Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Jan 17)

It doesn't seem like the Boston Bruins don't want defenseman Colin Miller to wear the Winter Classic gear on the ice, as he was a scratch on Saturday night, when they donned the new apparel for the game against the Maple Leafs. Miller has been a scratch on numerous occasions this season and was down in the minors for the outdoor game, but you can draw your own conclusions here. Miller is day-to-day in the press box, as the coach desires.

Miller has only been a marginally better Waiver Draft pick-up for Eric this season, having only picked up 4 points since his activation, which is only 2 points better than the drop, David Rundblad of the Blackhawks, who is currently in the minors.  Eric is still the leader for this week's Mover & Shaker though, so it's not all bad.

The lower-body injury that has been hampering Calgary Flames forward Jiri Hudler, was re-aggravated in the days before their Saturday night game against the Edmonton Oilers.  He was then made into a scratch, as the team now cites that he is out day-to-day with his groin problem and they will likely want to tread carefully with this injury, as it has already come back to bite them a couple of times this season.

Grant's team, heading into Sunday's action, ranks tied for 15th in the pool in skater games played, with 480 games to his team's credit, only 42 games back of the leader in the category.  His forwards rank 19th in scoring rates per game, which isn't great, but isn't quite the reason why his team is last in the pool at the moment.

On Saturday night, it was Mikhail Grigorenko's second straight game in the press box for the Colorado Avalanche, as they're still trying to find the lineup that gives them the most consistent effort all the way around.  A 2-1 loss to Columbus on Saturday night likely means there will be another shift in the make-up of the roster for their next game, which probably means Grigorenko will slot back in.

This is good news for Grant, the slotting back in, not the actual fact that he was scratched.  Grigorenko has been an abject failure since the Waiver Draft, down 6 points and to Blake Comeau, who he was dropped for at the player swap.  It may not have been the prime reason for Grant's fall, but it hasn't helped.

There appears to be a lower-body issue that is now plaguing Dallas defenseman Jordie Benn, as he has sat out for a few games in the last couple of weeks and had to leave Saturday night's game against the Sharks with the injury as well.  The Stars don't play again until Tuesday night in Los Angeles, so we likely won't hear too much about the injury until Monday, I would imagine and if nothing is said, he will be considered day-to-day, if he doesn't play against the Kings.

Waiver Draft picks are all the rage in this morning's post and Benn has only been marginally better than his drop for Ryan in the pool since the start of Week Ten, collecting 2 points and 2 PIM since then.  Ryan's blueline didn't really improve with Benn in the lineup, losing ground in the scoring rate department since the end of Week Nine.

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