Draft Player Scratches (Oct 16)

The Colorado Avalanche are absolutely rolling early on this season and it is getting done by a lot of scoring throughout their line-up, something that I thought the team would need to succeed, since their defense is still rather suspect. Well, if someone isn't contributing offensively, I think the team can find someone who can and I would guess that T.J. Galiardi is finding this one out first-hand, as he was a healthy scratch on Saturday night with the club in Montreal.

Galiardi is only averaging a shade under 10 minutes per game of ice-time, one of the lowest on the team through his four games played, but he does have 1 goal in those four games.  By the look of his ice-time, he has just been near the bottom of the totem pole, which could also explain the healthy scratch, making room for some new blood on Saturday night.

This is not a good sign for Ryan M. this year, who could really use some more help this season, as he has found himself in last place through Saturday night's action.  Ryan only has 18 points thus far, already 31 points behind 1st place and Galiardi being a healthy scratch will only exacerbate the problem.

A very poor effort on Thursday night against the Islanders sealed the fate of Teddy Purcell on Saturday night, as the 2011 playoff hero for the Tampa Bay Lightning found himself as a healthy scratch on Saturday night, as the team took on their cross-state rivals, the Florida Panthers. Purcell admittedly didn't like his game and realized he message that was sent to him when he didn't play a shift in the 3rd period on Thursday night, so the scratch was written on the wall, so to speak. The Lightning ended up losing on Saturday night, which could mean Purcell could draw back into the line-up soon, but we'll have to wait and see.

Purcell isn't off to a bad start overall, just had one bad game.  In four games played this year, he has a goal and 2 assists, which is an okay start.  I think that would cinch his return sooner, rather than later.

Purcell belongs to the top team in the draft through Saturday night, as Allan S. is off to another blinding start this year.  Allan has a 6-point lead through Saturday night, looking in line for a Mover and Shaker nod this week.  Missing out on one game from Purcell doesn't look like it'll hurt much right now.