Draft Player News (Mar 18)

A minor leg injury is the word out of Blackhawks camp, the ailment kept defenseman Brian Campbell out of the line-up on Thursday night against the Stars. Campbell also missed out on Monday night's game as well, but is questionable for Sunday's game against the Coyotes. The Blackhawks are in the thick of the playoff race and the game against Phoenix will likely be a key match towards a home-ice playoff spot in the 1st round.

Things have been looking up this week for Jani K., but this is now the second injury post for him in the last couple of days.  Still though, his 18 points in the week have closed the gap between him and Peter H..  If Campbell is out a little bit more than just this one game, it might not hurt him quite as much, as Campbell hasn't been the biggest force all season long.

Also staying out of the Blackhawks line-up on Thursday night was Bryan Bickell, who was sidelined with the flu. Bickell apparently took the morning skate on Thursday, but his illness really took off in the afternoon, forcing the forward out of the line-up as a late scratch. No word yet as to his availability for Sunday, but there are a couple days in between, so I would imagine he should be good to go.

It has been a shitty week for Benson G. in the draft this week, as his team has yet to hit double digits in weekly scoring, one of three teams through Thursday night's action to be without that much scoring.  Losing out on Bickell last night certainly didn't help.  His lofty cushion between himself and 5th place has now disappeared, as he now only sits 2 points ahead of Stuart G..

There is a sense of some bad news just around the corner for the Dallas Stars and Loui Eriksson, as their talented winger missed out on Thursday night's game against the Blackhawks with an upper-body injury. The injury may be more severe than not, as there is a belief that Eriksson may have suffered a concussion in the opening game of the home and home series with the Sharks.  This has not been confirmed yet, either way, so I'll keep you posted.

Larry D. has one of those teams that has some lofty aspirations of being the top 10 before the end of the season, but now being 25 points back and have possibly lost Eriksson for the rest of the regular season, doesn't bode well for those goals.  If teams below him weren't doing worse, he may have some fears of dropping down, but for now, he's okay.

Things do not sound good for Pavel Datsyuk of the Red Wings, who has reportedly suffered a lower-body injury, having to leave in the 3rd period against the Blue Jackets in the process. Datsyuk was reportedly seen hobbling around the dressing room after the game, but will undergo some more tests on Friday to see what the extent of the damage is. There is no sense in speculating what it could be at the moment.

Stacey C. is only 10 points out of the top 10 and he'll be waiting anxiously for the updates on one of his best players in the pool, as Datsyuk has carried Stacey quite a distance already this year.  If there is a significant amount of time lost again from Datsyuk, it will be the bottom half for Stacey, undoubtedly.

The Red Wings were already without forward Jiri Hudler going into Friday game against Columbus, as the struggling forward was left at home to deal with an illness that had suddenly popped up. There is no word as to whether or not Hudler will join the team in Nashville or not for Saturday's game, but this may afford the Red Wings an opportunity to give him a bit of a rest, especially since he has struggled to find the scoresheet of late.

Kristy and Don hold a small 8-point lead over Chris M. for 2nd place in the pool, but the teams in 2nd, 3rd and 4th are all dealing with their own injury plights at the moment, which has been giving some stability to the standings there at the moment.  Losing Hudler to an illness last night can certainly have been worse, so the duo should be counting their blessings.

The tough year for Marek Zidlicky continues, as the offensive defenseman was forced to sit out against the Sharks on Thursday night, because of a hamstring problem. Zidlicky has not played a lot of games for the Wild and having to sit out more is likely awfully frustrating. There has been no word yet as to the seriousness of the injury or to how much more time he is expected to miss, but this may come as a pretty big blow to the Wild's season.

Down at the bottom of the standings, Derek W. is trying desperately to stay out of 20th place to finish the season, but another injury to Zidlicky isn't going to help that.  Thankfully, in the past few weeks, he has built up a 9-point buffer, which should help him out in the final three weeks.

Much like his counterpart in the sheet pool news, Tomas Plekanec of the Canadiens also sat out of Thursday night's contest against the Lightning with a lower-body injury. Still no word on his status for the rest of the weekend and going forward. Of course, I'll be keeping you up-to-date on his status, as he's a big part of the Canadiens offense going forward. Consider him day-to-day for right now.

Completing the trifecta of the injured moneys teams is this news to one of Chris M.'s prized forwards.  Chris' team has struggled this week, but so have the other two teams, so it is washing out a little bit.  If the Plekanec injury is serious, however, he should fear of falling down out of the money, especially with Stuart G.'s team hitting its stride late on.

Link to the Injury/News Page