Morning Player Notes (Nov 15)

Last night against the Avalanche, the Boston Bruins lost their captain Zdeno Chara to a lower-body injury, believed to be a knee injury, at the end of the 1st period and he wasn't able to return. There was no update on the condition of the big defender, but keeping him from being on the ice, likely means that it is a significant injury, as he has toughed his way through some pain in the past.  We'll have to wait for a full update from the team, before we make any wild assumptions.

Chara hasn't exactly been one of the more productive members of the Bruins offensively, but you certainly can't discount his defensive game.  In 18 games, he has 3 goals and 4 points, which makes him Benson's worst defenseman of the four on his team and a long-term injury could make it easy to drop him in the Waiver Draft, which is inching closer and closer everyday.

It was an exceptionally difficult night for the Washington Capitals, who had to make a move for their emergency goaltender, as Braden Holtby was a late scratch to an upper-body injury, currently listing him as day-to-day.  Holtby wasn't able to play against the high-flying Jets in Winnipeg and in that game, forward Evgeny Kuznetsov left with an upper-body injury of his own, not to return.  There are reports he was hit with contact up high around the chin, but there has been no mention of any real head injury, yet.  Both players will likely get further updates on Thursday.

There's no immediate need for panic, but both Stacey C. and Jeremy might be holding their breaths, as they wait for news on a couple of key players in the hockey pool.  Stacey's team is aiming for the top half of the standings this week, while Jeremy's side holds the equator spot in the standings, only 2 points better than Stacey's.  This could be big news for either side, one way or the other.