More Player Notes in the Draft (Oct 2)

The Philadelphia Flyers gave an update on one of their key forwards on Thursday morning, as Wayne Simmonds is now on the list, day-to-day with a lower-body injury. The Flyers are in Washington tonight to take on the Capitals, so it is expected that Simmonds will be on the sidelines for this one. No word yet on whether or not he will miss the Flyers' opener, next Thursday, home to New Jersey.

Brenda sure hopes that Simmonds is healthy, as her side would have a full compliment of players going into the regular season... something most teams are dying to have at the moment.

Might be worth pointing out some of the more positive notes in this second post of the day... the Red Wings were able to welcome Gustav Nyquist back to their line-up, despite losing a player in the first post of the day. Nyquist escaped major injury from a knee-on-knee collision against Pittsburgh earlier in the preseason, playing 19 minutes in the process. It appears that he is back for good for Detroit.

Wilton can breathe a sigh of relief here, as his 6th round pick is fit and ready to go.

The 1st overall pick in this year's hockey pool draft has finally played a preseason game! Sidney Crosby finally took to the ice in some warm-up action on Wednesday night, suiting up against the Red Wings. Crosby missed time to a mystery ailment at the start of camp and when he was ready to go, he had to attend to some family matters, which kept him out a few extra days. Crosby nearly had 19 minutes of ice-time as well, but no points in his preseason debut.

Stuart, last year finishing in 17th place, got 1st pick in the draft this year and should have some more luck with Crosby in the pool.

It has also been a rough training camp and preseason for Dallas Stars veteran Sergei Gonchar, who has already sat out for a small portion with a lacerated ear, but will now sit out for some time with a lower-body injury. The Stars coaching staff said that the defender "could be out for a period of time" with the injury, but of course, there was no definitive mention of how long he may be out for. Gonchar, 40, has been somewhat durable over the past few seasons, only missing handfuls of games each year and it sounds like this could be much of the same, possibly worse.

Reigning champ, Allan, has not had much luck with his older defensemen thus far, took Gonchar with his 12th pick, 258th overall.  If the injury is actually deemed significant, Allan may want to think about a swap.

The Flames offered up a quick update on a few of their walking wounded, including a pair that were taken in the draft... Mikael Backlund and Mason Raymond each skated before practice on Thursday, with some expectation that they could dress for a weekend preseason game, getting themselves back into the healthy ranks.  Backlund appears to be close to a return for opening night, as he has been reportedly skating well before practices this week.

This would be good news for Wyllie and Leo, as they are hopeful that they can cash in on some of that Calgary enthusiasm that the Flames showed last season.

What kind of hockey season would it be without an Alexander Semin watch? The oft-injured forward reportedly left practice early on Thursday, but there has been no reason given, let alone any other meaningful details.  It could be something, it could be nothing, but it has been reported and having seen Semin's name on blog posts too many times, it is hard not to believe that he won't be a piece of injury news.

Dale B. is the poor schmuck that took a flyer out on the talented, yet fragile winger, taking him in the 9th round, 196th overall.  It is much less of a gamble that deep in the draft, but a gamble nonetheless.

Another minor injury scare to give a heads up on... Jarome Iginla was supposed to suit up for the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night, but a minor ankle injury has decided otherwise.  This may very well be a ploy to give the seasoned veteran an extra night off from the preseason, but it does have the word injury in the description, so it should be worth mentioning.  The Avalanche are likely expecting him to be ready for opening night.

Iginla becomes the third name on the injury list for Leo, heading into the season, which is not where any team wants to be.  None of the three injuries appear to be too threatening, so the preseason waivers may not be necessary here.


A half-hearted update came out of Detroit for the status of forward Tomas Tatar, as head coach Mike Babcock alluded to the concussion protocol with his young winger and how he won't be available to the line-up. It was also mentioned that he was feeling fine, but that was the extent of the quote that was published.  Take this for what it's worth, Tatar is going through concussion protocol, which will keep him out for at least a week.  Detroit opens their season in a week's time, so it will be close, as to whether or not Tatar will be eligible to play, if healthy.

The only silver lining to this news for Dale C. is that Tatar was feeling fine, otherwise, it is a concussion and that is a man down for him.  If Dale decides to panic, he could possibly pull the old switcheroo in the preseason Waiver Draft.

An updated list of injuries can be found here.