Noon Player Notes (Jan 1)

The Sabres and the Islanders played a pretty physical game on Saturday and it cost the Sabres both a 3-1 loss and the loss of their captain and franchise player, Jack Eichel, who suffered an upper-body injury in the game.  The coaching staff didn't seem to think that the injury was too significant and it wouldn't keep him out for very long, but that was about as far as they would go in their injury update.  Eichel has been reportedly dealing with some nagging injury and whatever it is, it's what was aggravated in the game and forced him out.  Now, we sit and wait.

This could be a huge loss for Grant's pool team, if it is indeed more serious than the coaching staff lets on, since Eichel is the 13th ranked player in pool scoring this season.  Grant's team took the lead on Monday night after a 6-point evening, but is likely holding his breath for any positive updates on his second-best player's condition.

The Montreal Canadiens pulled forward Andrew Shaw from their game against the Dallas Stars early in the 1st period last night, he's also dealing with an upper-body injury of sorts.  There was no indication about the severity or the nature of the injury on Tuesday morning, so we're watching for updates, as they come.

Chelsea's team has certainly enjoyed what Shaw has brought to the table for them since the Waiver Draft, picking up 10 points in 13 games, since being activated.  Unfortunately, those good gains that her team has had since the start of the second segment, they've only amounted to a climb of one spot in the standings, from 22nd to 21st.  It's certainly going to be a long haul this year.

New York Islanders forward Valtteri Filppula was removed from their game against the Buffalo Sabres in the 2nd period and he didn't return to the game. There still hasn't been any updates on the injury, as of yet, so we'll have to consider his day-to-day and questionable for the team's next game, which goes Thursday night against the Blackhawks.

Neil picked up Filppula at the Waiver Draft and has probably been underwhelmed by his lack of offense since joining his pool team, picking up 3 points in 13 games since being activated.  Filppula was on a good tear before the player swap, but hasn't done much since.

Finally, it was a second trip to the press box for Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, who is finding his second season in the NHL to be a little bit more difficult than his rookie season.  In 38 games played, he only has 13 assists, despite taking 67 shots on goal this year.  Sergachev is 2nd in the NHL among players with no goals in the shots on goal statistic, trailing only Chicago's Duncan Keith.  The Lightning probably don't exactly need Sergachev to be scoring, they have plenty of it already, but if they can get him going as well, look out!

I don't think Stuart is too worried about it either, sitting in 2nd place in the overall standings, but again, if the Russian rearguard can start putting the biscuit in the basket, his team only gets that much better.