Morning Player Notes (Mar 31)

Going five games without a point, even on a team that hasn't had any intentions of the playoffs this year, is still enough to be a healthy scratch and that was the situation for Mikkel Boedker and the Ottawa Senators against Toronto on Saturday night. The Sens played with a little bit of purpose in that game, surprising their provincial rivals with a 4-2 win at home.  Now the question becomes whether or not this scratch was a statement game and Boedker goes back in or if he's found himself in the doghouse for the last week of the year.

I can't imagine Chelsea has had much stock in the back half of this season, as her team is a little bit more comfortable in 22nd place, now 7 points clear of 23rd after Saturday night.  Boedker has been disappointing for her team, since the Week Eighteen Waiver Draft, picking up 5 assists in 18 games played.

A curious collision in the Tampa Bay/Washington game last night, saw defenseman Victor Hedman collide with Carl Hagelin at the offensive blueline and Hedman's chin took the top of Hagelin's helmet, as the defenseman engaged on the hit and that collision was enough to send Hedman packing, missing the last two periods of the game.  Hedman does have a record of concussions and now there is a real concern that he may have suffered another one, which would come at a very poor time, as we start leading up to the playoffs.  We'll have our eyes peeled on this situation.

Dale C.'s team did not have a great Saturday night, failing to move up from his 11th place spot at the start of play, instead, dropping a spot, down to 12th, and will start Sunday's action 4 points back of 10th place.  The loss of Hedman could be big in his chase for the top 10.

One lineup change for the Vancouver Canucks between Thursday night and Saturday night, as Sven Baertschi returned from his night off and Jake Virtanen came out, cited to be dealing with a lower-body injury.  The coaching staff have said that Virtanen is day-to-day with the injury, but the team has now officially been eliminated from playoff contention, so it could be more about getting some looks at some other players, which may keep the coaches from rushing Virtanen back.

Grant's team has not had a very good week and the bad luck compounds with this injury to Virtanen, who has only been okay for his team, as one of his player swaps this season, 13 points in 39 games since coming on board.  Grant's team is losing ground to Kristy & Don, who now sit in 3rd, now 13 points back.

Vegas forward Paul Stastny was a late scratch for the Saturday night tilt between the Golden Knights and Sharks in San Jose, but there hasn't been any information released as to why he was a scratch.  Stastny reportedly took the pregame skate, but something like that could have been an illness that caught up to him or maybe a minor injury causing him some discomfort, but it's hard to say for sure.  We'll consider him day-to-day, questionable for Monday's game, at home to Edmonton.

Currently, there are two top 10 spots still available to change hands, 9th and 10th, and Wilton is currently holding on to the 9th spot in the standings, 6 points clear of 11th and 12th, which is far from comfortable.  Even 8 points opens up 13th spot and none of these teams in the week have pulled away from each other, leaving a bit of a dog fight for the last week.