Afternoon Player Notes in the Draft (Apr 6)

The Chicago Blackhawks are going to nurse Marian Hossa into the playoffs, as his season has been very up-and-down with injury and his season has been limited to 64 games, where he has scored 13 goals and 33 points, having quite the down year in the scoring department.  The 37-year old Slovak will be touch-and-go through the rest of the week.

For Derek & Dan, they were not relying too much on Hossa for their PIM totals this year, but I'm sure they would have liked to have had a few more points under their belt this year.  Their team is now 18th, 6 points back of 17th and only 2 points up on 19th.

There is a solid feeling that if the Minnesota Wild are heading into the playoffs, like we know they are, they are going to run with as many veterans as possible. Matt Dumba's scratch on Tuesday night is a good indicator of that, as well as the Wild sending down Mike Reilly with a limited schedule left in the week.  Dumba is day-to-day as a scratch and they only have one game left, Saturday night.

Ryan's run for 3rd place is being met with lots of opposition this week, as his team has picked up 8 points and is only better than one team between 3rd and his team's 7th place position.  The gap is now 18 points and is growing less and less likely that it will close.

21-year old Joseph Blandisi had quickly turned into a staple in the New Jersey Devils' lineup in the second half of the season, but as the season winds down and the Devils falling out of playoff contention, the team had decided to give the young forward the night off, making him into a healthy scratch on Tuesday against the Sabres. There is no word on what his availability will be for the last two games though.

Despite Troy's really unlucky season, Blandisi was a bright spot on his season, becoming one of the better Waiver Draft picks this season.  Especially for a guy, who came out of nowhere to be added in the pool, so good on him.

You could accuse the New York Islanders of throwing their youth against the wall to see what sticks, as they needed one win to clinch the playoffs, playing against the President's Trophy winners from Washington. Still, the Isles played their number four goalie, dressed a couple more call-ups and pulled a guy like Marek Zidlicky out of the lineup, as a healthy scratch.  The plan worked, the Islanders won in overtime, clinching their spot in the Spring Dance.  Now, how will the team move forward?

For Benson, his team is among those in line for the Basement Dweller through a couple nights of action.  His team has also dropped down to 25th overall, but that's about as far down as its going to go.  As of Wednesday afternoon, his team only trails 23rd by 3 points, for the most improvement his team could see by the end of the week.

It was a bit of a roster clusterfuck for both teams, as the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning, both already have spots in the playoffs, now try to play out the season, with as much health as possible.  Coming out of the Rangers lineup on Tuesday night were Kevin Hayes (healthy scratch) and Dan Boyle (healthy scratch), one for consistency and the other for some rest before the playoffs.  I'm sure you can figure out, which one is which.

Clayton misses out on a game, as Mike's New York rookie gets drawn back in, while Scott's team does miss out on another game, but all hope is lost for his team to find the money spots.

On the Tampa Bay side, defenseman Victor Hedman and forward Ryan Callahan were taken out of the lineup, as "injury" may give these two some added rest before the playoffs.  Hedman reportedly dealing with an upper-body injury, while Callahan is dealing with a lower-body injury, both are day-to-day and questionable for the rest of the week.  The Lightning need only one win to capture home-ice in the opening round of the playoffs, since the division title is now out of reach.

This was much bigger news on the Hedman side, as he belongs to Kristy & Don, who are now running out of time to see their team lift into a money spot this year.  They go into Wednesday night, 9 points back and down 2 points in the weekly race.  On the Callahan side, Stacey C. is one of those teams directly above Benson, down near the bottom.  His team can't finish lower than 25th as well and can't do any better than 23rd.

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