Noon Player Notes in the Draft (Nov 24)

Great news for the Montreal Canadiens, as it unfolded in practice this morning, as Carey Price returned to the starter's net for the morning skate, taking all the regular reps that the starter would and after practice, it was confirmed that he would be getting the nod against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night.  Price has only appeared in 11 games this year, winning only three of those games

This is pretty good news for Dale C., who is getting his 1st round pick back and he's still only 14 points out of the money in 7th place.  A start and a win on Saturday would certainly go a long ways into helping him back into the race.

More positive news... Kari Lehtonen was back with the Dallas Stars on Friday morning, as he was taking some time away from the team for personal reasons.  There was no definitive timetable for his return, at the time he left, so it was a definite positive, when the Stars got him back, although they are one of a few teams that are not running back-to-backs this weekend, so it isn't quite as imperative that he was back, per se.  Mike McKenna has already been sent back down to the minors, so it would be safe to assume Lehtonen will be backing up Ben Bishop tonight with Calgary in town.

It's not a start, but it's a good sign for Brenda & Seward, as they continue their ascent up the standings.  They didn't seem to miss much time from their number two goalie, which is good news.  They opened Friday's action in 14th, 26 points out of the money.

The Edmonton Oilers are in Buffalo later on tonight, in the regular evening games, but they could be without defenseman Oscar Klefbom and they have already deferred Cam Talbot's start tonight to Laurent Brossoit, because those two regulars are suffering from the flu.  We already know that Talbot won't start, but could backup, while Klefbom still appeared to be questionable at the time of writing this post.  So, we'll certainly wait and see.

We'll see if Talbot is good enough to go for Wes on Sunday in Boston, while the question mark about Klefbom looms over Stacey C.'s team, which opens the day in 21st and in the conversation, albeit 3 points safe, from the Basement Dweller nod this week.