Player Notes in the Draft (Jan 4)

After dropping the ball a little bit on Saturday, we're back on Sunday to get some of those key news bytes in and sorted, just so you know who is in and/or out on your hockey pool team.  That's why you keep coming back, right?

On Friday night, Montreal forward PA Parenteau left the game against the Devils in the 2nd period with an undisclosed injury. That injury also forced him to miss Saturday night's game, away to Pittsburgh as well. In total, Parenteau did miss about four and a half periods, but it hasn't been made public as to why yet.  For now, Parenteau will be on the list as out day-to-day, but it would not surprise me to hear that some battery of tests found that Parenteau could be out longer.  It hasn't happened yet, but I'm just saying that I wouldn't be surprised to see that.

This season, Parenteau has 15 points in 38 games with his hometown team, shades below where some projections have him, including mine.

Allan has seen more than his fair share of bad luck this season and it had finally started catching up to him.  Since he got off to a blinding start earlier in the season, all of his bad luck has now forced him down to 21st place and the loss of Parenteau will only exacerbate the problem.

Speaking about undisclosed injuries, Toronto's Nazem Kadri didn't play in either Friday night's game against Minnesota or Saturday night's game in Winnipeg, as he's dealing with a lower-body injury.  The Maple Leafs are expecting the scoring forward to be out for about a week or so, but they have yet to put him on the Injured Reserve, which is likely good news, because it suggests that he could be back within that first week from the injury.

Kadri has been decent this year, picking up 11 goals and 13 assists in 38 games and as we close in on the halfway mark, he is about where I had him in my projections, maybe just a shade below.  This injury won't help him get much closer.

+Brian has Kadri in the pool this year and likely hasn't had the production that he would have liked this year, which has led to his 18th place standing.  Brian has hovered in the 17th-18th-19th spot all season long and hasn't seen much improvement since the first Waiver Draft either.


One of the bigger pool surprises was Kings defenseman Brayden McNabb, who quietly got off to a great start this season, but he has since found his way into the shuffle of the ins and outs of the line-up, thanks to some more inconsistent play.  McNabb has been a scratch in the last couple games for the Kings and it isn't quite clear when he is going to make it back in yet.

McNabb has played in 37 games for the Kings this season and has racked up 10 assists, now double what my initial projections were of him at the beginning of the season.  He was definitely one of those guys that earned his way into a regular job early on.  The Kings had a spot open and he took advantage.

The 23-year old defenseman was picked up in the Waiver Draft by Brian, who I had mentioned earlier in this post.  McNabb has picked up 1 assist since the Waiver Draft and has helped Brian to a +7 since the switch, which ranks tied for 9th in the category.

A mysterious lower-body injury has James Neal on the shelf again for the Nashville Predators and it forced him to miss out on Saturday afternoon's game against the Kings and we are still awaiting word on whether or not it will cost him Sunday evening's game against the Ducks, as the Preds roll through California.  Neal is currently listed as out day-to-day,

Neal had some high expectations to live up to in Nashville, upon his arrival from Pittsburgh in the off-season.  So far, with only 23 points in 35 games, he hasn't quite lived up to projections, although they weren't exactly the highest, as it were.

Now is not the time for players to go down for Dale C., who is in the midst of the race for 3rd place and it has become ridiculously packed in the top 10.  Dale has dropped down to 8th place, now 14 points out of 3rd, but only 6 points back of 4th.  A big Sunday could vault him back up, but it is tight and busy!

A huge scare this weekend for the Philadelphia Flyers, as their captain, Claude Giroux, fell to a leg laceration from a skate blade on Friday night in Carolina.  Thanks to some of those new and improved socks on the market, the injury wasn't nearly as bad as some of the injuries we've seen in the past and the team says that Giroux won't be out for very long at all.  However, Giroux did miss Saturday night's game against the Devils, but remains probable for Tuesday night's game against the Senators.

Giroux has been good again for the Flyers this year, which is why this injury is a huge concern for the team.  He is scoring at over a point per game, 43 points in 38 games this season, which was about where I had him pegged in my projections this year.  I didn't quite see Jakub Voracek being better than him though...

One of the teams that really joined the fray this week, belonging to Troy, did miss out on a game played for Giroux, which has generally meant at least a point.  Troy sits in 5th, 8 points back of 3rd place and just missing out on the tie-breaker for 4th.  He's in the mix and needs Giroux to play to stay there.

In recent games, the Vancouver Canucks hadn't been seeing the type of offense that they were getting earlier on in the year and that meant that a shuffle needed to happen in the line-up.  Rookie Linden Vey was on the short end of the stick, with Zack Kassian returning from injury, as Vey was a healthy scratch for the game against the Red Wings.  The Canucks came up as 4-1 winners against Detroit, which likely means that the line-up won't change for the next game, Tuesday, home to the Islanders.

In 34 games this season, Vey has 6 goals and 8 assists and is just ahead of my projections, come the halfway point of the season.  If he remains a healthy scratch, however, he could fall behind just as quickly.

Clayton has another one of those teams that have fallen in the race for 3rd place in the last week, as his team dropped down to 7th before Sunday's games.  His team is now 12 points out of 3rd place and 4 points back of 4th and he'll need some help to climb back up and into the race.

How about a quick goalie update, as we draw closer to the early action on Sunday...

Mover & Shaker candidate Benson has both of his goalies projected to play, but there is a firm likelihood that only one of them will go, especially since Dallas played the night before.  I don't expect Kari Lehtonen to go, but Semyon Varlamov should play when the Avs take on the Jackets.

Kristy & Don, our pool leaders, appear to have both of their goalies projected to play... head-to-head.  Pekka Rinne and the Predators are in Anaheim to take on Frederik Andersen and the Ducks.

Waiver Draft pick-up Robin Lehner will start for the Senators today, facing a former teammate in Ben Bishop, as the Sens and Bolts go in the evening.

Finally, it looks like Anton Khudobin, who was dropped for Lehner in Week Nine, will take a start away from the pool, as he goes for Carolina against the Bruins, which starts only minutes after this post gets published.  Khudobin will be taking on Tuukka Rask, for those asking.

Otherwise, it should be business as usual for the rest of the games today, all the regular starters appear to be going, I have just found the more notable points to make.

An updated list of injuries can be found here.