Noon Player Notes in the Draft (Mar 10)

It appears that the Buffalo Sabres may just limp towards the finish line this season, as the injuries just continue to hamper their side. It was confirmed here at the end of the week, that the upper-body injury that Kyle Okposo had suffered is indeed a concussion and he is now listed as out indefinitely. Okposo's 2017 campaign was also prematurely ended to a concussion, but there is no confirmation about how much time the rugged forward will indeed miss. Okposo currently has 11 goals and 38 points in 65 games this season, which had him ranked in the top 200 in pool scoring.

Wes' only real hope in the scoring department was that he started Saturday in the mix for the Mover & Shaker nod of the week, but with Okposo on the shelf, his chances were diminished slightly.  If the power forward misses more time, it wasn't really going to have an effect on his season overall.

The Chicago Blackhawks granted forward Vinnie Hinostroza a leave of absence for Saturday's game against the Boston Bruins, as he was off attending to a family matter.  His absence is considered to be a day-to-day thing, but there is no word on his immediate return, as of yet.  The Blackhawks are playing the Bruins on Saturday afternoon and will finish a home-and-home series tomorrow in Chicago.

Jeremy's team had some good days this season, but definitely had more bad days than good days, as his team has fallen down to 20th place and isn't in any position to make up any of that ground any time soon.  Hinostroza's absence is only a drop in the big bucket, that is the regular season.

More concussion news, as the Pittsburgh Penguins are now preparing for life without forward Bryan Rust for an indefinite period of time, as the team has announced that he has suffered the head injury as well.  Rust has 10 goals and 33 points in 57 games this year, already having missed some time to injury, but overall, it has been a pretty decent year for him.  The goal will to get healthy again, ahead of the playoffs, so he can be a productive member of the team's title defense.

This loss of a body is really bad news for Mike's team, which opened up Saturday's action as the leading contender for the Basement Dweller this week.  Mike's team was only trailing Stacey C.'s team by a point at the bottom, but could certainly use more help, I'm sure.