Evening Preview (Mar 29)

I'm going to try and brand these afternoon posts a little differently for the last week (and a little bit) of the season, ahead of next year.  I think a little more can be done, since there are usually some news bytes that could be done here and there's a lot more to the pool than just the goalies, right?

Let's see how this goes.  It's a work in progress, to say the least.

Jordan Binnington (N/A) versus Alexandar Georgiev (N/A)
The St. Louis Blues need a point to clinch their playoff berth or if fail that, Arizona needs to lose in any fashion.  That's one clinching scenario tonight and the Blues will give that job to the rookie, Jordan Binnington.  Actually, both the Blues and the Rangers will be starting non-pool rookies, Alexandar Georgiev going on the other side, making this game moot from the crease.

Is there any merit in this game?  Grant is looking for points and he's the only one in the 3rd place race with a player in this game, Jimmy Vesey of the Rangers.  He starts 9 points back of 3rd place tonight, so Vesey needs to be huge.

Pekka Rinne (John P.) versus Matt Murray (Scott)
In Pittsburgh, the Penguins can take a step closer to clinching their playoff berth with a win over the visiting Predators.  Nashville is already in and could keep the Eastern Conference very interesting with a win and we'll get the two number ones head-to-head tonight.  In the pool, Scott's team is in the mix for the basement again this week, only 2 points clear of the bottom at the start of play tonight, while John P. is watching his team cruise to the end without any danger signs at the moment.

Scott gets some more good news here, as Olli Maatta has been activated from the Injured Reserve, he's been out a long time with his upper-body injury.  He needs some good news to finish off this season, just to feel a little bit better.

Mackenzie Blackwood (N/A) versus Jonathan Bernier (Brenda & Seward)
The Devils and Red Wings are going through the motions, as we close out the regular season and they will play at Little Caesar's Arena tonight.  Brenda & Seward appear to be getting the only pool start in this game, thanks to Jonathan Bernier and the Wings, still 5 points back of Chelsea's team for 22nd in the standings.

The Detroit Red Wings have made a couple of call-ups before this game, unsure if pool forward Frans Nielsen will be able to go tonight, as he entered concussion protocol after Thursday night's game in Buffalo.  He'll be listed as day-to-day for the time being, but with only a week left to go this season, Scott's forward could be pooched.

Darcy Kuemper (Neil) versus Philipp Grubauer (Jesse)
Looks like by default, this will be the hockey pool game of the night, since Jesse will get a start from Philipp Grubauer and the Avalanche, when they host Darcy Kuemper and the Coyotes.  Jesse's team starts play only 6 points back of 4th place and 15 points back of 3rd with very little time left on the clock.  Neil's team gets the other start tonight, sitting in 7th place, 41 points back of Jesse, but has broken away with Stacey C. from the middle of the pack, situated comfortably in 7th and 8th.

Jesse also gets some much better news from the injury department, as Gabriel Landeskog is scheduled to return from injury tonight, he has missed three weeks with an upper-body injury.  This is a huge boost for the Avs and for Jesse's team in that points race.

Ryan Miller (N/A) versus Mike Smith (Brian)
The Flames have dropped their last two games and look to get back on track with a win against the visiting Ducks.  Brian's team is eyeing up a Mike Smith start tonight from the Flames, not to mention looking at passing Troy's team, which is currently in a free fall and only 6 points away.  The Ducks have all of a sudden been playing some better hockey, so despite their position in the west, this isn't a gimme of a game.

Devan Dubnyk (Wes) versus Malcolm Subban (N/A)
Malcolm Subban gets his 7th straight start tonight for the Golden Knights, as they can also clinch their playoff spot tonight.  Much like the Blues earlier in the schedule, they need a point or the Coyotes to lose in any fashion.  That's easy, right?

Wes gets the only hockey pool start in net tonight with Devan Dubnyk, which he desperately needs, since his team is only 1 point clear of the basement at the start, where Troy sits, without a Vegas start, since Marc-Andre Fleury is still on the shelf.

