Noon Player Notes in the Draft (Jan 25)

The replacement player for Jonathan Quick has been named and Mike Smith will take over his duties as a goalie for the Pacific Division team this weekend.  The Flames goalie has very similar numbers to the Kings goalie, only a shutout behind in the hockey pool scoring race.  Quick has 48 points to Smith's 46 points and Smith ranks 10th among all goalies in hockey pool scoring, making him a very worthy candidate for the spot.

Well, we knew that the omission of Quick was going to hurt Chris' chances at the mini-game money this weekend, but the addition of Smith gives Ryan a second player to try for points this weekend.  Smith will be paired with Oliver Ekman-Larsson of the Coyotes, for Ryan's two chances at the money.

Let's continue on with some more positive news, as the Columbus Blue Jackets have activated forward Cam Atkinson off of the Injured Reserve, a couple weeks ahead of the worst case scenario of six weeks, and he should be good to go for tonight's game against the Arizona Coyotes. 

Atkinson belongs to Steve, who has seen his team fall into last place, thanks to injuries like this.  I would think that this will go a long way towards closing the 15-point gap that Scott has opened up between 24th and 25th.

And even more positive news, with the St. Louis Blues announcing that they have activated Jaden Schwartz from the IR, as his lower-body injury has finally healed up, about a week beyond what the team had initially suggested at the time of his placement on the shelf.  Schwartz had missed the better part of the second segment with his injury and he'll be a welcome addition in the Blues lineup, as he was scoring at better than a point-per-game, 35 points in 30 games.

Brian's team was in 1st place at the time of Schwartz's injury and it stacked up with a number of other injuries at the time and it cost Brian's team massively.  His team will open the last day before the All-Star break in 14th place, 51 points out of the money.