Sunday, December 28, 2014

Player Notes in the Draft (Dec 28)

Sounds like a wrist injury may sideline Wild forward Mikael Granlund for a period of time, as he left Saturday night's game against the Jets after taking a hit from Dustin Byfuglien.  The initial word from the Minnesota coaching staff is that Granlund will be out indefinitely with his injury, not exactly confirming that the injury is to his wrist, nor confirming a concrete timeline for his return.  The Wild are in Winnipeg on Monday for the return game of a home and home series and I would expect Granlund to stay back for more tests, determining when he is back.

This injury is definitely going to sting Stuart, especially if it is for the long-term.  Stuart's team has already dropped from 10th to 12th this week and possibly losing out on one of his forwards may see an even greater drop before too long.  His team is only 3 points up on 13th and 7 points up on 14th and didn't exactly perform too well in the shortened week.

It has been another tough season for Penguins defenseman Kristopher Letang, as the injury-prone blueliner has felt some more lumps this season, taking another big one against the Capitals on Saturday, injuring his right leg.  Letang was on the wrong end of an Alex Ovechkin hit and then an Ovechkin shot, late on in the 3rd period, to which he left the game, likely more as a precautionary measure.  We'll likely hear more on Monday about the severity of the injury.

By no means is this a crushing blow to Kristy & Don at this point in the season, they are still cruising right along, without a care in the world at the moment.  It does happen to suck for them, as one of their players takes out the other, something we have already seen in the pool once to another team.

Only two games on the NHL docket for this Sunday, so the goalie post becomes really easy.

Toronto @ Florida... it looks like it will be Jonathan Bernier against Roberto Luongo, as it likely should be, especially since both teams didn't play on Saturday night.  This would mean a Troy vs. Stuart match-up in the pool, as Stuart sits 9 points back of his goaltending match-up.  If James Reimer got the start, both of Stuart's goalies would have gone head-to-head.  Now, he only has a 50% chance of the 2 points.

Vancouver @ Anaheim... we should be seeing Ryan Miller in net for the Canucks and even though that the Ducks played on Saturday night, it sounds like Frederik Andersen will still make back-to-back starts.  It may not be confirmed for a bit yet, but if this is indeed the case, it would be a match-up of the top two teams in the pool, vying for goalie points.  Kristy & Don increased their lead to 36 points and could put 2 more points on it with a Ducks win.

An updated list of injuries can be found here.

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