Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Dec 1)

The Dallas Stars made Julius Honka into a healthy scratch again on Thursday night against the Blackhawks, as it doesn't appear that he is really finding a fit with the current iteration of their lineup these days. Honka is a celebrated prospect on the back end, thought to be ready to compete at the NHL level, but he has been up and down from the minors a couple times and also a healthy scratch, so one would begin to wonder how much time he has left with the club, before he gets dealt for someone more productive.

Steve isn't waiting around to see how this will all play out, as he has already dropped Honka in the 2nd round of the Waiver Draft this week, so this won't be much of a pool concern for very much longer. Of course, it would have been great for Steve, if Honka had a point or two to say goodbye, but we all can't be that lucky.

Defenseman Adam Larsson was a bit of a surprise scratch on Thursday night, a late scratch at that, before the game against the Maple Leafs.  The official word from the Oilers was that the defender is dealing with an upper-body injury and that he's day-to-day.  Larsson was able to take the pregame skate ahead of the game, but didn't end up dressing for the game, so it remains a tad puzzling, but it doesn't sound like anything major.

For Brenda & Seward, their hot spell has seemed to have cooled back down, as their team has now dropped back down to 18th, as their team vies for the Basement Dweller in Week Nine, only 2 points clear of the current leaders.  The return of Larsson could help, but his scoring rate isn't great, 4 points in 25 games, so it may only help marginally.