Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Oct 29)

The Chicago Blackhawks are still cycling through their blueliners on a regular basis and if someone is under performing, there has been no hesitation to send them up to the press box.  Last night, while visiting the Colorado Avalanche, it was Connor Murphy's turn to have a seat upstairs in the box.  Murphy has still yet to register a point in nine games played with the Blackhawks, but the team took a tough loss on Saturday night, so he might still figure back into the lineup next week.

Brian's team has dropped out of the top three this week, having only a mediocre week, but he has yet to get anything from this defenseman, so it can't be considered too much of a loss.  If Murphy can find his game here soon, Brian could be back in the money sooner, rather than later.

The Minnesota Wild have been very active with their players that don't have to clear waivers and if they have some extended time between games, they have been demoting and recalling players fairly often.  Rookie forward Joel Eriksson Ek was demoted for the first time after the Wild's game on Saturday night, possibly hoping to get him a little bit more game action before Tuesday night's home game against the Winnipeg Jets.  Eriksson Ek only has a goal and 3 points in nine games and the expectation is pretty high for the rookie forward, so a bit of a boost is required.

Clayton hasn't had a great week, but his team has kept the pace, going into Sunday's action in 9th place, now 12 points out of the money.  His team has been pushing the pace with a few rookie forwards, but this one has been faltering of late and he could really use the push.

The New Jersey Devils found themselves a leader by example in forward Marcus Johansson, who has been very good at the start of this season, scoring 3 goals and 5 points in his first nine games this season.  Unfortunately, he wasn't able to dress for Saturday night's game against the Coyotes, being a late scratch after getting hurt in warm-up and the Devils are calling him day-to-day with a lower-body injury.  This could be a tough loss for the Devils, if it is a significant injury, but we don't know how bad it is quite yet.

A bad week just got a little worse for Scott B., who is in need of a miracle to not be the Basement Dweller this week, but it seems all but certain that he will be with his pool-low, 10 points.  Losing Johansson for last night's game has to hurt, especially when the Devils did well to win 4-3 last night.

Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere left last night's game against the Maple Leafs with an upper-body injury, not to return to the game.  Gostisbehere was reportedly hit pretty hard by Leo Komarov and that was what is believed to be what knocked him out of the game.  There has been no significant update to the condition of the scoring blueliner, but many are fearing the worst out there.  We'll have an update post in the next couple of days, I'm sure, if it is anything more serious than a day-to-day issue.

This has the possibility of being quite the harsh blow to Kristy & Don's team, which has gotten off to a very good start this year.  They finished Saturday night in 7th place, albeit having a quiet Week Four on the scoring side of things.  Things could get awfully quiet, if Gostisbehere is out long-term.

It was another baby birth holding a goalie out of the lineup on Saturday night, as St. Louis Blues backup goalie Carter Hutton left the team for another paternal situation. Hutton wasn't scheduled for the start against the Blue Jackets, nor was he going to figure into a 4-1 win, so this really is more of paper transaction than anything else.

Hutton does have a win this week for Benson's team, a team that had done really well on Saturday night, moving all the way up to 2nd place and is now challenging for the Mover & Shaker.