Draft Player Scratches (Nov. 2)

It was a return to the press box for defenseman Anton Babchuk, as the Flames took on the Canucks on Tuesday night. The Flames have been working between using seven defensemen and not over the last couple of weeks, trying to shore up some of the holes in the defensive system.  Tuesday night was not one of those situations, as Matt Stajan was inserted back into the line-up and Babchuk was the odd man out.

In four games this season, Babchuk has a pair of assists, but obviously those assists are not enough, as he hasn't put any pucks into the net himself with his big shot.

This is likely a mild concern for Scott G. in the draft this season, as his draft team is in the mix early on for some good things, currently ranking in 8th spot through Tuesday's action.  Scott's defense, as a whole, is doing well, having scored 22 points this season, which is above average among the 22 teams in the pool.  If Babchuk can make it into the line-up again and start scoring, this should mean good things for Scott and his team.

With only 2 goals and 2 assists in the first nine games of the season, the Red Wings coaching staff decided to give forward Jiri Hudler the night off and send him up to the press box for a game.  The Red Wings were taking on the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night and the struggling Hudler got to take in the game from a different perspective, as a healthy scratch.  The Red Wings could only drum up one goal in the game, losing in overtime to the Wild, which is mildly ironic.

Hudler did get off to a pretty good start, but has been pointless in his last five games, which has hurt Niesa S.'s team early on this season.  Niesa has been hovering between 9th and 13th over the first four weeks and would likely prefer that Hudler was in the Red Wings line-up, not to mention scoring at the same time.  If Hudler can find his scoring touch again, Niesa could start climbing the ranks once again, as she's only 7 points back of 7th place, so there is plenty of room to move.