Player Notes in the Draft (Oct 1)

It was the night of debuts and returns in the NHL on Tuesday, as a number of key players either made their debut or returned from injury in the games.  For the basis of this blog post, we'll worry about the players that were returning from injury, since they were the ones we were really concerned about.

Los Angeles saw the return of Drew Doughty, who suffered an upper-body injury in some off-ice training before camp started.  Doughty scored a goal in his debut for the Kings against the Sharks.

Philadelphia had seen the debut of Claude Giroux, who was also nursing an injury, which was supposed to keep him out an extra week, but he returned early for the game against the Rangers.  Also coming back from injury in this game was goaltender Ray Emery, who earned the win in his first full outing of the preseason.

Alex Steen recorded an assist in his return to the St. Louis Blues line-up on Tuesday night, as the Blues beat the Hurricanes, 3-1.

Finally, the return parade concludes with Winnipeg's Evander Kane, who had missed some time with an undisclosed injury.  Who knew when he was supposed to be back, but he came back in Winnipeg's win over the Senators.

Going down the list, this is all good news for the following pool teams, in respective order... Clayton, Troy, Dale C. and the two Grants, S. & K..  Getting healthy for the beginning of the season is paramount, but I shouldn't have to tell you that.