Preds' Forsberg Placed on IR

On Friday night, the Nashville Predators lost the services of forward Filip Forsberg in the 3rd period against the Minnesota Wild and didn't return to action.  The coaching staff didn't have much of an update for the media after the game and now on Saturday, the team has placed the dynamic forward on the Injured Reserve, retroactive to Friday night, and recalled Frederick Gaudreau from the AHL to take his spot.

Placement on the IR means that the injury will keep Forsberg out for at least a week, but there has been no indication from the team to say how much longer, if it is, it could be before he's back in the lineup.

This injury puts a huge hole in the Nashville lineup, as Forsberg has been great this season, scoring 15 goals and 34 points in 37 games before the injury, which has him ranked 46th in pool scoring, a late 2nd round pick, if we were to redraft our teams today.

For Benson, his forwards are his bread and butter this season, as he has the best group of eight active in the pool this season, collecting 256 points, thus far, and Forsberg has been a big part of that.  His defense is tied for 20th this season and his goalies are also 20th, so you can see how important his forwards are for his 3rd place team overall.

Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Dec 30)

The Chicago Blackhawks are still ironing out all of their current issues in their lineup, trying to find the right formula to regain their dominance in the league.  On Friday night, there was a pair of healthy scratches of interest for the hockey pool, as forward Patrick Sharp and defenseman Gustav Forsling both came out of the lineup and up to the press box for their game against the Oilers.  Sharp has 9 points in 35 games this season, while Forsling has 12 points in 33 games this year, but recent results are likely greater than the whole totals, but neither are all that sparkling.

Benson took Sharp in the 11th round, making him a very reasonable gamble this year, while Jeremy took Forsling in the Waiver Draft this season, and has collected 4 points in nine games, since being activated, which isn't too bad for a mid-season defenseman pickup.  Big scratches though, given that both pool teams finished the night, tied at 330 points, ranking 3rd and 4th, only 1 point back of Wilton, who is in 2nd.

It was unfortunate for Peter Budaj, getting a rare start on Friday night and getting hurt in it. Budaj got the nod against the Flyers, but after allowing four goals already in the game, the Slovak keeper was rolled over by Philadelphia forward Scott Laughton and that was where he suffered a lower-body injury, believed to be to his leg.  The initial reports do not sound too promising, as the coaching staff, after the game, suggested that there is a call-up in their future, which means Budaj will likely be shelved for a while.

The rough first season for Steve continues, as he has only had seven appearances from the Tampa Bay backup and only 6 points to his credit.  I'm not sure everyone would have seen Andrei Vasilevskiy take on the amount of ice-time that he has, which has forced Budaj to be a bit of a dud pick.

More bookkeeping transactions in Washington this week, as they looked to get an extra day or two of cap space by sending both pool forward Jakub Vrana and non-pool defenseman Madison Bowey down to the AHL on a paper transaction.  The Capitals have been relatively comfortable against the cap ceiling for the better part of the season, but squeezing every penny out of these non-waiver transactions helps their cause, especially once we get to the trade deadline.  The more space they have to play with, the better.

For Dale C., who has Vrana, this isn't anything to really worry about.  The 21-year old Czech forward has 10 goals and 16 points in 38 games this season and has played well enough to stick around all year.  He currently ranks 253rd in pool scoring, pretty good for the 341st pick in the draft.

Goalie Announcements (Dec 29)

I'm sure the Washington Capitals had Grant sweating a little bit last night against the Boston Bruins, as they narrowly came back to beat their rivals in Beantown, in the shootout, to give Grant his necessary win to make it into Week Fourteen. The deed was done though, which means all three teams are now through to next week and we can start this all over again on Monday.

Now, we'll shift the focus over to the top 10 teams (and ties) in the pool, as 1st to 11th are now separated by 44 points.  It's a pretty big gap, but now that we're approaching the halfway mark of the season, we're establishing just how big this lead can possibly get to come back from.

