Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Nov 18)

Not much for details on the lower-body injury that Tobias Rieder is dealing with, but he did miss Thursday night's contest in Vancouver and the Coyotes currently have him listed as out day-to-day.  That's about all we know.  The Coyotes are back home on Saturday night, playing host to the Sharks and I would imagine he would be questionable to play, as of this morning.

Mike missed out on a key skater game, at this point in the season, as his team is stuck in a group, where eight teams are separated by 1 point.  A couple points could move him from 13th to 7th in a blink of an eye... you know, if it was that easy.

The Boston Bruins are keeping their cards close to their chest on the injury to forward David Pastrnak.  The Czech forward was held out of Thursday night's contest against the Wild and they certainly needed his offense, as they dropped that game, 1-0 in Minnesota.  He's currently listed as out day-to-day and his availability for Saturday's game, at home to Winnipeg, is still up in the air.

Ryan's pool team is only 2 points out of that group that Mike was mentioned to be in and a solid 4 points would bump him from 15th to 7th, so it remains very tight.  Pastrnak has been great this season, picking up 14 points in 14 games, so his absence was certainly felt last night.

There was no indication that Florida Panthers forward Jussi Jokinen was dealing with any sort of injury, but only 3 assists in seven games could suggest that he could have been scratched for his play or maybe he is dealing with some soreness from a previous injury.  He's also considered day-to-day for the time being.

This has been a tough one for Cam, as there hasn't been a lot of production here, thanks to the injury problems that Jokinen has had.  His team is on the plus side of the large group, standing 3 points up on the group in 6th place and 12 points back of 3rd.  He could really use Jokinen back in active duty.

A few different updates from the Ottawa Senators... first, the Senators are currently holding onto three goalies on their roster, so they were able to give Craig Anderson a complete night off, since he wasn't scheduled to start, which let Andrew Hammond sit on the bench behind Mike Condon.  The word is that the Sens are trying to move a goalie, so we'll see what happens there, but Anderson should be back in for his next start.

Mike Hoffman was kept out of the game against the Nashville Predators, due to an undisclosed injury, but he is only listed as out day-to-day and it is the belief that the injury isn't considered serious and he should be back before too long.

And finally, the Senators lost a little bit more offense on Thursday night against the Predators, as Bobby Ryan left the game with an apparent wrist injury, but officially, the team is calling it an upper-body injury.  As of Friday morning, there still hasn't been much of an update, so we'll wait and see.  The Senators play again on Saturday night, with the Florida Panthers in town.

Anderson's scratch isn't anything to be worried about for Wilton, Hammond not getting starts is still a concern for Clayton, while the Hoffman injury isn't helping Derek B. and I think Wes should be really concerned about Ryan's injury, as the rash of major injuries to top scorers may have extended to Ottawa.

There is also a couple of injury notes from the Pittsburgh Penguins, one more significant than the other.  The Pens are saying that Patric Hornqvist is day-to-day with a concussion, which may suggest that they expect him to pass his baseline tests, once the NHL protocol of seven days is over.  If he returns any sooner, one would have to wonder about the Penguins' process in this matter.

Also on the verge of missing some time is forward Chris Kunitz, who is now listed as out day-to-day with a lower-body injury.  The Penguins don't really like to elaborate on the injuries, so we'll just expect this to be a shorter-term injury and see what happens.

Hornqvist's injury is the second one for Derek B. on this post, this one maybe a bit more considerable than the Hoffman injury.  His team is down in 21st, 29 points out of the money.  If his guys can get healthy and a couple good Waiver Draft picks and he could be back in it.  Kunitz is also the second injury for Cam on this post, but if it is a short-term injury, it's only going to be a slight hindrance.

There is a concern for the status of Alexander Steen, as he had reportedly left the game on Tuesday night against Buffalo with what could be believed to be an upper-body injury after his head took a hit and never returned.  Steen had skated in practice and in the morning skate, but didn't come out for the pregame warm-up on Thursday night for their game against the Sharks.  Somehow, I think we've seen this before with Steen, but we'll wait to see if there is any more official word on his status, but I wouldn't hold your breath.  St. Louis hosts Nashville on Saturday for their next game.

The reigning champ isn't defending his title too well to start the season, but he was a benefactor or Wes' dump at the Waiver Draft last year and might be looking to get that lucky again.  He will open Friday night in 18th place, 38 points out of 1st.