Player Notes in the Draft (Nov 24)

Given the circumstances at the Waiver Draft, usually injuries as severe as these would get their own post, but Luca Sbisa and Viktor Fasth have such limited time in the hockey pool, that they'll just get added to the notes.

On Friday night, the young defenseman suffered a hand injury and was forced from the game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Further diagnosis showed that he actually had some tendons severe and he will have to undergo surgery, to which his recovery will be in the 6-to-8 weeks range.  Rough news for the kid, who had a late start to the season.  He finishes Week Eight with 1 assist in nine games.

On the other hand, Viktor Fasth was added to the Injured Reserve due to some muscle inflammation in his lower-body.  The Ducks are now expecting to be without Fasth for the next 3-to-4 weeks, which will compound on a very injury-plagued season already.  Fasth is the third-ranked goalie in the Ducks organization, playing only in 304 minutes worth of action and picking up only 2 wins for 4 points.

Ryan V. dropped Sbisa in the second round of the Waiver Draft to pick up Derek Morris of the Coyotes.  This appears to be an immediate upgrade, as Ryan scooped the blog and found that Morris was coming back early enough to make him into a great pick.  Derek Wyllie may not have known that Fasth was able to return to the line-up this week, when he dropped him in the Waiver Draft, but he caught a break with him on Friday, when he was sent to the IR because of injury.  Wyllie picked up Hurricanes back-up Justin Peters for Fasth in the second round.

We're not quite done with the Ducks either. Since they played on back-to-back nights, I am obligated to throw out the healthy scratch post for retiring forward Teemu Selanne.  I believe this is the third time I've had to make this post this season, which isn't too bad, but it really hasn't helped his game any.  Selanne only has 3 goals and 4 assists in 20 games this season, which is a sign that everything is slowing down.

Chris M. could really use Selanne back closer to his regular form this year, as he now sits 5 points out of the prizing, heading into Sunday's action.

A family matter or a personal issue kept Marian Hossa out of Saturday night's game between the Blackhawks and the Canucks.  Hossa had to fly back to Chicago to resolve this matter, but there has been no indication as to whether or not he will be able to make it back out to Western Canada in time for their next game, Monday night in Edmonton.  Hossa is considered day-to-day with his personal issues.

This is not the kind of thing you can count on when you have a hockey pool team.  Ryan M. would definitely prefer to have one of his more offensive players on the ice, especially when he sits 20th in the hockey pool standings.

The injury bug is biting the Detroit Red Wings hard and on Saturday, it took some really big chunks out of the team's offense. Before Saturday afternoon's game in Ottawa, the team announced that Todd Bertuzzi was going to be a late scratch with an upper-body injury. Bertuzzi is currently listed as out day-to-day with the injury and he is questionable/doubtful for Sunday's tilt against the Sabres.  On the plus side, when Bertuzzi came out, Stephen Weiss was able to come back in, returning from a groin injury.

There was a second injury to report on, as Pavel Datsyuk did not make the trip from Detroit to Buffalo for Sunday afternoon's game against the Sabres.  Datsyuk took a shot to the head from Ottawa's Jared Cowen and the team is now taking every concussion precaution, even if their star two-way centre doesn't have one.  For right now, Datsyuk will be listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

The Bertuzzi injury was not one that Leo M. wanted to see, because he dropped one injured player to pick up the power forward in the second round of the Waiver Draft.  Stuart was kind of happy to see Stephen Weiss return to the line-up, where he'll likely play on Sunday as well.  This makes for two extra games he likely didn't expect to get before he dropped him in the Waiver Draft.  Datsyuk, on the other hand, belongs to Ryan V., who obviously had no intention of dropping him this week, and is hoping that this injury didn't come too late to do anything about.

The Minnesota Wild were somewhat busy on Saturday around their afternoon game in Winnipeg against the Jets, as they were able to activate goaltender Niklas Backstrom from his concussion, which he suffered against the Maple Leafs a couple of weeks ago.  This was a little bit of a surprise, as there wasn't much word about the injured goalie being ready, but he was.  The Wild then filed the papers that had back-up goalie Darcy Kuemper sent back to the minors.

