Player Notes in the Draft (Feb 17)

Since there is an off-day during the Olympics, I thought it would be prudent to see if I can get an update for the Draft done up today, as there is some news that needs some links on the news/injury page, some of which coming out of Sochi.  I will also have another post as teams start to get back into the swing of things, as I would imagine that there are going to be a number of injuries healed and some players returning to action when play resumes in just over a week's time.

As it was pointed out in the last draft post that I did, nearly a week ago, there was some expectation that Colorado Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson would receive some supplemental discipline for his slash on New York Islanders forward Frans Nielsen. As it so happens, the same day I had posted that, the news did come down that Johnson did receive a 2-game suspension for his indiscretion.  Johnson will miss the first two games after the Olympics, Wednesday the 26th, home to the Kings and Friday the 28th, home to the Coyotes.

This won't be the ideal start for John, who has Johnson in the pool this year, as he will be without one of his players for a couple games to start the home stretch.  A small price to pay for his player knocking out another for a couple of weeks to open the same stretch.

All kinds of concern coming out of Sochi for the Detroit Red Wings, as the team, pretty well banged up all year, to this point, will likely have to contend with more injuries, post-Olympics.

There is a looming cloud of doubt about how much Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg is going to be able to play after the Olympic break, as his herniated disc, which forced him out of the Games, might be far more serious than a day-to-day issue.  There have been some rumbles about Zetterberg missing the remainder of the regular season, which could be a massive blow to the chances of the Red Wings making the playoffs, let alone doing something in them.  He will be listed as out indefinitely, until the Red Wings say otherwise.

An injury that was missed near the beginning of the February, which wasn't posted in time for the Olympics was defenseman Jakub Kindl, who was placed on the Injured Reserve on the 6th with a lower-body injury.  There hasn't been any update since being placed on the IR, but he was unable to play for Sweden at the games, which was too bad for some teams in that pool.

Zetterberg belongs to Tony in the pool, who leads the draft in projected games to be played down the stretch, assuming everyone is going to be healthy at the restart of the season.  This appears that it won't be the case, but we're going to wait for word from team doctors before we adjust that number.  As for Kindl, Benson has him as a defender and he isn't too far off the pool lead for projected games today.  Benson will be looking to push for the top half of the standings down the stretch.

The knee injury that Alexander Barkov suffered against Norway in the Olympics appears to be exceptionally serious, as the rookie centre has told Finnish media members that he expects to be out for the remainder of the NHL season.  Barkov has been seen around Sochi on crutches, but I would imagine that he will have to see team doctors before the team makes that announcement and makes it official.  Barkov will also be listed as out indefinitely, with the expectation of shutting him down for the year.

Barkov belongs to Wes, who sits in 15th place, heading into the home stretch, and his injury luck continues to be pretty bad this year.  Barkov was Wes' pick-up in the second Waiver Draft this year and he only managed to collect 1 assist in six games played and that is where it'll likely end.