Morning Player Notes (Nov 2)

It has been suggested that a rough night in Vancouver was the leading cause for Nick Schmaltz getting a look at the game from the press box on Thursday night.  The Blackhawks forward reportedly didn't have the best of nights and with Patrick Kane recovering from his flu bug, the team made the swap, instead of taking out one of their depth forwards to make room.  Schmaltz has 7 points in 13 games, which isn't terrible, but obviously, the coaching staff felt he needed a swift kick in the pants to improve.

Ryan's team has yet to improve into the top 20 this season and not having Schmaltz play at his best is certainly one of the reasons that his team is down that low.  With 10 points through Thursday night's action, Ryan's team is struggling to really find a firm grasp on the scoresheet this week and early on this season.

It looks like the shuffle of young players is continuing in Edmonton, with Jesse Puljujarvi finally getting back into the lineup, but rookie Kailer Yamamoto comes out to open up a spot for him on Thursday night with Chicago in town.  Neither young player has been overly impressive since the puck dropped on the regular season, Yamamoto has a goal and an assist, while Puljujarvi has a single goal to his name, thus far.  Both players appear to be locked in for the season now, but if neither can get their game going, the whispers will certainly become chatter out there.

Stacey C. saw his player get the pass to the press box, while Chelsea finally saw her player draw back into the lineup.  There hasn't been a lot of promise for either of them, points-wise, and they'll probably start getting consideration for the Waiver Draft.

Nashville Predators forward Viktor Arvidsson was a bit of a surprise scratch on Thursday night, but the team announced it was because of a lower-body injury.  There was no word on when he suffered the injury or how bad it is exactly, they have just listed him as out day-to-day for right now and that's all we'll really know.  The Predators didn't miss his 12 points in 12 games against Tampa, remarkably, posting a 4-1 on the road in a tough building to play in.

Neil's 7th place team certainly missed those possible points, as he has seen his team drop like a stone out of the money this week and not having Arvidsson to boost his squad's numbers didn't help.  His team has only posted 8 points this week and is only 3 points clear of the Basement Dweller.

The Philadelphia Flyers made a couple of hockey pool-related healthy scratches for their game on Thursday night in Los Angeles, the most notable perhaps was defenseman Andrew MacDonald, scratched already for his sixth game this season, while making $5 million this season and next season as well. In six games played, the 32-year old only has 1 assist.

The other scratch of the night was goaltender Michal Neuvirth, who has yet to make an appearance in net for the Flyers, but with the team carrying three goalies at the moment, someone is going to sit and for last night's game, it was the oft-injured 30-year old.

Tony is currently carrying MacDonald and Grant has Neuvirth this season, both likely to get moved at the Waiver Draft, Grant's team is less of a panic, perhaps, since he is currently holding the Mover & Shaker spot for this week.