Saturday, November 10, 2018

Morning Player Notes (Nov 10)



The Boston Bruins have granted goaltender Tuukka Rask a leave of absence to deal with some personal issues at home and it sounds like he will be out of the lineup indefinitely, as he requires. The team respected his privacy and didn't get into any specifics, but they are just aware they will be without him for the next while. On Saturday morning, they called up Daniel Vladar to backup Jaroslav Halak, starting with Saturday night's rivalry game against the Leafs.

There are always things bigger than the hockey pool and this could certainly be one of them, but we are trying our luck at these things and it is bad luck that Rask is a key piece of Jesse's team this season.  Arguably, Rask hasn't been great this season, 8 points in eight appearances, but maybe something was weighing heavily on him to start this season.

Columbus forward Cam Atkinson was a late scratch for the game in Washington on Friday night, as he was feeling under the weather for this contest.  He's currently listed as day-to-day, but the team didn't really miss him too much, as they were able to pull out a 2-1 win over a division rival in this one. 

Clayton's team currently holds down the Basement Dweller spot heading into Saturday's action with only 10 points and it really missed Atkinson in this one, as it tries to stay afloat in the standings this week, dropping down to 15th place.

The San Jose Sharks are performing nowhere near where many had expected them to by this point in the season, so they needed a shake-up in their active roster.  Joakim Ryan was one of those players coming out of the lineup as a healthy scratch, as they brought in some new blood into the lineup for their game in St. Louis on Friday night.  It didn't work, as they lost 4-0 on the road, dropping their second game in a row.  There's no indication where their roster is going to go for their next game, Sunday at home to the Flames, but Ryan will probably draw back in.

Eric was trying a sneaky little pick here in the 13th round, taking Ryan under everyone's radar, but it hasn't quite worked out for him, as the defender only has 2 points in 16 games, so far.  His team has been okay this week, picking up 15 points, but the teams around him have been better, dropping his side down to 14th.

The Blues may have had an addition by subtraction in their 4-0 win over the Sharks, as they took out forward Patrick Maroon from their lineup ahead of the game, sending him up to the press box as a healthy scratch and the team seemed to have some extra life.  Maroon has yet to score a goal this season, only registering 7 assists in 13 games, which isn't bad from a points perspective, but the team needs more goals and he hasn't found any yet.  It makes you wonder about his future moving forward.

Scott's 25th place team was not counting on Maroon to do a lot this year, also taking him in the 13th round, but was also likely thinking this could be a really good bargain pick, if he could find his game with the Blues.  He hasn't.  The pick hasn't done him badly, as he still is somewhat of a bargain pick, taken 308th and now ranks 279th, but it isn't enough to save Scott's season.

Finally, a lower-body injury forced Washington Capitals defenseman John Carlson out of the lineup against the Blue Jackets on Friday night and the prognosis moving forward is still unclear about how serious the injury actually is.  The Capitals currently have him listed as out day-to-day and he could be missing at least Sunday's contest against Arizona.  It's just too hard to say right now.

Carlson has been a dynamite pick for John P. this season, taking him 57th overall in the draft and getting a return of 18 points in 14 games, good enough for 31st in the hockey pool rankings.  John's team sits 5th at the start of play on Saturday, only 4 points out of 3rd place.

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