Injury Updates (Sep 16)

A minor hamstring problem has slowed down Dustin Brown at Kings camp, as the gritty forward was injured while doing drills on Friday.  It sounds like Brown is going to be day-to-day right now and I don't see the Kings pushing their captain too hard to get back into the line-up for any preseason action, unless he's 100%.  Brown is normally a very reliable option for your hockey pool team, so keep an eye on him through the preseason.

Sounds like the New York Rangers may have a couple of key bodies on the shelf, as the season starts in a couple of weeks. It appears that both Ryan Callahan and Carl Hagelin will both be starting the season on the Injured Reserve, both recovering from off-season shoulder surgeries.

There doesn't appear to be any timeline for either's return to the line-up, which doesn't bode well for us poolies, as they would both be good pieces to add to our teams, but with this kind of uncertainty, I wouldn't recommend going out of my way for them.

As of right now, their projections will drop about 10 points each, which means they could still be picked up, but certainly not before they should be.  I have them both in at 35 points each for the whole season.

Preseason action has claimed a concussion victim, as defenseman Rostislav Klesla of the Coyotes was wheeled off on a stretcher on Sunday night, in a game against the Kings. Kings forward Jordan Nolan hit the Czech defender in an open ice collision, according to all the reports and Klesla had to be helped off the ice.

Klesla was hospitalized for precautionary reasons and there has been no real update on his condition or his expected time away from the line-up.  As concussion protocol dictates, he will miss at least the next week's worth of action and given that he did make a trip to the hospital, I would imagine that he should be out of the line-up longer.

I only have his projections in at 15 points this year, but if he starts the season on the IR, those numbers will drop and it may raise the projections for a kid like David Rundblad, who may get an extra shot to take his place early on.