Afternoon Player Notes in the Draft (Nov 18)

Another busy day in the office today delayed the notes from this morning, but we'll get what we've collected out there now.

An undisclosed injury, believed to be related to a hard hit he took on the weekend, has kept Buffalo Sabres forward Zemgus Girgensons out of the lineup on Tuesday night, missing out on the match-up against the Dallas Stars.  The coaching staff wouldn't specify what the injury actually was, but they said that his absence was definitely more than a maintenance day, so we'll take it for what it is.  He's on the list as out day-to-day for right now and we'll update it, if it becomes something more.

Scott's team has been doing quite well this week, picking up 9 points through the first couple nights of the week, but staying pat in 10th place.  His team in only 10 points out of 3rd, but the teams ahead of his are also running pretty well, so he'll need Girgensons back and scoring before too long.

Los Angeles defenseman Christian Ehrhoff hasn't had quite the impact that he has had in years previous and maybe a year or two in Buffalo on a horrible team will do that to a player.  Ehrhoff was a healthy scratch again for the Kings on Tuesday night, as they were in Philadelphia to take on the Flyers.  There's no word on whether or not he'll dress in the team's next game, Friday night in Detroit.

Stuart is one of the two teams leading the pool in Week Seven scoring, now with 11 points, so his team is doing well, despite the lack of Ehrhoff in his lineup.  His team has moved up from 12th to 9th with the good start, something he'll hope continues to get to the money and win some side bets.

Scary moment between the Penguins and Wild, as Pittsburgh defenseman Olli Maatta spent the night in hospital after being pushed from behind, into the boards at the Wild bench, while the door to the bench was left open. Maatta suffered an upper-body injury, but besides that, there wasn't a great deal of detail offered on the injury, nor have they offered much about how much time they expect the young defenseman to miss.  There are likely some more tests that need to be done, but I wouldn't be expecting much for miracles.

In other less troubling news from the Penguins, it looks like Nick Bonino was a scratch for that game against the Wild, likely due to a lack of offensive production.  With only 4 points in 17 games, it makes its own argument for the scratch, without a doubt.

Dale C. has the most concern from this new bit of Pittsburgh news, while Kristy & Don see another scratch from their lineup, which is really inconveniencing their chances.  We'll probably have a more comprehensive report about Maatta for Dale, before too long, but Bonino should be back in the lineup soon, just being a healthy scratch, in need of a boot in the butt.

In two separate instances in last night's game against the Blue Jackets, St. Louis forward Jori Lehtera found a couple of high sticks to the face, the second one forcing him from the game early.  It sounds like the second one could have been a lot more damaging, as he also had to spend some time in the hospital for observation.  There still hasn't been a whole lot published about what kind of injury he had actually suffered, but we'll try and find something for another blog post later.

Two players on the blog this morning that ended up in hospital for Dale C..  That's exceptionally unlucky and could be very damaging.  Dale's team finished the night in 16th place, 19 points out of the money, so I believe we can expect that gap to widen, if his team is going to miss out on skater games.

The Tampa Bay infirmary is acting more like a block of condos, as forward Ryan Callahan moved in after missing practice on Wednesday morning, due to a lower-body injury. He, much like the other injured Lightning players, is on the list as out day-to-day, so they stay with their cards close to their vest.  There is currently no expectation for a return to the ice, so we'll just play wait-and-see with another pool player.

Stacey C.'s team just can't stay away from the blog or the news page, can it?  Today, we find his team leading the way for the Basement Dweller, with only two points through the first couple nights of the week, sitting in 17th place.  His team needs to bounce back sooner, rather than later.

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