Josh Harding was scheduled to have the start for the Wild against the Jets on Saturday afternoon, but in the pregame warm-up, he suffered a lower-body injury, which sent his team scrambling.  Harding was unable to go, so Backstrom, in his return, got the start on Saturday afternoon and registered a win in the shootout.  The Wild also had to quickly call Kuemper back to back him up, which they were able to do and now they will await word on how serious the injury is to Harding. One more small note from the Minnesota Wild... forward Mikael Granlund was suffering from an upper-body injury.  He is hoping to return to practice on Sunday, so he isn't expected to be out for too long.  The young Finn has 2 goals and 10 assists in 23 games this year.

What does this all mean in the hockey pool?  Well, the Harding injury is a kick in the pants to Doug K., who picked him 1st overall in the Waiver Draft this week.  He is really hoping that the injury is minor and they held him off the ice for precautionary reasons.  Scott G. got a surprise start and win from Backstrom, but his value drops after this week, as Scott dropped him for Karri Ramo of the Flames this week.  Scott's team was also affected by the Granlund scratch, but has benefited from his assist tally this season.  If Granlund can get going with the goal-scoring, he'll be in great shape.

Hopes were all kinds of high for young Pittsburgh Penguins forward Beau Bennett, as he showed off some of his upside at the end of last season and when most of the big stars were going to start the 2014 season as healthy bodies and Bennett was penciled in to the top six, he looked like a no-brainer.  Unfortunately, this is not how it played out, as he only has 1 goal and 2 assists in 12 games played and now he'll hit the shelf to an undisclosed long-term injury.  Bennett did not play yesterday for the Penguins in Montreal, rather got checked out by Penguins doctors in Pittsburgh and they don't expect him back any time soon.

Scott G. was pretty pumped about the potential of Bennett, but this week had to drop Bennett in the Waiver Draft and pick up Blackhawks forward Kris Versteeg.  The pick-up will definitely soften the blow going into Week Nine.

Another player with high preseason expectations, Martin Erat, found himself as a healthy scratch on Saturday night. The Washington Capitals were in Toronto for the first half of Hockey Night In Canada and they decided not to dress Erat for the first time this season, giving a sign that 6 assists in 23 games is not enough.

Erat was also dropped this week in the Waiver Draft, as John S. opted for Mike Santorelli of the Canucks instead of Erat.  John did miss this game in the calculations, but gets an upgrade for the rest of the season, as the projections go.

Week Eight Waiver Draft Review (Part 2)

We made it through 16 picks on Monday, which had to be some kind of record in this pool's Waiver Draft, but then everything settled back into normalcy, as the draft battled against everyday life and busy people... something it could do very little against.  Nevertheless, the last pick of the draft was made on Saturday morning and I have already been able to insert the names onto the team sheets and make some of the official changes already, which is fun for me.  It will definitely take away from all the work on Monday morning.

All of the changes will be made when the audits are done for the teams that have players involved in the Waiver Draft, in case you were wondering why some of the updates are not complete.

So, we'll kick off the review with the 17th pick in the draft, as Stacey M. dropped Montreal Canadiens forward Brandon Prust for Anaheim Ducks forward Nick Bonino.

Out of the last eight picks, teams in the money/prize race, including Stacey M. above, there were five forwards, one defenseman and two goalies taken.

The two goalies were two new faces to the hockey pool, as Marek Mazanec has been playing well in Pekka Rinne's absence in Nashville, while Reto Berra has been making some acrobatic stops in the net for the Calgary Flames.  The trick for taking goalies in the Waiver Draft is to find some quality minutes, as those translate into chances for points, instead of the back-up role, which doesn't necessarily mean minutes down the stretch.

Likely the saddest drop of the first round of the Waiver Draft was Allan S. letting go of Steven Stamkos, who is out indefinitely with a broken leg.  Allan finished atop the standings in Week Seven and has a shot at finishing tops in Week Eight and will want to continue that domination, so he'll need points wherever he can get them.  Stamkos was in the conversation for best player in the pool in the 2014 season, but this injury knocks him right out.  He was replaced by Matt Stajan of the Calgary Flames.

The second round of the Waiver Draft opened with another Tampa Bay Lightning player dropped, as Jonathan Drouin, the highly-touted prospect, taken 3rd overall in June at the Entry Draft, was let go of for Minnesota Wild's Nino Niederreiter.  Drouin was sent back to junior after training camp, which surprised many, including Doug K., but he may have found a good replacement for the final 18 weeks of the season.

