Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Mar 26)

It seemed a tad out of the blue to see a report about Olli Maatta now out of the Penguins' lineup again for an extended period of time. Maatta was hurt again this year, now likely going to be enshrined in the Injury Prone List this Summer, this time he's week-to-week with a lower-body injury. There are no real details about this injury, but with only two weeks to go and this timetable, it sounds like his regular season is over.

This would normally get its own post, but now that we're trailing off at the end of the year, those posts will be set aside for big money race stories. Clayton is not in the money race, so his team doesn't get those kind of posts. Heading into Saturday's action, Clayton's team is among the leaders for the Basement Dweller, with only 5 points in the week, but Maatta hasn't really been contributing since the Waiver Draft, picking up only 5 points in 22 games.

Once revered as an NHL ironman, Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester has found his way to the blog page a couple more times in trying circumstances.  This time, Bouwmeester missed out on Friday night's game against the Canucks with an upper-body injury and is also believed to be missing one more game, tonight's game in Washington against the Capitals.  Bouwmeester is listed as out day-to-day for the time being and we'll see if any more comes of it on Monday.

Allan's team has been having a good week, despite some injury problems, picking up 16 points and moved into 13th place into the standings.  There isn't a whole lot his team has left to do these days, especially since it already won the goalie survivor pool.

It was an ugly fall in a net front battle, which caused Anton Stralman's season to conclude prematurely, as the veteran defender has suffered a broken leg and will be out indefinitely for the Lightning.  A non-displaced fracture of his fibula is the official word from the team, who are hopeful that they can still make a long playoff run this Spring and that Stralman can come back and help them in the late stages of the playoffs.  No guarantees though.

For Derek & Dan, their biggest concern right now is holding off Wes' injury-riddled team from the PIM pool title and they have a safe, 58-minute lead.  Stralman wasn't the most penalized guy, only picking up 20 PIM for their side, so this isn't a huge blow to their defense.

It sounds like that nasty flu bug got the best of T.J. Oshie before the Caps' game against the Devils on Friday night, keeping the scoring forward out of that one.  The Capitals have already clinched top spot in the Eastern Conference and are well on their way for the President's Trophy, so this isn't really huge news for their side, as he gets an extra day or two worth of rest.  I don't think there will be any need to rush him back, since they are also playing St. Louis tonight at home.  Oshie is considered day-to-day for right now.

Oshie was a decent pick-up for Allan this year, 44 points in 72 games this season, but maybe not quite the offensive dynamo one would have thought, getting moved to a high-powered offense that includes Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom.  Allan took Oshie in the 5th round and has been getting 5th round production out of him, so it is an even money pick.

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