More News & Notes on Friday (Apr 1)

The Islanders lost the services of Frans Nielsen in Thursday night's game against the Rangers after taking a hit from Marian Gaborik in the 1st period.  Nielsen reportedly suffered a head injury in the game and didn't return.  The severity of the injury beyond leaving the game has not been disclosed as of yet, but it's being looked at and will likely be updated before the end of the season.

The Senators reportedly lost Erik Karlsson last night against the Panthers, as he suffered a lacerated thigh in the game.  The opening required about 25 stitches to close up, but fortunately for the up-and-coming defenseman, there was no muscle damage in the ordeal, which likely would have cost him the rest of the regular season, for what it is worth.  Karlsson will be considered day-to-day and questionable for their next game.

Karlsson belongs to Larry D. this season and he is currently 17 points out of the top 10 after Thursday night, so it does seem rather unlikely that he had a shot at finishing in the top half and any time now missed by Karlsson will compound that likelihood.

An update on Chris Pronger has dropped and he is now not expected to get back into the Flyers' line-up before the end of the regular season.  Pronger is dealing with a hand injury at the moment and it sounds like there was a setback in his rehabilitation, which will cost him the last couple games of the season, to which he was aiming to return for as a primer for the playoffs.  With a few days in between the end of the season and the start of the playoffs, he should have enough time to be ready, in theory.

The initial diagnosis was for Pronger to miss about 4 weeks of action, which technically, he is still in line for, which Ryan M., if he was paying attention to the news page, would know.  Ryan is in that race for a top 10 spot in the standings this year and likely would have preferred Pronger to return, but he's SOL now.  Can he crack 10th without him?

It looks as though Dennis Wideman is done for the remainder of the regular season and the start of the playoffs now sounds in doubt, as it has now been reported that Wideman is suffering from compartment syndrome in one of his legs, leading to a haematoma and possible some permanent damage to his legs.  It does sound quite serious, but the diagnosis is looking like at least the next two weeks on the shelf and could be more, depending on setbacks.  You may want to avoid Wideman in the playoff pool, if you're as uncertain as the rest of us.

Again, this shouldn't be a great concern for Allan S. in the draft, as he has established a big enough lead to give Wideman the rest of the season off, as if he had the choice.

Link to the Injury/News Page