Draft Player News (Nov. 23)

Things haven't been working out too well for Oilers forward Magnus Paajarvi, who has found his way into being a runt in the litter, much the same way that Linus Omark was earlier on in the season.  Paajarvi hasn't been able to keep up the scoring ways, like his other young teammates, nor has been able to fill a bottom six role properly, which is now forcing the coaching staff to fill these spots with other players and  making Paajarvi into the odd-man out.  There has been some rumblings that Paajarvi may find his way down to the AHL, just to make sure he is getting some ice-time somewhere.

Paarjavi only has 1 assist in 18 games for the Oilers in being bounced around the line-up, but the lack of line-up consistency could also be a cause, as much as it could be an effect, of his lack of production.  There is also some suggestion that Paajarvi could be one of those players that could be moved in a deal to help better the team elsewhere.

Paajarvi belongs to Scott G. in the pool this season and will likely be a strong candidate for a drop in the waiver draft in just over a week's time.  Scott won't have a great pick, since he currently sits in 8th spot in the standings, but he should be able to pick up someone that is certainly better than Paajarvi at that time.  The sooner, the better, I'm sure.

The Flyers blueline took a pretty good hit on Monday night for their game against the Hurricanes, as they were without Coburn to an injury and they were also without Chris Pronger, who was out with a touch of the flu.  Of course, a flu bug doesn't usually last longer than a couple days for most NHL players, so I would imagine that he should be able to dress for the Flyers on Wednesday night on Long Island.

Pronger has been limited to only 13 games this season, due to an early season injury, but when he is in the line-up he has been extremely productive, having scored 1 goal and adding 11 assists, scoring at nearly a point-per-game in the line-up.  Without Pronger and Coburn in the line-up on Monday, the Flyers were not very good, losing 4-2 to a poor Hurricanes team, so the team will want one or both back against an underachieving Islanders club, just in case.

Scott G. also has Pronger, who certainly misses that great production from the back end.  You can certainly add him to the list of people hoping that the big defender returns to the line-up on Wednesday night.  Going into action on Wednesday, Scott sits 7 points back of 6th and 7th place and 16 points back of 3rd place with 160 points in total, so a return would help him greatly.

After receiving a solid check from Maple Leafs defenseman Dion Phaneuf, Lightning forward Steve Downie left Tuesday night's contest with an upper-body injury, failing to come out for the 3rd period in the game.  Downie, who's thought to be a pretty tough customer in the league, must have taken a pretty good jolt from the hulking defender, if he had to leave the game with an injury.  There has been no official word on the severity of the injury, so we'll keep you posted if it becomes anything major.

In 20 games for the Lightning, Downie has 2 goals and 3 assists this season and hasn't been lining up with some of the bigger guns on the team, so that would be explanation number one, as to why his numbers are theoretically down this year.  Downie does have the capability of playing both top and bottom six roles and provides energy in either role he is slotted in for.  Right now, it seems a bit more like a bottom six player for the time being.

In the draft, he belongs to pool leader Wayne H., who hasn't really needed any extra production from Downie, as he has opened up an even bigger lead in Week Eight.  After Tuesday night's action, Wayne now has a 23-point lead and can do without Downie, if necessary, for a little while.

The Washington Captials have been very poor over their last couple of games and a step was taken to help right the ship, as they decided to make Alex Semin into a healthy scratch on Monday night against the Coyotes. The Caps were able to pick up a win without Semin in the line-up, which has now put a little bit more fuel on the rumour fire, as Semin leads the list of names being shopped around, looking for a deal. Unfortunately for Washington, they have given Semin way too much money on an annual basis, which makes him very difficult to move.

Semin has not been great this season, currently ranking 229th in pool scoring with 4 goals and 5 assists in 18 games for the Capitals, scoring at only half a point-per-game.  With a cap hit of $6.7 million this season, Semin should be scoring with the big boys at nearly or at twice that pace.  This makes him into a tough piece to move, especially with some attitude issues and a lack of desire, there are not many teams that are going to spend that kind of money for a player like that.

Recognizing what he could possibly be, Dale C. picked Semin 69th overall in the draft, up in the 4th round and hasn't had the proper returns this year.  Dale has still had a pretty good start to the year, sitting in 2nd place in the standings.  I don't think Semin will be a target for a drop in the waiver draft next week, as Dale has a couple more options and it would be difficult to give up on his scoring potential.