Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Jan 3)

Before the Avalanche game against the Jets on Tuesday night, forward Sven Andrighetto was listed as a scratch, as a leg injury suffered over the weekend did not heal well enough for him to go right away.  The 24-year old forward is currently believed to be day-to-day with the injury and will likely be questionable for Thursday's contest at home against the Blue Jackets.

During the game against the Jets, goaltender Semyon Varlamov suffered a lower-body injury in the 2nd period of the game and left the game, not to return.  The Avalanche did not have any immediate update on his condition, but the presumptions didn't sound very positive.

Kristy & Don lost the services of a forward, while Stacey C. lost his number one goalie, neither really know for how long, but the duo's loss might be the more costly of the two, since they hold a significant spot in the money conversation.  The duo finished Tuesday night's action in 4th, now 11 points out of the money, while Stacey currently holds the Basement Dweller lead this week after two nights, down in 20th, 27 points from 13th, the halfway point in the pool.

Florida Panthers goalie James Reimer is likely under observation after a collision with Minnesota's Mikael Granlund on Tuesday night.  Reimer is believed to have suffered a neck injury after the collision, briefly returning to the ice, but eventually giving way to backup Harri Sateri for the 3rd period, as the team was already down 4-1, heading into the final frame.  The Panthers don't go again until Friday night, so they will get an extra day for evaluation, but if there is anything significant, this would put the Panthers in a big hole in the crease.

The Panthers are already without Roberto Luongo, which was giving Troy a boost in goalie minutes, but if his goalie is now injured for the time being, his hopes of climbing the ladder take a pretty big hit.  His team has made it up to 16th place, 15 points from the top 10.

The New Jersey Devils were taking on the best in the west last night, the St. Louis Blues, and they felt the need to rotate a few of their defensemen around and it was Damon Severson that eventually drew the short straw for the game and was the healthy scratch for the game.  The coaching staff hasn't been happy with Severson's defensive play of late, which was the the main reason for his removal from the lineup.  The Devils pushed the Blues into the shootout on Tuesday, but eventually lost, 3-2, so that could mean just about anything for Severson moving forward.

In 37 games, Severson has 4 goals and 9 points, which is far from some of the expectations set out for him this season and this has to be a pretty big disappointment for Eric's team, one of a few, I'm sure.  Eric's team finished the night in 22nd place, only 3 points behind Ryan's 21st place team.

The goaltending concerns in the hockey pool extended quite far on Tuesday night, as the Pittsburgh Penguins, who are no stranger to goalie injuries, lost the services of their backup Tristan Jarry on Tuesday night, after making a save in the 2nd period.  Jarry was still credited for the win, as he was the goalie of record when the eventual winning goal was scored.  The Penguins coaching staff had no immediate update on the status of their number two goalie, not to mention two other non-pool players, but the medical staff will get their examinations in today and the team hopes to have updates at some point on Wednesday.

Well, it's somewhat ironic that Derek B. picked up Jarry for Matt Murray's penchant for getting hurt and as Murray returned from injury, just before the New Year, Jarry ends up getting hurt himself.  We'll wait to see how bad things get here, before we start to speculate even further, but Derek's chances at the money might hinge on this bit of news.

The Vancouver Canucks saw the return of defenseman Chris Tanev on Tuesday night, while they hosted the Anaheim Ducks, which meant that one of their defensemen had to come out to make room and it was Ben Hutton who drew the short straw again and became the healthy scratch.  The replacement didn't seem to help, as the Canucks were no match for their division rivals, losing 5-0 at home to their former number one goalie, Ryan Miller.  There are plenty of questions being asked in Vancouver these days, but they were not expected to win too much this year, so it should come with the territory.  No word on whether or not Hutton will be back in the lineup any time soon.

The return of Tanev was good for Scott's team, which is working its way out of the pool basement, now only 4 points behind Steve's team, but the scratch of Hutton was a detriment to Scott's team, meaning that he didn't really have much to gain with one coming back another coming out.  It's a good thing the rest of his team is doing well these days.