Afternoon Player Notes in the Draft (Oct 14)

The Los Angeles Kings will get a boost tonight, when defenseman Alec Martinez returns to the lineup after missing over a week with a lower-body injury. Martinez was activated from the IR this morning and in doing so, the Kings sent down defenseman Paul LaDue to the AHL, making the necessary room.

This is also good news for Scott B., who currently leads the weekly scoring after a huge night on Friday, now sitting with 27 points on the week and his team jumping up from 24th to 8th.  The Kings play both Saturday and Sunday and it would be expected that Martinez would play both, giving a bit of a lift to a Kings team that is already moving along at a good click.

The exile is over... for now! Vadim Shipachyov has been recalled by the Golden Knights on Saturday and he will be expected to be dressed and in the lineup for Sunday's game, at home to Boston.  The Golden Knights had a roster spot open up, when non-pool forward Erik Haula went down with an injury, meaning they could have their KHL import back on the roster and preparing to make his NHL debut.

Shipachyov is waiver exempt this season and in order to keep all their cards close to their chest this year, Vegas management made the tough decision to send the veteran Russian down to the minors to start the season, before they could open up a spot for him either through trade or injury.  Of course, it had to be the latter.

Stacey M. didn't miss too many games with her prized Russian in the minors, but her team could sure use the lift, as they sit in 23rd, now 12 points back of 3rd place.