11 games on the schedule for Friday night, so let's get cracking to see which games actually feature!

Robin Lehner (Kristy & Don) versus Cory Schneider (Jeremy)
Goalies for teams that are on 5th and 4th placed teams go tonight in the swamp, as the Sabres are taking on the Devils at the Prudential Center.  The pool's first duo get the first of two starts on the night from Robin Lehner, as they try and close the 9-point gap to Jeremy's team, who will have Cory Schneider in this game.  The edge in this one has to go to the Devils, they're playing well of late, winners of their last five games, while the Sabres are 4-10-6 on the road this season.

Sergei Bobrovsky (Derek B.) versus Mike Condon (N/A)
The Blue Jackets should continue to roll with Sergei Bobrovsky tonight in Ottawa, as their schedule favours their number one to continue rolling in their net.  This will give Derek his first start of the night, as his team tries to inch its way closer to the main groups up at the top of the standings.  his 9th place team is 8 points back of 8th place and once he closes that gap, the rest won't seem so far.  At the other end, Mike Condon gets the nod, a Waiver Draft drop this season, which may not bode well for the home team tonight.

Henrik Lundqvist (Brian) versus Jimmy Howard (Dale C.)
At the new Little Caesar's Arena, it's Brian's 7th place team featuring against Dale C.'s 10th place team, the two teams separated by 9 points at the start of play.  In terms of the match-up here, the Rangers are the more dangerous of the two teams and they have the statistically better of the two goalies, as Henrik Lundqvist has 39 points in 31 appearances, while Jimmy Howard has 21 points in 30 appearances.

Tristan Jarry (Derek B.) versus Cam Ward (Stacey M.)
The whole point of Derek picking Tristan Jarry was because we were not very sure how long Matt Murray was going to be out around the Waiver Draft.  Well, Murray came back fairly quickly, but now he's out again, much to the delight of Derek and here he is getting another start for his 9th place team.  Stacey M. currently holds the tied team in 11th place and it looks like her Carolina goalie, Cam Ward, has retaken the number one job again, as he gets his fourth straight start tonight.  Stacey's team trails Derek's by only 3 points, which could make this into a swing game.

Pekka Rinne (Dale B.) versus Devan Dubnyk (Brenda & Seward)
The Nashville Predators and Minnesota Wild are opening a home-and-home set tonight, which goes on back-to-back nights, playing in St. Paul tonight and Nashville on Saturday.  Both teams are going right after it tonight, sending their number one goalies out for this one, as Pekka Rinne gets the nod for the pool-leading team of Dale B.'s, while Devan Dubnyk makes his first start in a couple of weeks for Brenda & Seward's 17th place team.

Jaroslav Halak (Benson) versus Connor Hellebuyck (Neil)
The New York Islanders tandem of goalies belong to both 1st and 3rd place teams in the hockey pool, so either way, they were showing up in this post.  3rd place Benson gets his goalie start tonight, as Jaroslav Halak gets the nod against one of the hot teams from the Central Division from Winnipeg.  It will be a draft table rivalry game tonight, as sitting across from Benson was Neil and it will be his Jets keeper going at the other end, Connor Hellebuyck, trying to improve on their 20th spot in the standings.

Jake Allen (Cam) versus Ben Bishop (Kristy & Don)
The second start for the duo tonight will happen in Dallas, as the Stars will play host to their Central Division rivals from St. Louis, sending Ben Bishop to the crease to greet them.  The Blues, on the other hand, are opening back-to-back nights tonight, before heading home to take on the Hurricanes, so it was a coin flip on their starting goalie tonight.  According to the reports, Jake Allen won the toss for the Stars, so he'll go tonight, giving Cam a shot at trying to get his way back into the top 10.  Cam's team starts the day in 14th, only 3 points out of 10th.

