Key Injuries in Nashville

A couple of injuries that I had missed on Sunday night for publishing on the newsletter yesterday had a couple of Nashville Predators missing out on their game against the Blues. Both Steve Sullivan and Martin Erat were not able to go because of lower and upper-body injuries, respectively, both suffering their injuries on Thursday night.  Both players are thought to be out day-to-day, but on Monday, they were placed on the Injured Reserve, but it wasn't totally clear as to what date they were placed on the list for.  Since the injury occurred last week, there is a chance the placement was retroactive to Friday, which would mean both could be activated before the weekend.  I suppose we'll just have to call it day-to-day, until otherwise noted.

Sullivan currently leads all Predators skaters with 20 points (10 goals and 10 assists) in 34 games this season, which is mildly disappointing from a total scoring perspective, but if he's leading the team, it can't be all bad, right?  Sullivan went into Week Thirteen ranked 151st in pool scoring with those numbers, which is slightly down from his scoring pace of 2010 and falling short of his rank last season as well.

Erat, on the other hand, is 3rd among Predators skaters in scoring with 17 points (5 goals and 12 assists) in 27 games this season, which is a bit higher of a scoring pace than his injured teammate and just a touch lower than his overall scoring pace from a season ago.

The Predators are not an offensively gifted team this season and it is really beginning to show, as we move deeper into the season.  Nashville currently ranks last in the Western Conference in goals for with only 85 in 35 games, but thankfully, their defense is keeping them in the playoff picture, sitting in 9th place, only 1 point out of 8th.

In the draft, both players were chosen in the original draft at the beginning of the year.  Sullivan was taken in the 12th round, 238th overall, by Peter, who currently sits in 9th place, 25 points out of the money, while Erat was taken in the 8th round, 151st overall by Stuart, who is in 6th place, 6 points out of the money.  It really looks strange that the team who made the worst pick of the two is in a higher position, but one player on either side really doesn't make that much of a difference it seems.

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