Afternoon Player Notes in the Draft (Nov 5)

A quick update was provided from the Kings camp today, as Anze Kopitar, who was the victim of a high hit in the team's last game against St. Louis, has deemed good to go for Thursday night's game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Very positive news for Stacey C., who's team has made some great strides in the standings in Week Five, climbing up from 20th to 17th, only two weeks out from finishing 25th.  His team currently holds the lead in weekly scoring and having Kopitar back in the fold means that he'll have a good shot at keeping up that pace.

The New York Rangers don't play on Thursday night, but an injury concern was brought up in practice today in Denver, as forward Rick Nash was said to have twisted his back in a shooting drill, as per the coaching staff.  He's currently day-to-day, but nothing more was disclosed about it.

The Rangers play the Avalanche on Friday night and at this point, Nash would have to be considered questionable, at best, which leaves Benson up in the air, as to what he can expect from the Rangers on Friday night.  His team sits in 20th spot and is in dire need of some offense.

It sounds like Jacob Markstrom is edging closer to a return to the Canucks lineup, as he has been sent down to the AHL for a conditioning stint, looking to get some game action before assuming the role as Ryan Miller's back-up this season.  Markstrom was hurt in the preseason, suffering a hamstring injury, which has cost him time, up until his return from the minors.

This is good news for Wes, who will have a couple of healthy goalies, finally, and Markstrom is expected to get a good chunk of ice-time, just so the Canucks don't burn out Miller during the year, saving him for the stretch run and potentially for the playoffs.

A couple of lineup notes from Arizona, before the Coyotes take on the Avalanche on Thursday night, as they expect forward Martin Hanzal to be back in the lineup and he'll be taking the spot of Antoine Vermette, who will reportedly sit out of this one.  We're not exactly sure what is keeping Vermette out of the lineup, but the coaches have made this point, so we can expect this come game time.

Stuart will get a body back, while Neil will lose a skater game to (a supposed) injury tonight.  Stuart currently sits 18 points back of Neil and as much as it is likely that he won't recoup all those points in one game, one game and a point or two can go a long ways to the process.

More good news dropped on Thursday afternoon, as the Edmonton Oilers, fresh off of losing their biggest star, will get one of their other injured stars back from the Injured Reserve, as Jordan Eberle appears to be ready to go and he'll make his debut on Friday night against the Philadelphia Flyers.  Eberle suffered a shoulder injury in the preseason and hasn't been able to go until tomorrow, but he was scheduled to only miss so much time and now he'll start making up for lost time.

Allan's 26th place team will certainly get a boost from the return of Eberle and being as though he's only missed a little over a month, the 9th round pick has some work to do.  Eberle was taken with the 220th overall pick and today, the 220th overall ranked player is Antti Raanta of the Rangers, who has 6 points.  It wouldn't take too long for Eberle to have a good return on his pick, if he can get hot right away.

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