Noon Player Notes at the Draft (Dec 29)

The Chicago Blackhawks lost the services of forward Artem Anisimov against the Canucks on Thursday night, as he has reportedly suffered an upper-body injury. There wasn't much in the way of details, but the Blackhawks coaching staff did suggest that he could miss a while, which doesn't bode well for their next game, tonight in Edmonton, to say the very least. He will be listed as out day-to-day for the time being.

More injury trouble for Jeremy's team, which has been falling apart at the seams in the last few days and if this injury is significant, it will take a half a point-per-game player out of his lineup, 18 points in 36 games to date.  Jeremy's team has already fallen out of the money spots, now 2 points out.

The Detroit Red Wings are saying that forward Anthony Mantha is questionable for tonight's game, more likely a game-time decision, after he left this morning's skate early.  The coaching staff has said that the 23-year old has been playing with some nagging issues and the team's medical staff and the player will determine whether or not he's fit enough to go against the Rangers tonight.

Kristy & Don's team has suffered in the early part of this short week, only picking up 6 points in the first two nights, falling off the pace of the money, so far.  They'll open Friday night with an 11-point gap between themselves and 3rd place, something that Mantha could help out with, if he plays.

Another injury concern from last night's play, as the Toronto Maple Leafs shut down forward Nazem Kadri midway through the game against the Arizona Coyotes, after the 27-year old took an elbow to the head.  The team said that his removal from the game was purely precautionary, but the Leafs are not exactly in anyone's good books about disclosing injuries.  Kadri is questionable for tonight's game against the Colorado Avalanche.  If Kadri misses time, he will be listed as day-to-day until otherwise specified.

Grant's team is just hanging outside of the top 10 to start Friday's action, as it stands 1 point back of 10th.  Kadri has been a little less than expected for his side, picking up 23 points in 38 games, so far this year, ranking 132nd in pool scoring and having been picked 106th overall, about a round worse than expected.

Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Dec 29)

The Tampa Bay Lightning were without defenseman Anton Stralman last night for the their tilt against the Montreal Canadiens, due to a lower-body injury. All the team had mentioned leading up to the game was that the veteran defender was dealing with the injury and that he was day-to-day.  Stralman's scoring numbers have been somewhat underwhelming on the potent Lightning this season, 11 points in 35 games, but he has been a plus/minus monster, accumulating a rating of +24 this season.

It's hard to say whether or not Stralman would have been an offensive factor last night, but I'm sure Dale C. would have appreciated it, if the 31-year old Swede was in the lineup.  Dale's team only has 6 points through two nights this week, which is among the bottom rung thus far, but also came into the week in 3rd for the plus/minus total and it was a good showing by Tampa over Montreal last night.

In San Jose last night, Calgary Flames forward Michael Frolik left the game against the Sharks in the 2nd period, after getting in the way of a Brent Burns shot.  The word about the injury was vague, as there was no indication about whereabouts he took the shot, but we can say he left the game and didn't return with an undisclosed injury.  The 29-year old is scoring at less than last year's pace, which has to be somewhat disappointing, but he does have 15 points in 37 games, so it isn't a complete wash for him yet.  He is usually quite the durable player, so it will be interesting to see if he misses any time.

Steve's team has been riddled with injuries for a good portion of this season already, so if Frolik goes down for any length of time, staying just outside of last place will get increasingly difficult.  The gap between his and Scott's team in 25th has shrunk to 19 points this week, Scott having already gained 3 points through the first two nights.

Goalie Announcements (Dec 28)

It's very important to note, that a team needs a win to stay in the goalie survivor pool, not just any old points. Cory Schneider got a win, so Jeremy stays in. Malcolm Subban got a win last night, so Wilton stays in. Philipp Grubauer... well, he got credited with a shutout, as he took the Capitals to the shootout in a 0-0 game against the Rangers, but it was Ondrej Pavelec who earned the win, thanks to the Mats Zuccarello shootout winner. This means that Grant didn't get his win, but his team did get 2 points towards the overall standings, which is still good.

