Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Feb 4)

On Saturday night, with the Blackhawks in town, the Calgary Flames did a little bit of roster management, taking out forward Mark Jankowski and bringing in forward Andrew Mangiapane onto the 3rd line and the Flames did find a boost in this one, even making a comeback late to beat Chicago, 4-3 in overtime. Jankowski has struggled of late, when it comes to the scoring department and a healthy scratch is just one of those ways that a coach likes to try and break that spell.

For Ryan, he certainly hasn't had the return he was hoping for out of the youngster, since picking him up in Week Nine. In 25 games since being activated, Jankowski only has 3 goals and 8 points.

Another scratch in that Blackhawks/Flames game last night, the visitors sat Ryan Hartman down for this one, as his numbers have also fallen off in recent weeks, amidst the struggles of this Chicago team.  The Blackhawks are still trying to figure out a way back into the Western Conference playoff picture, but only a point in the overtime loss to the Flames last night isn't going to cut it.

Much like Jankowski above, Hartman was a Week Nine pickup was well, Dale B. snagged him in the opening round.  Dale's team has really taken a bit of a dive in Week Nine, losing their lead and on the verge of dropping down to 3rd place.  Scary times for the reigning champ.

Details seem a bit limited here, but the Dallas Stars were without goaltender Ben Bishop for Saturday's game against the Wild, because the number one keeper was hit in the face with a puck and has some significant swelling in the facial area.  He's currently listed as day-to-day, as the team waits for the swelling to go down.  The Stars confirmed that Bishop doesn't have a concussion, but I suppose there is always a chance of fractures or breakage, which they are likely waiting to confirm.

Definitely not good news for Kristy & Don, who have seen their team drop down to 9th place this week.  It's still very tight in this portion of the standings, as they are only 3 points back of 5th place, after Saturday's action.

Montreal Canadiens forward Jonathan Drouin was on the wrong side of a teammate's blast in Saturday afternoon's contest against the Anaheim Ducks.  A Karl Alzner slapshot caught Drouin in the ribs and he was helped off and sent for X-rays to see the extent of the damage.  Thankfully, all the scans came back negative, but he is questionable to play in this afternoon's game against the Senators.  He'll be considered day-to-day, if he is unable to play.

Drouin is one of only two projected players for Derek B.'s team on Sunday, a team that can really use all the action it can get now.  Derek has seen his team drop to 12th and lose a lot of ground to the teams ahead of him, thanks to only 15 points this week.  It's not Basement Dweller worthy, but it hasn't been good.

Finally, ahead of the Penguins' clash against the Devils on Saturday night, the team announced that forward Patric Hornqvist would miss the game with a lower-body injury.  The team doesn't think that the injury is anything long-term, but they didn't exactly make any commitments about when he might be back in the lineup.  Missing out on the gritty forward was a pretty big hole to fill, something the Pens couldn't do, losing 3-1 last night, as they couldn't quite replace 31 points in 49 games.

Mike's team had a decent Week Eighteen, with one more day to play, picking up 23 points and gaining some ground in 17th spot.  With the moves that have been made this week and hopefully a quick return for Hornqvist, there is a shot for the top 10 for Mike's side.