Afternoon Player Notes (Dec 10)

The Florida Panthers announced that forward Nick Bjugstad will not be on the team's current road trip, which starts tomorrow night in St. Louis, but it's only a 2-game trip, which sees them return on Saturday, when they host the Maple Leafs.  Bjugstad is dealing with an upper-body injury, which he suffered last week.  He managed to play a game in the middle of the week after the injury, but didn't play over the weekend and has now been ruled out for a couple more games.  They'll likely reevaluate him on their return.

The bad news continues to roll in for Brian's team, which hasn't had much luck of late.  His 10th place team is hoping that the healthy bodies that it does have can at least hold the fort for a little while and keep his team competitive.  This could be a tough stretch.

The Los Angeles Kings are also hitting the road this week, starting tonight Detroit, tomorrow in Buffalo, Thursday in Columbus, Saturday in Pittsburgh and back home next week.  It sounds like defenseman Alec Martinez will not be on this trip either, citing an upper-body injury, not concussion related, and the team has recalled Sean Walker to take his place, unsure if Martinez will be placed on the IR or not, but seems likely for the roster spot.  The Kings are in a tough spot in the standings and a road trip without one of your minute-eating defenders will be tough.

Wilton has seen 11 points out of 30 games from Martinez this season, which is somewhat underwhelming, just like the rest of his blueline, which ranks tied for 20th in scoring in the pool with 41 points.  Wilton's team has been climbing after an ice-cold five weeks, which saw his team drop down to 22nd, but now sits 13th.  This isn't a catastrophic injury, but it doesn't help.