Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Oct 27)

The learning curve for Stars defenseman Julius Honka appears to be quite steep, as he has found his way back up to the press box again on Thursday night, when his Stars took on the Oilers. Honda was a healthy scratch for the game, but could figure back in pretty soon, as the game was lost, 5-4, in a less-than-defensive effort from both sides.

The young defender has appeared in six games for the Stars and hasn't quite found his stride, not registering a point and started the week at -1 in the plus/minus department.  This certainly hasn't helped Steve's team in the early part of the season, which finished Thursday night down in 23rd.

A viral infection has sidelined Ottawa Senators forward Kyle Turris for the whole weekend, including Thursday night's win in Philadelphia.  The team announced before the game that the infection that Turris had suffered was quite significant and they won't go ahead and reevaluate him until Monday, ahead of their game against Montreal.  The Senators only play one more time this week and that game goes tonight in New Jersey.  That is the last game Turris is expected to miss, barring any setbacks.

Troy's team has kind of sputtered after a pretty solid start, currently sitting in 16th place, 15 points back of the money spots.  His team is tied for 10th in scoring this week, with 13 points to date, but without Turris for one more game, it could be a tough finish to the week.

Philadelphia Flyers top prospect Nolan Patrick had to sit out the game against the Senators with an upper-body injury, which is believed to be a head injury, which he suffered on Tuesday night against the Ducks.  Patrick was seen hitting his head against the glass after taking a hard hit from Chris Wagner and he was forced from the contest.  It didn't sound too serious, as Patrick was noted as being probable or a game-time decision, but he was held out of the game in the end.  He's currently day-to-day.

Cam's team was off to a very good start, hovering in the top 10, between 4th and 6th, for the first three weeks of the season, but a very slow and poor part of the schedule for his team has seen him drop down to 11th.  Patrick hasn't quite gotten off to the best of starts this year, figuring only 3 points in nine games.

The cold and flu season is starting to hit the NHL in the late part of October and it begins with some pretty top end talent in Washington's Nicklas Backstrom, who had to sit out of Thursday night's game in Vancouver.  The expectation is that Backstrom should be back in the lineup, when the Capitals continue their Western Canada road trip, which continues tomorrow night in Edmonton.  The Capitals have dropped four games in a row and are in dire need of getting back in the win column and they'll likely need Backstrom to do so.

Scott B.'s team has really struggled in Week Four, leading the charge for the Basement Dweller with only 5 points in four nights.  Scott's team has now found its way down to 25th place and the schedule isn't quite working in his favour either this week, as his team only has 12 projected games left, thanks to Vancouver already being finished for the week.