Morning Player Notes (Feb 24)

There were some post-game reports after the Bruins lost to the Blues in the shootout, that defenseman Torey Krug was held out of action late in the 3rd and through overtime, due to a lower-body injury. The coaching staff tried to assure everyone that the injury isn't considered serious and he was held out for precautionary reasons. The Bruins don't play again until Tuesday and that will be the best indicator of how significant the injury isn't, is if he plays or not.

It's a little injury to insult, as Mike's team currently holds onto the Basement Dweller spot, heading into Sunday's action, down at 12 points.  Thankfully, he didn't have to rely on Krug to help him out of his hole on the final day of the week, but he'll need some help.

The Dallas Stars needed more offense against the Hurricanes, which was why they traded for Mats Zuccarello last night and a reason for that power outage in the game was that Alexander Radulov was not in the lineup, due to illness.  Radulov was somewhat of a late scratch for the afternoon tilt, one the Stars lost, 3-0, and he's currently listed as day-to-day right now.  Getting both of those players in the lineup for Sunday's game in Chicago or Tuesday's game in Vegas, may be a good indicator about what they should be able to do down the stretch.

Of course, everyone is going to get excited when players are held out of the lineup around the trade deadline, it's just the way people are brought up nowadays.  So, when Jonathan Drouin was listed as a scratch for the Canadiens last night, there looked to be a bit of buzz out there, but the team assured us all, he was sick too.  Like, really sick.  Not to the point of other teams reporting it for us, but really sick.  Drouin is listed as day-to-day, missed the Leafs game and will be on the probable side for Monday night in New Jersey.

Both Radulov and Drouin belong to Benson's pool team, which hasn't fared very well this week either, down at 15 points, heading into Sunday's action.  It could be an anxious day, only 3 points clear of the Basement Dweller with only four games to play.

Much like the Ottawa Senators before them, the New York Rangers were also looking to protect some of their assets ahead of the deadline, sitting both Zuccarello and Kevin Hayes for their afternoon game against the Devils, which worked out in their favour, as they deal the Norwegian in the evening to the Stars.  Hayes appears to be one of the next players to go on the list of trade bait players, so we'll all impatiently wait for that shoe to drop here, today or tomorrow.

Wilton would surely prefer to have Hayes dealt today, rather than tomorrow, then when the Rangers play the Capitals first thing this afternoon, he at least knew it was worth the wait.  Wilton's team has been decent this week, but could have been better without this scratch yesterday and likely again today, since his team is at 25 points this week, 12 back of the leader.

The Stadium Series game was a costly one for the Pittsburgh Penguins, as they lost two key defensemen in the same sequence of play. Philadelphia's Wayne Simmonds hit Brian Dumoulin hard and arguably up high along the boards, which caused a bit of a fracas on the ice, a fracas that involved Kristopher Letang skirmishing with another Flyers player.  Both players went to the dressing room, not to return, Dumoulin dealing with a concussion and Letang has an upper-body injury, so days are now going to be interesting for the Penguins moving forward.

Neil was getting okay returns out of Dumoulin since the Week Eighteen Waiver Draft, collecting 4 points in 10 games, so this would be shame to lose, as he says his main hope is to catch Ryan's team in the standings.  Letang belongs to Jeremy and has been the best blueliner on his team, which ranks well in the pool, already picking up 53 points in 60 games this season.  Both are heavy losses for the club and the pool.

Concerning news for the San Jose Sharks, as defenseman Erik Karlsson has re-aggravated his groin injury, which kept him out a number of weeks already this season, leaving last night's game against the Blue Jackets in the 2nd period, not to return.  The Sharks have not given any update, as of yet to the injury, but they turn around on their current road trip and play again on Sunday afternoon against the Red Wings and you would have to think that Karlsson is doubtful for this game.

It's another hit to Clayton's team, which is starting to fall off the map in this third segment of the season.  Clayton's team is tied for 20th in this segment, almost three weeks in, down with 65 points and injuries have been the leading cause and I think we can add another visit by Karlsson to the list.

Morning Player Notes (Feb 20)

Well, the Columbus Blue Jackets coaching staff were not holding back any of the gory details about how ill Artemi Panarin was on Tuesday night, but that's what you have to do when your superstar forward is the subject of many trade rumours and the questions come about whether or not they are holding him back to keep his trade value.  Panarin was held out of the game against the Montreal Canadiens, due to the illness, and he's currently listed as day-to-day.  It doesn't sound like the Jackets will hold him out for any trades, as they're in the thick of a playoff race, but I suppose anything is possible.

