Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Mar 23)

Things are starting to pick up at the office these days, so it's been a bit of a struggle just to sit down with an extra moment to jot down the news of the evening previous. So, you've got to bear with me a bit there. I know you're showing up for updates, but there really hasn't been any at all.  Well, I'm hoping to get some catch-up done here, thanks to the upcoming weekend, but a work trip next week will likely make things difficult again next week... just an FYI.

The Boston Bruins have been without newly-acquired forward Rick Nash this week, as an upper-body injury has sidelined the power forward.  Nash is currently listed as day-to-day and could be gearing up for the playoff run that the Bruins are getting set for.  Since being traded to Boston, Nash has 3 goals and 6 points in 11 games, making somewhat of an impact with the team, since coming on.  The Bruins haven't suffered without him, bringing up USA Olympian Ryan Donato up from his NCAA career and he has been good in Nash's absence.

Scott has been missing Nash this week, sitting only 3 points up from being in the Basement Dweller this week, but that's about it there.  His team is still 9 points clear of last place in the overall standings, but has lost ground on 23rd, now 15 points back.

It was a trying time for the injury news on Tuesday, as Jason Demers of the Coyotes led the way for players now likely to miss the remainder of the season. Demers suffered an upper-body injury over the weekend and that's about the extent of the news that we could gather for this post, but the Coyotes did confirm that his season has concluded. He finishes with 6 goals and 20 points in 69 games, currently ranking 86th among defensemen, inside of the pool worthy defenders, with a couple weeks to go.

Brenda & Seward are now down a man after this news, but not one of their most prolific scorers.  After Thursday night's action, the duo sits in 8th place, 32 points out of 4th, likely taking them out of the race for the top non-money winning spot.

Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Noah Hanifin has been diagnosed with a concussion this week, kind of throwing some doubt on the rest of his regular season. Hanifin was reportedly skating on Wednesday, but there should be no hurry to get him back into the lineup, as their chances at the playoffs are all but faded. Hanifin has had a decent season, with 29 points in 71 games, ranking 54th among defensemen after Thursday.  He's still listed as out indefinitely, but that doesn't mean he can't come back, I suppose.

Derek B.'s team is 6 points up on the equator, in a much better position that what he wished to be by the end of the season, an expectation put upon his team a couple of weeks ago.  Unfortunately for Derek, Hanifin hasn't been the pick he hoped he would be, after taking him in the 4th round, among the bum's rush for blueliners.

The Edmonton Oilers are finishing the season without defenseman Oscar Klefbom, as the team and the player came to the conclusion that the season was so far gone and shoulder surgery was such a necessity, that getting it done early was likely better for his recovery for the 2019 season. So, this week, he flew home, while the team is on road trip out east to undergo the surgery and his season is now done. Klefbom finishes with 5 goals and 21 points in 66 games, currently 79th among defensemen in scoring. A very disappointing year.

He was certainly one of a good number of disappointments on Stacey C.'s team, which is still hunting for a top 20 spot in the standings for the finish, only 10 points back of Jeremy's injury-riddled team and Stacey already has 18 points this year.  Not doing too badly, I must say.

Trevor Lewis of the Los Angeles Kings has missed the last two games of the week for the Los Angeles Kings, due to an upper-body injury, which has been confirmed to not being a head injury.  He has been listed as out day-to-day with the injury, but there's no word on a timetable for his return.  The Kings are right in the thick of the playoff race in the Western Conference, so there could be a move to make sure he's 100% for when the Spring Dance opens up in a few weeks.

For Dale B., his dreams of back-to-back pool wins are now in the rear view mirror, as his team is now 45 points back of Stuart's team and continuing to lose ground.  His team still has a 12-point buffer on Benson's team and 20 points up on 4th, so there is a bit of a safety net there, but it's not the steadiest of nets.

And some sad news for Ottawa's Erik Karlsson, as his family suffered a loss, in the stillborn death of his son, and of course, he has been granted a leave of absence from the team in this unfortunate time. The Senators are not in any sort of playoff race, so the time given will be indefinite.  It's hard to say whether or not Karlsson's season is necessarily over, but he could be all out for a while.

This is another big hit to Brenda & Seward's team, as we already acknowledged earlier, as they likely are not going to finish too much higher than their current 8th place.  Losing Karlsson for a while could mean that they could drop further, but they are 7 points clear of 9th after Thursday night.

Monday saw a couple of players returning from injury, as Buffalo's Kyle Okposo returned for Wes' team and Carey Price finally dressed again for the Canadiens, getting his first start the week on Wednesday night. It was a loss, so Dale C. can only celebrate some more minutes played.  Tuesday saw a few returns as well, including rookie forward Jesper Bratt of the Devils, returning for Ryan's team, Matt Murray of the Penguins returned from another injury and started for Stacey M.'s team, while Frederik Andersen came back from an upper-body injury for the Leafs and Mike's team.  Not a lot of money implications with these returns, so far.

So, that's Monday and Tuesday's updates... I'm going to hit publish on this and hopefully come back later on today with more!