Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Dec 14)

Colorado Avalanche rookie forward Alexander Kerfoot suffered a lower-body injury on Monday night, accidentally blocking a teammate's shot in the game against Pittsburgh, taking it right in the leg.  Kerfoot wasn't able to play in the second half of back-to-back games on Tuesday night, listing him as only day-to-day.  The Avalanche play again on Thursday night at home to the Panthers and they should have more of a comprehensive update, if one is needed, but if it isn't anything more serious than a deep bruise, he'll remain day-to-day.

Kerfoot was a Waiver Draft pickup for Stacey M. a couple of weeks ago and since his activation, he has been quite good, picking up 3 points in his first four games under her umbrella.  His return to the lineup remains questionable, but a day-to-day injury isn't much to worry about.

The Anaheim Ducks can't seem to catch a break, when it comes to their overall health, as they got Ryan Getzlaf back from his facial fracture injury on Monday night, but in that same game against the Hurricanes, they lost forward Corey Perry to a lower-body injury of his own.  Perry was taken to hospital after colliding with a couple of players on the ice and on Tuesday morning, the Ducks announced that the injury is fairly significant enough to keep him out week-to-week, not fully disclosing the nature of the injury, and he was placed on the Injured Reserve right away.

Usually, an injury like this would get its own post, but since we're playing catch-up after a rough couple of days.  The loss is a pretty big one for Neil's team, as he has been somewhat steady among his forwards with 22 points in 31 games and a loss of his scoring for a few weeks will certainly bring his 20th place team down even further.

On Tuesday night, the Chicago Blackhawks activated Ryan Hartman from being a healthy scratch for a couple of games and in turn, made Richard Panik into the healthy scratch, among the struggling Blackhawks.  In 30 games this season, Panik has picked up 5 goals and 14 points, but has struggled of late.

Dale B. saw his forward return to the Blackhawks lineup, while Tony saw his come out this week.  The Blackhawks are in Winnipeg on Thursday night and there hasn't been any indication about any lineup changes, as of yet.  One shouldn't think that Panik will be out of the lineup for too long, even with the win on Tuesday night against Florida.

In that game on Tuesday night between the Blackhawks and Panthers, the visiting team from Florida also made a healthy scratch of a hockey pool player, forward Radim Vrbata. Vrbata has struggled a bit this season, partly due to injury, but his scoring hasn't really found its way this year, only picking up 3 goals and 11 points in 25 games worthy of action. The Panthers are in Colorado tonight and it will be interesting to see if Vrbata returns to the lineup.

Wes' team doesn't need any more missed skater games, as his team has been hit hard by injuries in recent days and his team currently is in the race for the Basement Dweller at only 5 points this week and his team has the least amount of projected games for the rest of the week, thanks to those injuries.

The Ottawa Senators played on back-to-back nights, Tuesday and Wednesday night, but rookie defenseman Thomas Chabot only managed to dress in one of those games, the latter of the two. Chabot has been used somewhat sparingly, as his transition to a full-time defenseman has begun and is being done in a careful and measured manner.  In 11 games this season, Chabot has 1 goal and 6 points, but his production has been spotty, at best.

Chris' team is floating in the middle of the standings, in and out of the top 10, depending on the day, but he certainly isn't getting the production he was hoping for from all the hype surrounding this kid.  His team is only 23 points out of 1st place, so if Chabot can start to find his stride, he won't be far away from moving back into the money.

It has been a rough year for New Jersey Devils forward Marcus Johansson, who has had troubles with injuries in his first season in the swamp.  Johansson suffered a significant ankle bruise on the weekend and he has already missed a couple of games.  The Devils don't expect him to be in the lineup before this weekend, so they placed him on the Injured Reserve, retroactive to the 9th, but he will still miss tonight's game and tomorrow night's game, eligible to return for Monday night.

Scott's team is trying its best to work its way out of the pool's basement, slowly picking away at the gap between his team and Eric's team in 24th, which is still at 22 points, but he has shaved off 3 points, so far this week.  The loss of Johansson for the rest of the week won't help that effort at all.

It was another trip to the press box for Islanders defenseman Dennis Seidenberg, as Johnny Boychuk returned from injury on Wednesday night against the Stars.  Of course, this has been a regular occurrence for the Islanders, as the veteran rearguard has only appeared in 12 games, picking up 3 points.

Neil had a couple of bigger fish to fry at the Waiver Draft, so he didn't jump on the chance to move Seidenberg, so he's kind of stuck with the German for the next few weeks.  His team is suffering from other injuries, so it just isn't this player not making it into the lineup that has been causing him the most grief this season.

From Wednesday night's games, Dallas Stars forward Alexander Radulov left his game against the Islanders in the 3rd period with a lower-body injury, not to return.  Radulov appeared to take a bit of a spill and a turn on a backcheck and that was believed to have forced him from the game.  There was no update on his condition after the game, so we'll have to wait and see what the team says in the next day or two.

Radulov is Brenda & Seward's 2nd-best forward this season, playing on their 15th placed team in the standings after Wednesday night.  The Russian has 26 points in 32 games this season and any extended period of time away from the lineup will be costly.