Benson's team has struggled out of the gates this week, only picking up 4 points through the first couple of nights and missing out on a game from Panarin certainly doesn't help.  His team is safely in 21st at the moment, so there is no real concern there either.

The illness bug was running rampant among the superstars, as it also got Connor McDavid on Tuesday night, keeping him out of the contest against the Arizona Coyotes, a game the Oilers dropped 3-2 in the shootout.  McDavid's bug doesn't sound very serious, but the Oilers were not nearly as descriptive in telling the media that he wouldn't play, but he's day-to-day right now.

Tony's team is among that group of teams that are jockeying for position in the middle of the standings, sitting in 12th place after Tuesday night, only 8 points out of 8th.  Missing out on a McDavid game certainly hurt, but there's still 6+ weeks left this season to make things happen.

Montreal Canadiens forward Phillip Danault was excused from the team for some personal reasons on Tuesday, pulling his availability out of playing against the Blue Jackets.  There was no indication about whether or not Danault would miss any more time beyond Tuesday night, with the team playing next on Thursday night, hosting the Flyers.

John P.'s team isn't too far back of that group in the middle of the pack, sitting only 11 points back of Tony's team, down in 15th.  John's team has been very up-and-down this season and missing out on this game would lead you to believe it was a down evening, but his team is at 7 points through two nights, so it isn't all bad at the moment.

A lower-body injury kept Nashville Predators forward Craig Smith out of the lineup on Tuesday night, when they took on the Dallas Stars.  The team announced the injury yesterday afternoon, but the announcement didn't elaborate on the injury, only saying that the forward would miss last night's game.

This is another knock on Wes' team this week, as his side is falling further away from the money contention, now 29 points out of 3rd place and already dropped 6 points in that race this week.  His team is going to have to get healthy and hot in a hurry, if he's going to catch-up.

New York Rangers defenseman Neal Pionk reportedly feels rather fortunate that a high-stick catching him around his eye didn't do more damage than it did, leaving him bruised and swollen.  Pionk was hurt over the weekend and missed out on Tuesday night's game against the Hurricanes, kept out for precautionary measures.  He's currently listed as day-to-day and is probably waiting for the swelling to go down before he rejoins the lineup.  The Rangers play next on Thursday, at home to the Wild.

Pionk has been decent this season, picking up 20 points in 50 games, good enough for 352nd in pool scoring.  Not too bad for Troy's last pick in the draft, 328th overall, not too far from his pick spot in the rankings, all he would need is another point and he'd be up there.

When the Tampa Bay Lightning can afford to sit forward Brayden Point for a game for missing a team meeting, you know they're doing pretty well.  Point was scratched from last night's game against the Flyers and still came away as 5-2 winners.  Point has been very good this season, posting 78 points in 59 games this year and he'll likely draw back into the lineup on Thursday, when the team hosts the Sabres.

I'm sure we're all okay with Stuart missing this one game and almost wished it was more games.  After Tuesday night, his lead has rounded out to 51 points, still leading the pool in weekly scoring with 18 points.  We'll just leave it at that.

The Toronto Maple Leafs announced after their game against the Blues on Tuesday night that forward Nazem Kadri has suffered a concussion after he took a hard hit from Vince Dunn.  Kadri was forced from the game after the hit and the team was very quick to announce the head injury for the forward.  He will be subject to the league's protocol, which could be a day-to-day issue or an indefinite issue and with how quickly they were able to diagnose it, it could be the latter.

This is another hit to John P.'s team on this post, which it doesn't need right now, as it tries to battle back from finishing the second segment of the season in 17th.  His team has since climbed a couple spots over the last week and a half, but with a couple of players being added to the injury/news page, all those gains could quickly be lost.

Vatanen Suffers Concussion

New Jersey Devils defenseman Sami Vatanen was on the wrong end of an ugly hit into the boards on Monday night against the Penguins, as Derick Brassard nailed him pretty good.  Vatanen was forced from the game and has missed practice both on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the team reporting that he is out indefinitely with a concussion.  There is no timetable for his return and with a concussion, it is anyone's guess.

