Draft Player News (Nov. 5)

The word for Saturday night is that the Red Wings will be without forward Todd Bertuzzi for the game against the Ducks, as he is suffering from a bout of the flu.  Tonight's game is likely the only game that he will miss with the illness, which will be the first game of the season that Bertuzzi will have missed this year.

In 11 games this year, Bertuzzi only has 1 goal and 2 assists, which is definitely a slow start for him this year.  He would be much better suited to be at half a point-per-game, but that isn't the case today.

This isn't great news for Darren S., but he does have a buffer over top of last place in the pool at the moment.  Darren currently sits 8 points up on Ryan M. in the standings for last place, so missing out on one game from Bertuzzi shouldn't hurt him in this situation.

On Friday night, Senators rookie defenseman David Rundblad was held out of the game against the Canadiens, as a healthy scratch, which has happened already once this year (at least).  Rundblad is a puck moving defenseman, but hasn't really found ways to get on the scoresheet for the Senators, even in their current winning run that they are on.  To be effective, Rundblad will have to post some assists, if not goals soon.

In 11 games with the Senators, Rundblad currently only has 3 assists, which has him down very low in the pool rankings to this point.  There was quite a bit of hype surrounding him, so there is a chance that it may have gotten to him a little.

In the draft, Rundblad belongs to the 20th place team in the standings, Derek W.'s team.  Derek's team also has a bit of a buffer on the two teams below him and his not far away from moving up to 18th on a solid Saturday night.  Derek is only 34 points back of Chris M. for 18th, so there is some room to move at the moment.

More news for the upcoming evening of hockey, as the Maple Leafs are prepared to give defenseman Luke Schenn the night off as a healthy scratch, when the team takes on the Bruins on Hockey Night In Canada.  This will be the first scratch for the shutdown defenseman and it will allow Cody Franson to draw back into the line-up for the first time in a couple of weeks.  The Leafs are on top of the East, but they are not going to rest on their laurels just yet.

In 13 games, Schenn has recorded 3 assists, which in his case, doesn't sound terrible, especially for a shutdown defender, who doesn't play with the team's best scorers 5-on-5 or on the power play.  With a couple more games played then Rundblad above, Schenn does move up the rankings a bit, currently ranked 401st in pool scoring.

This season, Schenn was John P.'s last pick in the draft, the 14th rounder, 297th overall, is thought to be able to pick up a few more points from just being on the ice with a dangerous Leafs offense, but that hasn't quite happened yet.  John currently sits in 13th spot going into Saturday's action and we already know he'll be without Schenn, so that could hurt his chances of moving up to 11th, which is an attainable goal with a good night.

On Friday night against the Blues, Canucks forward Alex Burrows left the game in the 2nd period with a reported case of back spasms and he was not able to continue. He had already scored one goal for the Canucks in that game, but wasn't feeling good enough to play any more.  There was no word after the game about what his availability will be like for Sunday's game in Chicago and we probably won't find out until the pre-game skate on Sunday morning.

This season, Burrows is off to an okay start, picking up 4 goals and 4 assists in the first 14 games of the season, but has also seen his struggles, like most of the team has in the early part of the year.  After Friday night's game, Burrows was ranked 115th in pool scoring with his 8 points.

In the draft, Burrows has contributed well to Dale C.'s cause, especially with 3 points this week.  Dale currently sits in 2nd spot in the standings, only 3 points back of the lead and is in the running for the Mover and Shaker award for Week Five.  If Burrows misses out on Sunday's game, that could hurt his chances for taking the lead and the Shaker nod.