Noon Player Notes (Dec 29)

A 'playing catch-up' post today, so I will forego doing the big posts for the big news, it'll all just get globbed together here, starting with the absence of Carey Price from the Montreal Canadiens lineup this weekend. Price already missed Friday night's game against the Panthers and will also miss tonight's game in Tampa, as he stayed back in Montreal, nursing a lower-body injury. The Canadiens placed him on the Injured Reserve, retroactive to before the break, so when they return home, he will be eligible to return to the lineup.  It didn't sound too serious, but it did offer him a chance to be with his wife, while she gave birth this week.

This news may have ended Stacey M.'s shot at the goalie survivor game for a second straight year, as her team opens play on Saturday with only one more possible chance at a win, but if you caught the goalie post earlier, her team wasn't getting it.

The Anaheim Ducks had to finish Thursday night's game against the San Jose Sharks without their number one keeper, John Gibson, as he didn't come back to the crease after the 1st intermission, the team citing an upper-body injury. The keeper didn't practice on Friday and it has been all quiet on the Ducks' front on Saturday morning, no word of a starting goalie just yet or an update for the keeper, but we're keeping a close eye on it, for sure.  If it's anything more than a day-to-day issue, then we'll give it a good update.

This is the first of a couple injury notes for Kristy & Don and this could be a big blow, if they lose their number one keeper.  Their team currently sits in 4th, 7 points behind 3rd, and are likely keeping their fingers crossed for good news here.

The Bruins opted to place Charlie McAvoy on the IR this week, retroactive to before the break, as he is dealing with a lower-body issue. Since the placement is retroactive, he will be eligible to play at the Winter Classic next week, but they wanted to open up a roster spot for the games leading up to the outdoor showcase, just to make sure they remained competitive and were not giving away points in the standings. He's still considered day-to-day, somewhat.

It's nothing to really panic about for Brenda & Seward, other than the fact that he'll miss tonight's game in Buffalo as well.  If he's back next week, then all will be right again for the defender.

The Edmonton Oilers will be without forward Alex Chiasson for at least the next week, as the team placed him on the IR on Friday after he was struck in the knee with a shot and was forced from the game against the Canucks on Thursday night.  Chiasson had only played in a few shifts before getting hurt and now the team will be without his offense for at least the next three games, starting this afternoon against the San Jose Sharks.

A real tough break for Stacey C., who has been enjoying some good success with Chiasson, since he was activated from the Waiver Draft a few weeks ago.  In 11 games, the winger has 5 goals and 7 points and was certainly an upgrade in the right direction.

The Ottawa Senators took a huge blow against the Islanders on Friday night, not only losing the game 6-3, but they also lost their stud defender Thomas Chabot to an upper-body injury, after taking a hit from Long Island's Matt Martin.  Chabot was hurt in the 2nd period, didn't return to the game and on Saturday morning, the news came down that the team now expects him to miss the next three weeks with the upper-body injury, not providing any other details on the injury.

This is the second big blow to Kristy & Don's team, especially since Chabot is the 2nd-best player with 38 points in 38 games for the Senators.  His value has skyrocketed this season and he became one of the best bargain picks of the draft.  If the duo can stay in the money race with him being absent, I would be very surprised.

Philadelphia sophomore Nolan Patrick took a high hit against the Lightning on Thursday night, forcing him from the game and it sounds like it'll keep him off the ice for a few more days. Patrick didn't practice on Friday and the last update on the board suggests that he will miss the team's 3-game road trip that is starting tonight, which likely means a trip to the IR for him as well.  It hasn't been a great season for him, 11 points in 33 games, and now he's out for a bit, which compounds the issue.

Scott's luck hasn't been very good either this season and another injury on the board will probably aid in sinking his team to the bottom of the overall standings before too long.  His team just isn't producing and now an injury to top it all off.

The New York Islanders are holding Jordan Eberle out of their lineup tonight against the Maple Leafs, citing some stiffness in the body.  Eberle didn't practice or play on Friday and the team placed him on the IR, retroactive to last Friday, so he will be eligible to come off at any time.  There's not a great deal of detail on this injury, but it's certainly serious enough that he'll have missed both games this week and who knows?  Maybe there's more time to be missed as well.

Chelsea hasn't seen the returns that she was likely hoping for in selecting Eberle this year, 17 points in 35 games, which is probably a leading cause for her team being down in 21st at the start of play on Saturday.

The Tampa Bay Lightning announced this morning that forward J.T. Miller has been placed on the IR with an upper-body injury and is currently listed as out week-to-week, likely reevaluating him in a week's time.  Miller was also hurt in Thursday night's game against the Flyers, so both teams lost a player in the process, but there hasn't been much more to the injury note here either, other than a possible timetable of a weekly evaluation.

Miller has been decent for Troy's team this year, 26 points in 38 games, but has tailed off slightly of late.  Troy's team remains in the hunt for the money, sitting in 5th, 7 points back of the money, actually tied with Kristy & Don, but like the duo, are now running into injury concerns.

Finally, a groin issue has now sidelined Frederik Andersen, keeping him out of Friday night's game against the Columbus and then he'll also miss tonight's game at home to the Islanders.  He's considered to be day-to-day right now, since we haven't heard any sort of definitive update.  We'll certainly post more, if more comes down the pipe on this one.

No breaks can be caught for Derek B.'s team, but on the plus side, this isn't an injury to one of his treasured rookies.  His 23rd place team is all about the rookies now and with the way the other teams at the bottom of the table are going, 23rd might be a comfy spot for him.