Vatanen has 4 goals and 17 points in 46 games this season, good enough for 337th in overall hockey pool scoring, 64th among all defensemen.

Troy now has a big decision to make in the Waiver Draft, whether he does it with his pending 2nd round pick or uses a bonus round pick, on how he wants to move Vatanen ahead of the stretch run of the season.  Troy picked up Vatanen in the 9th round, 223rd overall and now doesn't know how long he will be without the Finn.  Troy's team is in 8th place, 28 points out of the money and really needs a healthy team to cover those points.

Afternoon Player Notes (Jan 28)

The Boston Bruins have ruled out Tuukka Rask for Tuesday night's game at home to the Winnipeg Jets and in order to get a backup goalie into the fold, they have placed Rask on the Injured Reserve, retroactive to January 19th, which means that he is eligible to come back when he's ready to go.  Rask suffered a concussion just before the break and the team's bye week and All-Star break couldn't have come at a better time for him, limiting the amount of games/starts he could have missed.  The team has not issued any timetable for a return as of yet.

With the platoon situation in Boston, it's hard to say for sure whether or not Rask really misses a start on Tuesday, but if this concussion issue starts to stretch into multiple games, you know that he will technically be missing starts and Jesse's pool team can really ill afford to have that happen.  Jesse's team opens the week in 10th, 34 points out of the money.

The New York Rangers didn't have forward Mats Zuccarello at practice on Monday morning, as he is nursing an infection in his foot. The Rangers coaching staff didn't think that the problem was anything more than a short-term issue, but they have ruled him out of Tuesday night's game at home to the Flyers, but are optimistic that he could be ready for Thursday's game in New Jersey.  In 35 games this season, the Norwegian forward has 8 goals and 24 points.

It sounds like it will only be one game missed for John P., with the possibility of another, which isn't quite the way the week.  John's team opens play this week in 16th place, 56 points out of the money.

Morning Player Notes (Jan 22)

Colorado Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson was injured on Saturday night against the Kings and was unable to play on Monday afternoon against the Predators, the coaching staff disclosing that the veteran defender has indeed suffered a concussion and is going through the league protocol.  The coaching staff is hopeful that Johnson will be ready to play after the All-Star break, which means that the expectation is that Johnson will also miss Wednesday night's game, hosting the Minnesota Wild.

Benson's team is already down at the bottom of the projected games total for the rest of the week, which is hampered by this All-Star break, but his team is already at 3 points, while there are three teams without a point so far, so this shouldn't break his team into Basement Dweller status.

Week Sixteen Newsletter

Two really big games in Week Sixteen propelled Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane to his 2nd Player of the Week award of the season, as he was far and away this week's best player, finishing with 10 points in three games.  The playmaking forward sure enjoys the spotlight, as this is the 7th time he has taken the mention since the start of the 2010 season, but this is the only time he has done so with a double-digit number in points.

The week opened up with a pair of goals and a pair of assists against the Devils on Monday, which he followed up with a solitary assist against the Rangers on Thursday and then he scored a pair of goals and added a trio of assists against the Capitals on Sunday night.  Kane finished with 4 goals and 6 assists and was all by himself atop the scoring standings this week.

This big week has now brought his season totals up to 29 goals and 70 points in 49 games, which is now good enough for 5th overall in pool scoring, still trailing top spot in the overall scoring race, which belongs to Nikita Kucherov of the Lightning, by 8 points.

This is now the 5th week where Stuart has finished the week in 1st place in the overall standings, but he had yet to get a Mover & Shaker this season, up until this very week.  Stuart's team finished with 39 points and now holds the biggest lead of the season, at the end of the week, which now stands at 21 points.

I don't know where Stuart gets his horseshoes from, but he is now well on track for back-to-back years of wins in the hockey pool, thanks in large part to having the Player of the Week on his side, Patrick Kane, not to mention a pretty good week from Boston's Brad Marchand, who finished with 6 points as well.  Dylan Strome of the Blackhawks had 5 points, while both Brayden Point of the Lightning and Thomas Greiss of the Islanders each had 4 points to round out the notable players on his team.

Only two players on Stuart's active roster were unable to pick up points in the week, one of which was due to injury and the other just didn't show up for this week, I suppose.