The second round saw nine forwards switched, nine defensemen, three goalies and three teams passed in total.

Possibly the biggest surprise in the drop category in the second round was Derek Wyllie dropping Viktor Fasth, who had just returned from injury and was getting back into splitting time in the Anaheim crease.  Wyllie picked up Carolina back-up Justin Peters, who had seen some significant time with the Hurricanes in Cam Ward's absence, but Ward is now back and should be picking up more of the minutes.

The second round also saw a few players get picked up, who were dropped in the first round, as David Clarkson was taken by Wes M., dropped by Tony D. in the first round; Kari Ramo was picked by Scott G., dropped by John S. early in the 1st, while Dany Heatley was taken by Clayton C., dropped by Dale B. earlier.

In the entirety of the draft, the least popular teams (most players dropped) were Anaheim, Calgary, Florida, Long Island and Toronto, each team having three drops.  The most popular team (most players picked up) was the San Jose Sharks, who had six players picked up.  Tomas Hertl, Tommy Wingels, Justin Braun, Jason Demers, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and back-up goalie Alex Stalock were all added to the active list for Week Nine.

The Chicago Blackhawks are the most popular team in the hockey pool after Week Eight's Waiver Draft, as they now have 16 players active in the pool.  They added three players to the active rosters for Week Nine: Andrew Shaw, Kris Versteeg and Niklas Hjalmarsson.

Well, now we wait to see who earns the first segment honour of a jersey prize, which we'll announce on Monday with the Newsletter.  Let's get that second segment underway!

Player Notes in the Draft (Nov 23)

The flu bug bit the Columbus Blue Jackets a little, just before they took on the Vancouver Canucks on Friday night. The Jackets were without key defenseman James Wisniewski, as he sat out with an illness, taking some good puck movement and solid offense out of the line-up.  Wisniewski has 2 goals and 14 assists for Columbus this year in 22 games and plays an integral role, including a lot of minutes, for his team, so it was a big hole to fill, something the Canucks exploited in a 6-2 win.

Wisniewski is Chris M.'s top defenseman this year, as his 16 points are better than his other three defensemen combined.  One game away shouldn't hurt him too bad, but he has seen a drop in the standings recently, as he now sits in 7th place, 4 points out of the prizing.

Player Notes in the Draft (Nov 22)

The Detroit Red Wings and their injury woes have now added up to some extra cap space of late, as (Waiver Draft available) defenseman Danny Dekeyser was placed on Long-Term Injured Reserve with a shoulder injury, which gave the Red Wings some new found cap space, enough to call up Gustav Nyquist.  Nyquist's return was marked by a couple of goals in his 2014 debut with the club.

This is all well and good for Benson G., who has him for only a couple more days.  Benson, unsure of his possible playing time with the Red Wings this season, dropped Nyquist in the Waiver Draft.  An unfortunate turn of events, as the unexpected bite from the injury bug was able to help Benson remove the last donut on his team list.

It has been a disappointing start to the season for Florida Panthers forward Tomas Kopecky, who has 2 goals and 2 assists in the first 23 games of the regular season. On Thursday night in Edmonton, Kopecky suffered a wrist injury, which forced him from the game in the 1st period and he wasn't to return.  The only speculation on Friday morning was that he isn't expected to play on Friday night in Calgary, in the second half of the Alberta back-to-back.

Friday night's game in Calgary is Florida's last game this week, which means Cindy has now seen the last of Kopecky, as she has dropped him in the Waiver Draft this week.  Cindy sits in 15th place heading into the weekend, 16 points out of the top 10.

The New York Islanders are expecting to have forward Thomas Vanek back in their line-up tonight, as he has been out with an upper-body injury, missing out on nearly two weeks worth of action.  Vanek was injured only a few games into his stint as an Islander, since he was traded from the Buffalo Sabres at the end of October.  In 19 games, between Buffalo and Long Island, Vanek has 5 goals and 7 assists.

Chris M. has Vanek this year and he is sitting on the outside of the prizes, looking in, only 6 points out of 4th place and 12 points out 1st.  Having Vanek return will be a big boost to his team.

Bickell Out With Lower-Body Injury

On Tuesday night in Colorado, Chicago Blackhawks forward Bryan Bickell suffered a lower-body injury, related to his leg/ankle.  According to some pregame reports, Bickell will now miss 2-to-3 weeks with his lower-body injury, which will cost him upwards of 10 games.

