounds of the draft and ended up swooping on Raanta in the 2nd round, which could have been a tad early, more so now that he is hurting a bit.  His team got off to a bit of a quick start in Week One, but hasn't quite followed it up the same way in Week Two, dropping from 10th to 17th.  He'll need Raanta back in a hurry to stop the free fall, undoubtedly.

A 1st period injury to Canucks defenseman Alexander Edler forced him from the game against the Jets on Thursday night, the team noting that it is a lower-body injury and that they would know more later on today. Edler has 1 assist in the first three games of the season, which the Canucks have started 1-1-1.  If the injury is anything more than a day-to-day issue, we'll have it up on the blog for sure.

Tony's team has been relatively healthy to start the season, ranking in the middle of the pack for games played thus far and it has translated well this week, as his team is among the pool leaders in points for Week Two at 19 through Thursday night.  Seeing as though Edler was his final pick, there may not be a lot of expectations on him, which could make him a sleeper pick, if he returns soon.

The Minnesota Wild, already in injury/salary cap hell to start the season, with both Zach Parise and Mikael Granlund on the shelf, may have also lost both Nino Niederreiter and Charlie Coyle to lower-body injuries, as they were both seen leaving the arena in walking boots after their team beat the Blackhawks on Thursday night.  There hasn't been any new updates on any of the four Wild players with injuries, but the more important two right now are the fresh ones and walking boots are certainly not a good sign for their availability for their next game, which happens to be their home opener.  It will certainly be a point of interest to see how the Wild proceed towards the weekend.

The two Derek's are the teams that lost Wild players last night, as Bell lost Niederreiter and Wilton lost Coyle, both teams hovering in the middle of the standings, 1 point away from each other and with significant injuries like this, it could hurt them greatly and they could fall down the standings together, if they are long-term issues.  We'll be keeping a close eye on the Wild, as they'll have to do something drastic here soon, so stay tuned!