Morning Player Notes (Dec 18)

The Columbus Blue Jackets were without forward Artemi Panarin on Monday night against the Golden Knights and they were thankful for the fact that they didn't need a whole lot of offense, winning a 1-0 decision on the night. Panarin is said to be dealing with a lower-body injury and that he is day-to-day at the moment, but there were no other details released.  The Russian winger has good for the Jackets this season, posting 34 points in 31 games, thus far, and he does leave a hole on the team's top line, which is hard to fill.  There's no sign of any long-term concern, so we'll hold off on the panic at the moment.

Benson's team was one of eight teams that were bageled on Monday night, but with only five games on the schedule, that shouldn't come as a big surprise.  His team is in a cushioned spot at the moment, sitting in 20th, 17 points behind 19th and 9 points up on 21st.  He might not be changing spots any time soon.

On Tuesday morning, the Ottawa Senators announced that they had sent back rookie forward Drake Batherson to the AHL after a pretty good stint with the team.  Batherson's production fell off in the last couple of weeks and with some bodies coming back from injury, the kid didn't exactly make a case for himself to stay up and play.  One would have to think that he would be the first body back up, if anything else were to happen injury-wise this season.

Disappointing news for Clayton's team, which only got his first point for his hockey pool team since activating him from the Waiver Draft.  Clayton's team still has a comfortable lead in the rookie pool, but Derek B. is coming after his side, so it could be a good race now.