Stuart's team is absolutely propelled by his forwards, which he put the farm on at the draft, where his team has a clear advantage at 340 points this season, 35 points better than the next team on the list, which is also better than three teams in the pool for total points.  His team ranks 1st in goals scored by all of his skaters, with 167, 10 better than the next team and that has led to some other leads in the mini-games, which might turn into a pretty good-sized pay day for Stuart in April.

The Basement Dweller race was remarkably close all week long and it finished with a tie-breaker with a season-high for points for the last place team in the weekly scoring.  Both Wes and Neil saw their teams finish at 19 points and we need to narrow this down to one team, so we head to the first tie-breaker... goals scored!  Neither team were last in the category this week, but by a 7-6 margin, Neil's team avoids the nod and Wes' team goes from 1st (for two weeks) to worst in the snap of his fingers.

Five of Wes' players were unable to post points in the week, making this quite the let down of offense after two very strong weeks.  Sean Monahan of the Flames was his only bright spot, finishing with 4 points and it just looks like the schedule sort of evened everything out for Wes and the hockey pool, since it was certainly in his favour there for a while.

This is the first time that a team in the top 10 finished in the Basement Dweller nod this season and this is the highest total of points for a Basement Dweller since Cam's 21 points back in Week Nineteen of last season.  By my unofficial count through the history books, this appears to be only the 9th time that a team has finished with 19 points (or better) as a Basement Dweller, the record being 25 points by Dale C. in 2010, back when there were only a couple handfuls of teams.

The top three teams didn't change and neither did their order, we're still looking at Stuart, Stacey M. and Grant as our top three, Stuart's team did open quite the lead, thanks to his Mover & Shaker nod this week, the lead now up at 21 points.  Stacey and Grant are only 3 points apart, while Kristy & Don are still on the door step, 4 points out of 3rd place.  Wes' Basement Dweller week saw his team drop back to 7 points out of 3rd place, which isn't too bad, but his team still has a 15-point buffer to 6th, so it's looking more and more like a 5-horse race now to the finish.

Derek B. saw his team post another big week in the rookie pool, as he picked up 7 points, thanks to Oscar Lindblom of the Flyers, who had 3 points on his own.  Derek's team has now cut the overall lead down to 10 points, still chasing Clayton's team, who has seen the return of Elias Pettersson of the Canucks on Sunday, accounting for his only 2 points in the mini-game this week.

The shootout remains rather droll with a third straight week with only 2 goals scored, Troy and Stacey C. each posting the goals for their side this week.  The skills competition has really dried up in the last month.

Jeremy, Mike, Grant and John P. all still have 6 goals this season, still tied for the lead, but none of them have seen a goal since Week Eleven.

Game-winners have still been pretty good for the pool, as we collected 33 of them this week in total.  Brian and John P. led the way with 4 goals this week, but most notably, Dale C. had 3 goals and moved into 2nd place in the mini-game, trailing Stuart's team, which was shutout in Week Sixteen, by 10 goals.

Goon team of the week belonged to Scott's side, which led all teams with 29 minutes in penalties, moving up to 3rd place overall in the category this season. 

Stuart's team still leads the overall standings for penalty minutes, but his lead has been falling away to both Ryan and Scott in recent weeks.  I guess Stuart's team is now concentrating on scoring more, like it should.

There were some good streaks of positive weeks snapped in the Plus/Minus field this week, but only one number really sticks out and it was Benson's -20, which is among the season-lows for the season, which drops him to last place in the second segment of the season with a combined -31 rating and for the season, his team is 18th with a combined -24 rating. 

Wes holds the overall lead in this game, with a +77 rating, followed by Neil at +59.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

Scoring was up this week, which was a big plus for the pool, especially now that we're heading to the All-Star shortened Week Seventeen.  The pool combined for 660 points, the same total we had last week, but in two less NHL games, which meant the average was back on its way up. 

Goalie participation was only slightly better this week and we're only a couple of weeks away from activating some new goalies, which is really good news for the pool.  We're really in need of some addition by subtraction (and more addition) in this pool.

