Morning Player Notes (Jan 8)

The Montreal Canadiens' blueline suffered a big blow on Monday night, when a Mikael Granlund shot went up and caught Shea Weber in the face in the 1st period of last night's game against the Wild.  Weber stayed on the bench after the incident, but didn't return for the 2nd period or the rest of the game.  After the game, the coaching staff said that Weber would accompany the team on the road, but wouldn't say one way or the other, if he'd play right away, likely going through all the necessary testing before getting the green light.

Weber has been solid for Clayton's team since picking him up in the Waiver Draft, netting 9 points in 16 games since being activated, rounding out a decent defense that ranks 8th in the pool with 80 points this season.  Since Weber's arrival, this blueline ranks 4th in the pool with 39 points.

St. Louis Blues forward Alex Steen left last night's game against the Philadelphia Flyers after taking a hard hit from Radko Gudas and some reports suggest that it could be a shoulder injury, but the Blues have yet to confirm.  Steen left the game and didn't return and we're still waiting on an update on his condition.  The Blues turn around right away and play the Stars on Tuesday night and it sounds rather doubtful that he'll be able to go for that game.

This doesn't sound like good news for Stacey C. and his team, which has been making some gains in the second segment of the season, despite some disappointing production from Steen this year.  Stacey's team did see 15th at the end of last week, but has dropped off a bit already after Monday night, sitting in a tight spot in the standings.  Here's hoping that the injury isn't too bad.

A report on Tuesday morning suggests that Vegas forward Reilly Smith is questionable for tonight's game, at home to the Rangers, due to an undisclosed injury. Smith apparently sat for a good portion of the 3rd period in the team's last game, Sunday against the Devils, and his availability has come into question. It might be something, it might be nothing, we'll have to wait and see.

Smith has been fairly steady for Stacey M.'s team, 27 points in 45 games this season for Vegas, and with the rate that some of the top teams have been scoring at lately, a team like Stacey's will prefer to have all hands on deck.  I'm sure she'll have her fingers crossed for a green light from the team doctors tonight.