Anton Khudobin (Eric) versus Braden Holtby (Grant)
Fortunately for Grant, he doesn't have to wait for very long to get his second shot at a win this week, as the Capitals return home on back-to-back nights, hosting the Boston Bruins and giving the reins to their number one goalie, Braden Holtby.  Hope has to be high for Grant's team now, right?  The Bruins are also on back-to-back nights, winning last night against the Senators and they'll throw their backup at this one, Eric's Waiver Draft pickup, Anton Khudobin.  Eric's team has yet to see many gains since the player swap, still mired in 23rd, 9 points behind Wes' team, a team that his should catch, due to all the injuries in recent days.

This should be a pretty good game tonight and it will feature on Sportsnet 360, for those who are interested.

Jets Confirm Long-Term Injury for Scheifele

It has been a brutal injury news day in general and that carried over into the diagnosis that all Winnipeg Jets fans were fearing, as Mark Scheifele has been confirmed to have a significant upper-body injury, after their game in Edmonton on Wednesday night and he'll be expected to miss the next 6-to-8 weeks.

Eight weeks could easily translate into 20+ games on the shelf for one of Winnipeg's elite scorers this season and at this current pace, 38 points in 38 games, that can translate into a pretty big loss in the offensive output for the Jets in the next couple of months.

Scheifele leaves active duty in 23rd spot in the hockey pool scoring rankings, just inside of the 1st round selections, if we were to have done the draft over again today. 

This injury now makes for two elite forwards taken out of Brian's lineup for the time being, as he is still without Jaden Schwartz of the Blues for another 2-to-3 weeks with his lower-body injury and now Scheifele is out for the long-term.  On the plus side, his Waiver Draft pickup, Zach Parise, is currently on a conditioning stint for the Minnesota Wild, so he could be back by some time next week, which can't come soon enough.

As of Thursday afternoon, Brian's team sits in 7th place with 302 points, 17 points back of the money and only 2 points clear of 8th place.

Penguins to Suffer Through More Injuries

The Pittsburgh Penguins coaching staff updated a number of players on their injury status, ahead of this weekend's action, where they play in Carolina on Friday night and then Saturday in Detroit and they could be significantly shorthanded.

Most notably included in this list was starting goalie Matt Murray, who is being considered as day-to-day with a upper-body injury and it sounds like he has already been ruled out of Friday's game and consideration for Sunday's game is still up in the air.  There is lots of concern for Murray moving forward, as he has been injured a lot in his short time in the NHL, does he get inclusion on the Injury Prone List soon?

The other injury of note is forward Bryan Rust, who is now listed as out for a "longer-term," which we'll consider as indefinitely, with an upper-body injury.  This loss will certainly challenge the depth of the Penguins, especially since Rust has been one of those guys moving up and down the roster, playing in the top six and in some of those grinding roles all year.

Then it becomes a tale of two hockey pool teams, Stacey M. and Mike, separated by five spots (11th & 16th) and only 10 points.  Stacey loses her best goalie, while Mike loses a Waiver Draft pickup, who has been just okay.  Now, Murray isn't thought to be out for too long, while Rust could be out a while, by the sound of things, but neither seem to be very concrete.  I don't think I would want to be the one losing the goalie, especially if they find the injury to be more serious than day-to-day.

Islanders Sideline Boychuk Week-to-Week

The New York Islanders have placed defenseman Johnny Boychuk on the Injured Reserve on Thursday, saying that he is currently week-to-week with a lower-body injury. They have also gone ahead and engaged a lot of confusion in our near future, recalling defenseman Sebastian Aho from the Bridgeport Tigers of the AHL, now making two players with the same name in the league. We'll all have a lot of fun with that.

The Islanders defeated the Sabres last night, 3-2 in overtime, and Boychuk led all skaters for the home team in ice-time, playing nearly 25 minutes, so no one was expecting this injury news to hit, but he must have been playing through something in this game.

