Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Dec 3)

With the return of Nate Thompson to the Anaheim Ducks lineup on Wednesday night, one player had to come out of the lineup and that was forward Patrick Maroon, who has yet to really provide a spark in the lineup this season. In 24 games this season, Maroon has 1 goal and 4 points, plus 20 PIM, which isn't quite good enough for this club, which has struggled to find some consistency.

Dale B. has thought roughly the same thing about Maroon, making him into his 1st round drop in the Waiver Draft, opting for David Jones of the Flames to take his spot.  This should definitely be an offensive upgrade, starting next week.

A lower-body injury was what forced Benoit Pouliot from the Edmonton Oilers lineup on Wednesday night, as they hosted the Bruins for a mid-week clash.  Pouliot hasn't quite been the same, since his centre, Connor McDavid, went down with his collarbone injury, but he has still been able to provide some quality minutes for the Oilers.  To date, he has 5 goals and 12 points in 24 games, but there is no indication about how much time his lower-body injury would cost him.

Mike currently holds the 25th position in the standings, but is only 3 points out of 20th, so there is some wiggle room to move, especially if Pouliot can get healthy right away.  Mike has made a couple moves with his forwards already in the Waiver Draft, so he hopes he'll get more of a scoring punch before too long.

Finally, the Colorado Avalanche announced on Wednesday night that Alex Tanguay has been taken off the Injured Reserve, which means he should be good to return to the lineup, Thursday night in the Big Apple against the Rangers.  Tanguay had 6 points in 14 games before his knee injury, so the Avalanche will certainly hope for a little bit more production to lift them over the hump.

Grant did a good job not dropping Tanguay too soon, as he is now expected back, so his team can battle their way out of the bottom two teams, which seems to be more of a daunting task than not here.  Grant goes into Thursday night, 14 points back of 25th place.

Click here for the updated injury/news page on the website