Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Feb 17)

The day for the Boston Bruins started with the activation of defenseman Adam McQuaid from the Injured Reserve, which meant that someone had to go down to the minors to make room.  Unfortunately for Colin Miller, he drew the short straw with the coaching staff, being a semi-regular healthy scratch on the blueline for the team.  Miller will likely be down until someone else goes down now, since they are relatively healthy on the back end.

Speaking of healthy scratches, how about Bruins rough & tumble forward Zac Rinaldo, who found his way back up to the press box for the game against the Blue Jackets on Tuesday night?  Rinaldo was deemed necessary for a Jackets team that doesn't exactly push back too hard in the physical sense.

Well, it's far more serious for Eric, who has now lost a player for an indefinite period of time, thanks to the Bruins depth, while Wes misses out on a game from one of his hired goons.  Sure, Wes' lead in the PIM race has dwindled down to 13 minutes, but Eric is looking at more money at stake, 19 points out of 3rd place.

Despite a fresh start in Edmonton, it looks like Zack Kassian is falling back into the same routine, only giving it his all in a game once and a while and that has caused his new coaches to send him back up to the press box on Tuesday night, missing out on the game against the Anaheim Ducks, arguably a game where he could have added some physical presence to their lineup.  Nevertheless, it looks like the honeymoon is over there and it will be a question about how much playing time he'll see, once he's already found his way into the doghouse here.

Derek & Dan are chasing down Wes in the PIM pool and doing a good job of it as well, as we are now well into the third segment of the season.  Kassian was employed to help that chase, but he hasn't really paid off, quite yet.  Nevertheless, it's going the right way for the pool's third duo.

A quiet stretch of games has earned Tampa Bay forward Vladislav Namestnikov a trip up to the press box to be a healthy scratch on Tuesday night.  The 23-year old Russian hasn't seen a point in four games before the game against the Sharks, but his scratch didn't exactly help the team's cause, as they lost to the visiting Sharks, 4-2, in the end.  I would imagine that he'll draw back in for the team's next game, Thursday night, at home to Winnipeg.

A one game absence for Benson's Week Nine Waiver Draft pick-up isn't a really big deal, as it doesn't have much more meaning than his overall finish, which will still likely be in the bottom half of the standings.  The only goal he appears left is to beat John S. in his own personal rivalry at the moment.  For that, he'll still need 13 points to catch him.

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