Afternoon Player Notes (Feb 2)

The Montreal Canadiens opened up their post-All-Star, post-bye week schedule without Carey Price, who was another one of those players that opted out of the All-Star festivities and had to sit out a game for the privilege.  He sat out Saturday afternoon's game against the New Jersey Devils, but will be eligible to return on Sunday, almost like he really didn't miss a start, but he kind of did.  Expect him to get the start tomorrow afternoon against the Oilers.

The Devils, who played against the Canadiens above, were without forward Travis Zajac, because of a lower-body injury, which he suffered on Thursday night.  He's considered to be day-to-day with the injury and there wasn't a whole lot else disclosed about the injury right now.  The Devils don't play again until Tuesday now, which could be ample time to recover, but that all depends on what and how bad the injury is.

Tough break for Stacey M., who missed out on a couple of appearances in this afternoon's game, but her team has been really good in this limited week, up near the top of the weekly scoring with 18 points through this afternoon's games.  Her team still has some legs left in this week and is only 2 points back of the weekly leader.

An upper-body injury is keeping Evgeni Malkin out of the Penguins lineup, already missing Friday night's game and he's expected to miss Saturday night's game against the Maple Leafs.  He's considered to be day-to-day with the injury and could be back in the lineup next week, as soon as Tuesday night, at home to the Hurricanes.

Malkin is Steve's top pick this year, taken with the 13th overall selection, and leads his team with 55 points in 50 games, so it's a tough two games to be missing out on.  His team sits 20 points out of the money with the Saturday evening games yet to play.  It's certainly not the time to be without your best player.

It appears that Anton Stralman was a healthy scratch for the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday night, when they took on the Islanders.  It's hard to say whether or not this was more of a rest or if he wasn't playing all that well to begin with, but he was out for that game and is probably questionable to return for Saturday night's contest on Broadway.

Troy picked up the Swedish defender in Week Nine's Waiver Draft and has since picked up 4 points in 16 games since being activated.  Troy's team sits in 8th place, 24 points out of the money and having an okay week, potting 10 points so far.

The Vegas Golden Knights needed to make a paper transaction with the return of Reilly Smith to their lineup on Friday night, as he came back from an undisclosed injury.  So the Golden Knights placed defenseman Nick Holden on the Injured Reserve, also with an undisclosed injury, retroactive to before the break and the bye week, so he is eligible to come back into the lineup, whenever the team is ready to have him.  It looks like the Golden Knights are being very cautious with their lineup, not wanting to lose anyone through waivers, if they don't have to.

So, at least there was some good news for Stacey M. in this post, since Smith is one of her picks, but Brenda & Seward have seemingly lost a player for the foreseeable future and they won't really know why.  Holden would be eligible for the bonus round of the Waiver Draft, if necessary.

A late addition to the post, heading into Saturday night's action, as the Detroit Red Wings have ruled out Dylan Larkin for tonight's game against the Senators, as he is dealing with a strained oblique muscle, according to the coaching staff.  Larkin currently ranks 39th in hockey pool scoring this season with 22 goals and 49 points in 52 games, leading the way for the team.  He's day-to-day right now, but leaves a pretty big hole in the lineup.

Wilton sits in 15th place and will certainly miss his 3rd-best forward tonight, as his team opens up play tonight 44 points out of the money.  The comeback will have to do without the speedy Detroit forward, at least for one game, quite possibly more than that.