Since signing a big contract extension in the Summer, Bickell has not racked up the big numbers that some may have been expecting.  In 22 games, he has scored 5 goals and added 1 assist for 6 points, which has him ranked 324th in pool scoring.  Last season, Bickell was ranked 189th with 23 points in 48 games.

Will three week or 10 games be enough for Scott G. to consider dropping him in Week Eight?  Scott has one more move available to him make and a couple of injured players now to consider dropping.  Between Bickell and Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom, there will be some decisions to be made.

Scott currently sits in 10th place, 23 points out of the prizes, heading into Thursday night.

Player Notes in the Draft (Nov 21)

The Anaheim Ducks lost the services of defenseman Francois Beauchemin on Wednesday night against the Devils, due to an upper-body injury in the 2nd period.  On Thursday morning, there was no update on his condition or the nature of the injury, but they are at home in Anaheim, so the updates will come a little later in the day.  Beauchemin will be considered out day-to-day until any further updates are provided from the team.

Doug K. has Beauchemin and his 6 assists in 24 games this season, which is good enough for 362nd in pool scoring, 79th among all defensemen.

The Carolina Hurricanes have activated forward Jeff Skinner from the Injured Reserve on Thursday morning and he is now expected to be back in the line-up for their game against the Red Wings in Detroit.  Skinner has been out for the last 11 games with an upper-body injury.

Skinner was off to a great start for Clayton in the pool this year, but since he's missed out on a number of games, Clayton has dropped a little in the standings, going into Thursday, he will start in 9th place, 5 points out of 8th.

Player Notes in the Draft (Nov 20)

Boston Bruins defenseman Dennis Seidenberg didn't last very long in their game against the New York Rangers on Tuesday night, as he suffered a lower-body injury in the 1st period and was only able to register a minute worth of ice-time.  There was no immediate word on the injury on Wednesday morning, so he'll be listed as day-to-day if and when he misses some time with the injury.  The Bruins play next on Thursday, home to St. Louis.

Seidenberg belongs to Stacey M. in the pool this year and may receive some consideration for a drop, if the injury is more serious than day-to-day.  Her defense hasn't been bad as a whole, thanks to Erik Karlsson, but could use all the healthy bodies possible to move up from 7th place in the standings.

The Columbus Blue Jackets suffered another injury on Tuesday night, as Brandon Dubinsky suffered a bruised foot against the Edmonton Oilers. All of his X-rays came back as negative, but his status for the team's next game, tonight in Calgary, is questionable and more likely, doubtful.  If he doesn't go on Wednesday night, he will be considered day-to-day.

This injury shouldn't be enough to have Cindy drop Dubinsky with her second Waiver Draft transaction.   Cindy will need him back soon though, since she has dropped a couple of spots since last week.

It has not been a good season, so far, for Islanders forward Michael Grabner, who was a healthy scratch on Tuesday night.  Grabner has only registered 2 goals and 6 assists in 19 games, which is likely well below expectations.  The Islanders are likely hoping that a trip to the press box will help to get his game in order.

Unfortunately, it's too late for Grabner to get his game together for Dale C. in the pool, as he was a first round drop for the now 13th place team.  Dale has yet to register a point in the first two nights of Week Eight and likely can't wait for Carl Hagelin to become active.

Also not having a great season is Vancouver Canucks forward David Booth, who was a healthy scratch again.  Booth has suffered an injury this year, been sent down to the minors for conditioning and has been a healthy scratch a few times already and nothing seems to be getting him into gear.  In 13 games, Booth has 1 goal and 2 assists.

Booth is also a first round drop for Ryan V., who is replacing him with Clarke MacArthur of the Ottawa Senators.  Ryan finished Tuesday night in 15th place and is off to an okay start in Week Eight, picking up 6 points through two nights.

Hurricane Semin Downgraded to a Concussion

On Saturday, Alexander Semin of the Carolina Hurricanes took a big hit from St. Louis Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, forcing him from the game in the 2nd period, not to return. On Monday, Semin sat out of the contest against the Bruins with what was described as an upper-body injury. On Tuesday, the team confirmed that the upper-body injury is indeed a concussion and now the Russian sniper will be out of the line-up indefinitely.

