Draft Player News (Nov. 27)

There was plenty of secrecy surrounding the Buffalo Sabres going into Saturday's game against the Capitals, as they have run into some serious injury trouble this year, the first year of their high expenditures and big name players. At game time, it was revealed that Drew Stafford was held out of the line-up, due to an undisclosed injury, so to a point, the secrecy continues. There was no new word on Sunday morning, so for now, we'll consider him out day-to-day. The Sabres have done a number of recalls over the last week, so it is getting kind of hard to determine, who came in for who at this point.

Stafford being out comes as a fairly significant blow, as he has been okay in pool scoring already this season, picking up 4 goals and 8 assists in 22 games, which is just over half a point-per-game to this point.  It isn't exactly great production, but it is okay.

Stafford will make the decision a little bit more difficult for Wes M. this coming week, but I would imagine that Wes will be waiting for definitive word on the injury, before he determines whether or not Stafford will be one of his two players that will get dropped in the waiver draft.  Wes goes into Sunday's action, to determine the position in the waiver draft, in 12th spot, 4 points back of 10th, but only 4 points up on 15th.  There is lots of wiggle room there.

The Edmonton Oilers are waiting to hear word on one of their young superstars, Taylor Hall, who suffered what appeared to be a shoulder injury on Saturday night against the Avalanche, after getting hit into the boards awkwardly in the 1st period, came back for a shift, where he took a cross-check to the same arm and left for the remainder of the game. The Oilers had no immediate report on the injury, but we'll be paying close attention.

Hall has played very well in his sophomore season, scoring 7 goals and 11 assists in 22 games this year, which has him ranked 66th in pool scoring, unofficially, on Saturday morning.  The Oilers have been an offensive juggernaut at times this season and losing one of their big weapons could be a significant hit, especially to a team that has been struggling to string together some wins after a fast start to the year.

This comes as a significant hit to Clayton C.'s team in the draft, as Hall is one of seven players in the top 100 in pool scoring on his team, keeping him alive in the money race this year.  Hall is one of Clayton's best players in the week with 4 points, so if the injury is long-term, it could be very costly.

On a rare occasion, Vancouver Canucks defenseman Alex Edler took the worst of a solid bodycheck, this time against Sharks forward Jamie McGinn, forcing the Swedish defender from the game in the 2nd period, not to return.  Edler will be re-evaluated on Monday, but for now we'll consider him out day-to-day, with the promise that if there is any more significant news, that it will be posted up on the blog.

Edler is currently 3rd on the Canucks in scoring with 3 goals and 13 assists in 23 games, which is also good enough to be unofficially ranked 100th in pool scoring this year.  Edler is having a whale of a season, so his presence will certainly be missed, if he is out for any extended period of time.

The loss of Edler will also leave a pretty big hole on Stuart G.'s pool team, which currently sits in 5th spot with 193 points, right in the thick of the money race.  Stuart currently has the best four defensemen in the pool to this point in the season, picking up 56 points from his blueliners, which has some space to give to be 2nd place as well.  An extended time away for Edler could certainly hurt these numbers.