Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Nov 26)

Anaheim Ducks forward Rickard Rakell was held out of last night's game against the Kings due to an upper-body injury and it sounds like it is significant enough to keep him at home, while the Ducks start on a 5-game road trip. There's no word on whether or not they expect the winger to join the team on the trip at any point, but it doesn't sound like he'll be active for Monday night's game in Chicago, at the very least.  He's currently listed as day-to-day, but if he isn't going to travel, I would expect him to hit the Injured Reserve, so they can have another healthy body on the trip.

In the 1st period of the game in San Jose between the Jets and Sharks, Winnipeg starter on the night, Steve Mason, did not return to the game at the start of the 2nd period, due to an upper-body injury, leaving the game to Connor Hellebuyck. Mason had taken a shot up high in the mask in that 1st period, but was deemed good enough to finish the period, but the call was made at the intermission and now we wait for further confirmation from the team on the extent of the injury.  A tough break for Mason, who didn't get the start he wanted this season and the injury will only compound the problems.

For Troy, who has already had the Basement Dweller nod once this season, his team is just not faring well in the luck department.  Sure, next week is Waiver Draft time, but even if he has to consider these two for switches, he'll be taking away some top end talent, in theory, and replacing them with what's left, which isn't necessarily great, especially in the 2nd round or later.

There are some reports that Calgary Flames forward Kris Versteeg is hurting, dealing with an undisclosed injury, but there are also some reports out there suggesting that last night's omission from the lineup was a healthy scratch, due to some poor play on Friday night.  Nevertheless, with the Flames coming home after a 6-game road trip, we should be able to find out a little bit more here soon.  I'll have it listed as the injury, for now, but I wouldn't be too surprised if we saw him in the team's next game, Tuesday night, at home to Toronto.

Mike could probably do with it being an injury, with the Waiver Draft now upon us, as it would give him good reason to get rid of one of his two underachieving forwards from the first segment of the season.  As the standings sit on Sunday morning, Mike would pick 8th, but his team has some games to play on Sunday and he could drop down to 10th with a solid day.

Watching that Winnipeg/San Jose game last night, there was a point in time in the 3rd period, where Sharks goalie Martin Jones appeared to tweak something in the lower-body area making a save in his shutout win and that is a cause for concern for the Sharks medical team at the moment.  There are no official reports of an injury, yet, but it is something to keep an eye on.  The Sharks don't play again until Tuesday in Philadelphia and then not again until Friday, so even if he was to skip a start to heal up a bit, one couldn't be surprised by that.  We shall see.

Chris used that shutout win to climb up in the standings a fair bit last night, as his team now sits 10th, 23 points out of the money and he has to be concerned about his 1b goalie.  If there is anything significant there, it could lead to a drop in the standings.