Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Feb 27)

The Minnesota Wild have been running Devan Dubnyk ragged over the last stretch, so on Friday night, he was offered a maintenance night off. There was a scary moment in Thursday's game against the Flyers, where Dubnyk looked to hyperextend his leg to some degree, but he was able to finish the game. Of course, there is no mention of an injury, so we'll leave it as is. It afforded Darcy Kuemper a rare start and an even more rare back-up appearance for Niklas Backstrom.

It would be hard to classify this as a missed start for Derek W., who still could have used the start and a win, since his team is now currently in the running for the Basement Dweller nod in the Newsletter on Monday.

The Philadelphia Flyers are not expected to have Jakub Voracek in their lineup on Saturday afternoon, with the Arizona Coyotes in town.  Voracek is reportedly dealing with a lower-body injury and his impressive ironman streak of 286 games will come to an end.  The Flyers have been really hurting these days and this injury certainly doesn't help things.  On the plus side, Claude Giroux is a game-time decision with his upper-body injury that he's dealing with today.

Derek & Dan have the 8th ranked team in the third segment of the season, to this point, 13 points off the pace set by Brian.  Voracek has been pretty good for them over the last few weeks, so this will be a big hit to their chances of hitting the top half of the standings.

It was an early announcement on Friday, that Washington defenseman John Carlson wouldn't be suiting up for the team against the Wild, as he is dealing with a lower-body issue of his own.  The coaching staff has suggested that this is a lingering issue that has certainly hampered his production this year, limiting him to 6 goals and 31 points in only 47 games to date.  He currently ranks 193rd in pool scoring after Friday night.

Troy's team has continued to fall off the pace in the third segment, especially, dropping from 3rd place after Week Eleven to 17th place after Friday night.  Injuries have really made his team suffer and now the damage is irreparable.

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