More Player Notes in the Draft (Apr 9)

The Minnesota Wild are taking absolutely no chances, heading into the playoffs, as their spot is clinched and they want to be healthy for opening night of the Spring Dance.  Forwards Zach Parise, Thomas Vanek and Nino Niederreiter are all expected to be healthy scratches on Thursday night, as the Wild are in Nashville to take on the Predators.  Now that the Wild have clinched, they will also finally give a break to goaltender Devan Dubnyk on Thursday night, as it is expected that Darcy Kuemper finally gets a start

Out of the four players sitting out, only one has any race value, as of Thursday afternoon, as Thomas Vanek belongs to Wyllie and he'll compound the issues he'll have of trying to get away from the Olli.  Parise is another issue for Grant K. to work through, as he tries to stay out of the Basement Dweller and Stuart has Niederreiter, who is 7 points out of the top 10.  Dubnyk was the wonder pick of Brian's who is 5 points up on Stuart, in 11th place.

Only three nights left and Thursday is a busy one! 11 games on tap tonight and a lot of them have playoff implications. Of course, the draft, it doesn't care about the playoffs... so we won't worry about that right now. The Playoff Pool can handle all those needs, after the regular season has finished.

The 3rd place race looks as follows... Wes still has the spot, now 7 points up on Clayton, 8 points up on Benson and now 12 points up on Scott.  Four teams, three nights... it's a healthy mix.

Looks like Wes will likely get both of his goalies in action tonight, as Carey Price has been confirmed for the Habs against the Red Wings, while it is likely that Mike Smith goes for the Coyotes against the Canucks in the late game.  Clayton gets no help, as St. Louis opts for Jake Allen and the Penguins don't go again until Friday night.  Benson also gets shafted by Colorado, as they will start Reto Berra tonight and Dallas played the night before and won't play again until Saturday.  Scott will indeed have Ben Bishop in the Tampa net for their game against the Devils, while Petr Mrazek will be on the bench to start for the Red Wings.

I don't think we're set with the Olli yet either, as Wyllie has worked some points back in his favour, but he has some gap space to close yet.  He didn't get any help in a rare Martin Jones start, a couple of nights ago, so that was his last chance to shine, while the Islanders don't play again until tomorrow and even then, it's unlikely that Michal Neuvirth gets a start in this playoff push.  Allan has two non-playoff goalies, one will start and the other will sit, as he will get a start from Antti Niemi for San Jose in Edmonton.  Ryan, still 9 points clear, still won't get any help from his goalies.  One is still injured and the other may get one more chance, but that might not be until Saturday.

An updated list of injuries can be found here.