In 20 games with Carolina this year, Semin has 3 goals and 6 assists for 9 points, which has him currently ranked 222nd in pool scoring, 157th among all forwards.  Needless to say, it hasn't been a big money kind of season from Semin and now a concussion won't help anyone's cause.

Concussions are a tricky injury, but with NHL protocol, Semin will not be eligible to return to the Carolina line-up until the weekend, at the earliest, but he could also find himself dealt the same fate as Rick Nash, which cost the Rangers forward six weeks.

Semin hitting the concussion list will open up a new bag of questions for Leo M. to answer during Waiver Draft week. Does he stay with Semin and wait out the injury or try and replace his points right away and try to climb back into the race? This is a toughie.

Player Notes in the Draft (Nov 19)

The prognosis keeps getting better and better for New York Rangers forward Rick Nash, who was scheduled to return to the line-up on Thursday, has been just given the green light to return a couple days early, with a return tonight at home against the Boston Bruins.

Nash has 3 assists in the first three games of the season, but then proceeded to miss the next six weeks of the season.

Wyllie, who has Nash this season, has done okay without the power forward in his line-up, as he goes into Tuesday night in 11th place in the standings.  That may have more to say about how the rest of the pool has fared with their health and other roster moves through seven weeks of the season, more than anything.

Another projected return is about to drop this week, as Tyler Bozak is eligible to come off the Long-Term Injured Reserve on Thursday and it sounds like he should be ready to go against the Nashville Predators.  Bozak has been suffering from a hamstring injury and had to miss a minimum of 10 games, being on the LTIR.

Bozak wasn't off to the greatest start to the season, only picking up 3 goals and 3 assists in his first 11 games this year, but getting back to 100% health may be the boost he's looking for.

It is likely that if Bozak was healthy for those last 10 games, Brenda F. would be atop the standings, as her team sits in 2nd place, only 2 points out of 1st place, heading into Tuesday's action.  Her team may be ready for a big boost right away.

Week Eight Waiver Draft Review (Part 1)

It was the moment we were all waiting for... time to drop the bums that are holding our teams back and pick up some players who will make up for the losses incurred. Yes, it is Waiver Draft time and we started off with a bang on Monday.

The biggest surprise of the first day of the Waiver Draft was that we actually got through 16 drops & picks on the first day, something that has never happened in the history of this pool.  Usually the first round takes most of the week, but there is a certain possibility that the first round could conclude on Tuesday.

Through 16 drops & picks, there wasn't much for surprises.  Josh Harding did indeed go number one to Doug, as he dropped Jason LaBarbera, who was lost in the Edmonton goaltending shuffle with the signing of Ilya Bryzgalov.  Bryzgalov ended up going 5th to John S., which was a little bit later than I expected.

The goalies continued to roll out, as Kevin Poulin of the Islanders went number two to Stuart and Peter Budaj of the Canadiens went 11th to Wilton.  Poulin will be taking over for Evgeni Nabokov, who suffered a groin injury on the weekend, while Budaj has been getting semi-regular work in the Montreal crease and has been getting results in the process.

As for forwards, the top-ranked forwards Martin Hanzal of the Coyotes went number three to Mike and Tomas Hertl of the Sharks went number six to Benson.  Both players had 18 points going into this week and have potential to be game-changers at the bottom of the pool in the second segment.  Sandwiched in between Hanzal and Hertl was Olli Jokinen, taken 4th by Leo, who wanted someone he recognized to cheer for.

Only two defensemen were snapped up in the first 16 picks, as Marc-Edouard Vlasic of the Sharks was taken 12th by Wes and Niklas Hjalmarsson of the Blackhawks was taken 15th by Stacey C..  Kris Russell of the Flames picked up his 11th point of the season on Monday night, so he shouldn't last much longer in the draft.

The best pick of the opening 16, in my opinion, was Scott taking Kris Versteeg at the 16th pick, as he moved from Florida to Chicago last week and has already gained a hop to his step.

Other forwards taken in the draft were Dustin Penner of the Ducks, Tommy Wingels of the Sharks, Clarke MacArthur of the Senators, Ryan Johansen of the Blue Jackets, Joel Ward of the Capitals and Carl Hagelin of the Rangers.

Stacey M. has the first pick of Tuesday morning, which should drop shortly and we should be able to conclude the proceedings of the first round before the end of the work day, I'm thinking (and hoping).