Morning Player Notes (Jan 9)

The St. Louis Blues are struggling to find consistency this season and their coaching staff tried to shake things up a little bit, sending defenseman Vince Dunn up to the press box for last night's game against the Dallas Stars. Dunn has 1 assist in his last five games and saw his ice-time dwindle to about 10 minutes over the weekend against the Flyers, so it was his turn to take a seat for a night. It didn't help much, as the Blues dropped last night's game, 3-1, so I would think that he would be back in before too long.

Scott's pool team has also lacked some consistency this season and it now finds itself in last place, now 9 points back of 24th.  Somehow, he's going to have to find a way to acquire some shootout specialists, if he's going to want to win his money back this season.

Washington Capitals centre Nicklas Backstrom was feeling under the weather on Tuesday night, when his club took on the Philadelphia Flyers, so he didn't dress and play for his team, taking the night off instead.  There's nothing indicating that there was anything serious going on, so I would think that he'll be back in the lineup on Thursday, when the Caps visit the Bruins.

Backstrom has been one of Steve's best players this season, posting 44 points in 41 games this season, so it does sting a little bit, when he misses out on a game.  Steve's team fell out of the top 10 last night, but only sits 1 point behind Jesse's team, which took over 10th place, so a return will be very helpful on Thursday.