Boychuk leaves the Islanders lineup ranked 438th in overall hockey pool scoring, having 3 goals and 9 points in 34 games this season.  He has been a solid player for the Islanders at both ends of the ice, being a plus player this season.

Brenda & Seward have been having plenty of injury trouble in this holiday season, now adding Boychuk to this list.  Fortunately, it sounds like Devan Dubnyk will be making a start for them here soon, so they are trading a defenseman for a goalie on the list, but losing Alexander Wennberg is also a big loss.  Getting into the top half of the standings is job one for the duo, but they are 13 points back of 12th and now without two players moving forward.  It's going to be a tough slog still.

Rangers' Kreider Out Indefinitely

The New York Rangers did not waste much time with their announcement this morning, as they have broadcast that Chris Kreider will be out indefinitely, due to a blood clot in his arm.

This is a very significant situation, given the medication needed to treat such a clot, blood thinners, make his body very susceptible to bleeding out, if any other injury is suffered, so he won't be taking to the ice for practice or game action for any time soon.  The exact time periods for recovery from a blood clot can very, but it can certainly be in the months range, depending on the severity.

After Wednesday night's action, Kreider currently ranks 145th in hockey pool scoring with 11 goals and 22 points in 37 games this season.  It's by no means a banner year for the 26-year old, but he does carry a pretty good production level, when he's healthy.

This is now the second significant injury to happen in pretty well the same day, as Corey Crawford was put on the Injured Reserve yesterday for an unknown upper-body ailment, to which the Blackhawks believe is significant and now Kreider leaving yesterday's game, likely placed on the IR right away to make room for Vinni Letteri.  Jeremy's team finished Wednesday night in 3rd place, 9 points from 1st, 1 point clear of 4th and with 7 points already in the bank for this week.  There are still plenty of options on his team to earn him the points, but the long run is where this one could sting.

Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Dec 28)

The Florida Panthers are expecting to be without forward Radim Vrbata again tonight, as he picked up a case of "something" that is keeping him under the weather these days.  The Panthers play their first game out of the Christmas break tonight, hosting the Flyers at the BB&T Center.  Vrbata will be considered day-to-day right now and his 12 points in 30 games production is held out of the conversation.

Wes' team is already hurting in the projected games department, yet the healthy players are keeping his team from dropping any further, already picking up 5 points last night.  It's beginning to look like the only hope for Wes to get any money back is a Hail Mary pass at the All-Star Game festivities.

There appears to be a lot of hush-hush concern for New York Rangers forward Chris Kreider, as he left last night's game against the Washington Capitals somewhat mysteriously in the 1st period, not to return.  The team did confirm after the game that the scoring forward did suffer an upper-body injury, but he would need more evaluation on Thursday.  Early Thursday morning, the Rangers had already made a call to the AHL, bringing up Vinni Letteri for his first recall, which usually indicates some bad news on the horizon.  Stay tuned.

Jeremy's 3rd place team is now in danger of losing a key forward for the next little while (or longer), by the sound of things.  Kreider has 22 points in 37 games and doesn't hesitate to get the puck to the net.  Jeremy has already lost Corey Crawford for the next while, so things are starting to fall apart for his team and quickly.

Even more concern in Winnipeg on Thursday morning, as they are now waiting for the test results to come back on forward Mark Scheifele, who went into the boards after a good shove from Oilers defenseman Brandon Davidson on Wednesday night.  It didn't appear to be the most violent collision into the boards, but it did certainly look like something that could have done some damage and Scheifele's reaction did suggest that it did.  The centre has been scoring at a 1st round draft pick pace, currently 38 points in 38 games, 23rd overall in pool scoring, so this will be a huge loss for the Jets.

As it will be another massive loss for Brian, if this turns out to be something significant.  The fall from 1st place has already been well-documented in the last couple of days, but now, if Scheifele is out for any significant amount of time, a point-per-game player, not to mention already being without Jaden Schwartz, the rest of his scoring depth will seriously be tested to even keep him in the top 10 over the next couple of weeks.