Morning Player Notes (Mar 26)

For a team that isn't even close to the playoffs, it seems rather cheeky when they announce an injury as a mid-body injury.  That's what the Detroit Red Wings cited as the reason for Thomas Vanek's absence on Monday night against the San Jose Sharks.  The veteran winger has been decent this season, posting 36 points in 64 games with the lowly Wings, but it could be a spotty finish to the year, if he is going to be dealing with an injury down the stretch.  Detroit may just take this opportunity to dress some of their new young college signings.

Stacey C. has been eyeing up a top 10 finish in the standings, but his 13th place team may have a bit more of an issue getting there with this injury.  His team finished play 5 points back of 10th place and only 2 points came from Monday night, actually dropping a spot in the standings in the process.

The risk versus reward of Kris Letang is very real and very apparent these days, as he sat yet again on Monday night, due to an upper-body injury, only three games after coming back from an upper-body injury, but he was posting points in those games that he was playing.  The Penguins are drawing nearer and nearer to the playoffs and a win last night surely helped, so they could very well be exercising a bit of caution with Letang, since they do seem like a very safe bet to make it this season.

Our reigning Mover & Shaker knows all about the risk and reward of Letang, as Jeremy's team has suffered through the worst parts of the season, when he was on the shelf due to injury, but also has reaped some of those rewards, 56 points in 63 games this year.

The Tampa Bay Lightning made a miraculous comeback against the Boston Bruins last night, but early on, they lost forward Ondrej Palat to an upper-body injury, seeing him leave the game, not to return.  There hasn't been any published updates that I could see after the game, so we'll play the waiting game once again.  The Lightning have a little bit of time to burn here before the playoffs start and it might give Palat ample time to rest up and recover before the playoffs.

It looks like the Golden Knights are employing somewhat of a rotation, maybe not to the point of a constant rotation, but a blueline rotation, nonetheless, as Shea Theodore came out of the lineup on Monday night, as a healthy scratch against the St. Louis Blues.  The Golden Knights are on the verge of claiming their playoff spot and they are prepping their roster for it, making sure everyone isn't overworked and tired.  Not a bad plan, given that they are 11 points clear of the Coyotes, who are the first team outside the playoffs right now.

Tough night for Stacey M. on Monday, one player leaving his game injured and another scratched for the game.  There's no real cause for concern though, her team kept the pace of the other teams in the top three or five, finishing with 5 points and even extending the gap between 2nd and 3rd, now at 15 points.