Sheet Player News (Oct 31)

A small shift in the roster for the Carolina Hurricanes sees Box 25 forward Drayson Bowman and non-pool player Zac Dalpe head down to the AHL for a couple of days, while Jon Matsumoto has been recalled. This has the feel of just saving some extra dollars against the cap on this day off, since the Charlotte Checkers (the Hurricanes' AHL affiliate) doesn't play on Sunday night and every little bit of cap space helps.  I imagine that these players will swap back before Monday night's game away to Philadelphia.

The return of Andrei Markov on Saturday night meant that one of the roster defensemen had to be scratched on Saturday night and that unfortunately fell down on Box 29 defenseman Alexandre Picard. Picard only has 1 goal in nine games with the club and those numbers are not going to put up much opposition for being scratched. I imagine Picard will stick around for a little while, but if he doesn't get much playing time in, a trip to the minors is likely.

A somewhat disappointing start to the season from Box 13 defenseman Francis Bouillon had earned him a trip up to the press box, which he claimed on Saturday night when the Predators took on the Red Wings. Bouillon only has 2 assists in the first nine games and the club is likely looking for someone who can step up and help carry the load that Ryan Suter left behind with his injury. I would expect him back in the line-up right away, unless there is an undisclosed injury.

Not providing enough pop will definitely earn you a trip to the press box in Toronto these days. Box 24 forward John Mitchell was replaced in the Maple Leafs line-up by Christian Hanson on Saturday night for their game against the Rangers, but luckily for Mitchell, Hanson didn't put up much for numbers, so a return to the line-up could be sooner rather than later.