Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Oct 7)

The Dallas Stars, ahead of their game against the Golden Knights, opted to sit defenseman Julius Honka as a healthy scratch, opting for a little more experience on their blueline. That didn't quite help their cause last night, which will be explored a little bit more in the next post, but Honka appears to be on that roster bubble, trying to make his way into a full-time job with the club.

Honka was the second-to-last pick for newcomer Steve, who made him the first pick of the 13th round.  The upside on the kid is still certainly there, but with the defensive struggles of the Stars last season, they may want to stick with some more stay-at-home types, rather than puck movers.  Of course, that didn't quite work last night.

Speaking of not working last night, the Stars also had to watch their number one goalie, Ben Bishop, come off the ice after taking a shot in the mask, because he needed to go into the dressing room for repairs, suffering a laceration on his face.  Bishop was working on a shutout against the Golden Knights, as some may assume that he should be doing at the time, giving way to Kari Lehtonen, who came in cold and gave up the two key goals to the returning James Neal and the game was lost, 2-1, in the end.  It doesn't sound like the injury is significant, but with the two goalies splitting time last night, it casts some doubt on who will start against the Blues in St. Louis tonight.

That's a rough turn of events for Kristy & Don, who were on the verge of at least 2 points from their goalie and a possible 4 points at the time of his injury, only to have him leave and give up the crease and the game.  Even if Lehtonen was there to hold the fort, they still would have gotten their 2 points and their survival in the mini-game.  Their bad luck with goalies continues.

Finally, in the non-existent rookie pool, Josh Ho-Sang was no good for Grant, as he was a healthy scratch against the Columbus Blue Jackets, when the Islanders could have really used his offense, losing the game, 5-0.  The Islanders are hosting the Sabres in their second game of the season, so there's a good chance that Ho-Sang could draw in after a lack of offense in game number one.

Grant's team isn't off to a fantastic start and the Ho-Sang scratch certainly didn't help last night, but his team is 18th, but only 7 points out of 3rd place right now.  Good thing there isn't a rookie pool right now, because he'd already be 3 points back of top spot right now.