Morning Player Notes (Nov 28)

The Arizona Coyotes are now getting deep into goalie trouble, as Antti Raanta's lower-body injury flared up again on Tuesday night against the Wild. The keeper didn't return to the ice for the 3rd period after allowing 3 goals on 20 shots and it is beginning to look like the Coyotes may have rushed him back a little too quickly.  With Darcy Kuemper already on the Injured Reserve with his lower-body injury for another couple days (or longer), the net will be left to Adin Hill and Hunter Miska.

It's hard to say whether or not the injury situation to Raanta is going to be enough for Brian to consider a Waiver Draft drop for Raanta, especially considering that some of the top goalie talent has been snapped up already in the opening round.  If the injury is deemed to be serious though, he'll at least have the bonus round to help him out with that.

Prior to Tuesday night's game against the San Jose Sharks, the Buffalo Sabres announced that defenseman Marco Scandella and forward Conor Sheary would be coming out of the lineup and would not play.  Scandella just returned from a lower-body injury on the weekend, but there was no actual mention of an injury here, so it could have been a healthy scratch, just to ease him back into regular game work.  Sheary, on the other hand, suffered an upper-body injury, tweaking something up top, at practice on Monday and was a game-time decision last night, the team opting to sit him.  Both are considered day-to-day.

Scandella belongs to Stacey C. this season and hasn't exactly been performing up to snuff lately and if this does shift into a lower-body injury, he would be then eligible for the bonus round after round two.  Sheary was a Waiver Draft pickup for Jeremy and would be eligible for a drop, if needed, since the injury occurred this week.  The injury doesn't sound too serious, but it's something worth keeping an eye on.

The three goalie system in Carolina continues to rotate around like a carousel, as Scott Darling was the odd-man out and Petr Mrazek was healthy enough to serve as Curtis McElhinney's backup on Tuesday night in Montreal.  The Hurricanes have been fortunate that their roster situation has allowed to keep all three goalies on their roster, as they fear that putting any one of them on the waiver wire to be sent down to the minors would indeed have them plucked off.  This appears like it will continue for a while now.

So, out of the three goalies, the starting goalie was the non-pool goalie, while Darling comes out of the lineup and takes a chance away from Ryan's team last night.  None of it really sounds ideal to stick around in Carolina, as limited starts are not going to help a hockey pool team, especially with three goalies sharing the load.  Ryan's team ranks 23rd in goalie minutes played, but 20th in goalie points.

The flu bug hit the Chicago Blackhawks room this week and a hockey pool casualty was defenseman Henri Jokiharju, who was really feeling under the weather on Monday and was questionable for Tuesday night's game against the Golden Knights, which turned into being unavailable to play and a scratch from the lineup.  He's considered day-to-day and with the way that the Blackhawks defense fell apart against Vegas, they'll want him back quickly.

A second body on the shelf for Brian's team in this post, but his team is still staying afloat this week with 7 points through the first two nights, well clear of the Basement Dweller nod this week.  Brian's team is scheduled to have the most potential games for the rest of the week, so maybe everything will be okay.

The Colorado Avalanche were without defenseman Tyson Barrie on Tuesday night in Nashville, as he was scratched from the lineup with a lower-body injury.  There wasn't a great deal of information regarding the injury, just a note that had said that the team didn't think it was anything long-term.  Barrie will be listed as out day-to-day for right now, which is a positive for the Avalanche, who have enjoyed his scoring rate of 20 points in 23 games this season.

Jesse's team has also enjoyed that scoring rate this year, undoubtedly making Barrie his best defenseman through eight weeks.  His defense group is tied for 12th in the pool for scoring with 38 points, but Barrie making far more progress than the other three.

It was a return to the press box for forward Ty Rattie, who hasn't lived up to the billing of his awesome preseason at all.  The new coaching staff in place in Edmonton wanted some of the blue chip younger talent to have the spots in the top six, which means that Rattie is now finding himself on the outside looking in.  I'm not sure if this means that this is going to be a constant for him, but it's a certain possibility.  Rattie has 2 goals and 4 points in 13 games, way down in the rankings.

For Brenda & Seward, this Waiver Draft isn't going to be enough for them, as the bodies that they have to move are not all injured and the bonus round was to cover injuries.  They could certainly part ways with a number of guys, including Rattie, to help get out of the pool's basement.  If the Rattie news could turn into injury news, that would be a huge help.

And finally, it was a return to the press box for Daniel Sprong in Pittsburgh as well on Tuesday night, as he just hasn't been able to fill any voids this season, like the team hoped he would.  Sprong has been a healthy scratch for most of November and when he draws back in, he hasn't been able to give the team anything.

Sprong will likely be among those players that Jesse will drop this week, having already dropped a player that has been in the minors for several weeks.  With 4 assists in 16 games, he should be strongly considering it anyways.