NEWS AND NOTES

Cleaning up some of the weekend notes here in the Newsletter, starting with the Anaheim Ducks placing forward Ondrej Kase on the Injured Reserve on Saturday.  Kase was hurt on Thursday night against the Wild, suffering an upper-body injury, believed to be to his arm and there is no current timetable for his return.  Kase has 11 goals and 20 points in 30 games this season, but it has been a tough season, so far, already missing 18 games to a concussion.

Wilton picked up Kase at the Waiver Draft and was getting good returns before this injury, 13 points in 19 games, so it's going to be a tough blow to his pool team.

The Boston Bruins were quick to confirm that goaltender Tuukka Rask indeed suffered a concussion when he was on the wrong end of an on-ice collision with Rangers rookie Filip Chytil, shortly after giving up a goal to the Czech winger.  Rask was forced from the game and the Bruins are hopeful that the symptoms are not too bad, but there likely won't be any updates until he's ready to go again.

Tough break for Jesse's team, which was already not getting the amount of starts that he expected out of Rask, since the Bruins were platooning their goalies this season.  This may open up more questions, when the Waiver Draft kicks off here again soon.

On Sunday, the Chicago Blackhawks opted to scratch rookie defenseman Henri Jokiharju for their game against the Washington Capitals and it was quite the game to miss, as the Blackhawks beat up on the Capitals, 8-5.  The young Finn hasn't quite got his feet back underneath him after the World Juniors experience and it was time to take him out of the lineup for a night.

I'm sure Brian was pretty disappointed to see his young defenseman take a seat during an offensive outburst like this, but those are the breaks, I guess.  Brian's team still had a pretty strong week, despite missing out on this one.

A big injury concern for the Colorado Avalanche, as Mikko Rantanen went down with a lower-body injury on Saturday night against the Los Angeles Kings and his status for the All-Star shortened week, not to mention his potential All-Star appearance, is in doubt.  Rantanen is ranked in the top five in pool scoring and has had a monster season offensively for the Avalanche, who hold a playoff spot, so fingers are crossed that he won't be out for very long.

Ryan's team is still situated in the top 10, thanks to Rantanen's season being so productive.  If Ryan's team is going to make a push for the big money, he'll need his big Finn to be healthy and back in the Colorado lineup before too long.

Much of the same from the Detroit Red Wings, as they also decided to make a rookie defenseman into a healthy scratch, as Dennis Cholowski was sent upstairs to the press box for his team's visit to Vancouver on Sunday afternoon.  The rookie had a rough outing against the Flames on Friday night, registering a -3 rating, which is usually a good indication of why he was a scratch.  I would imagine he'll draw back in after the team's loss to the Canucks, Tuesday in Edmonton.

This scratch didn't help Clayton's numbers in the rookie pool on Sunday, but maybe the scratch was what the rookie needed to get his head back in the game.  I don't think there is much cause for concern here.

The run of rookie defensemen as healthy scratches continues in this post with the Ottawa Senators, who played on Saturday night against the Blues, opted to sit Maxime Lajoie as a scratch.  He has been held without a point in his last 12 appearances and had a healthy scratch in there as well, not picking up a point since December 17th.  His minutes have been up and down in the last 12 games, so it will be interesting to see what the Sens do with him going forward.

John P.'s luck hasn't been too great this year and Lajoie hasn't been much help since being activated from the Waiver Draft, only picking up 1 point in 18 games.  It will be interesting to see what John does with him for the second swap of the year, coming up soon.

San Jose All-Star defenseman Erik Karlsson was held out of Saturday's game against the Tampa Bay Lightning with an undisclosed injury and there is a chance that he will sit out the next couple of games as well, putting his All-Star availability in doubt.  Karlsson was reportedly hurt on Tuesday, played through the pain on Wednesday, but the team opted to shut him down for the weekend and possibly more.  He's listed as day-to-day.

That's two skater games missed on the blueline for Clayton's pool team on this post and it could add up to some more time being missed.  Karlsson has come around nicely after a slow start to the year, 43 points in 47 games isn't too shabby, so far.

It never really seemed like we had too many healthy scratches throughout the year, plenty of injuries, but the scratches were held down to a minimum.  Not this week, obviously, as we can also add another trip to the press box for sophomore defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, who still hasn't been able to find his rhythm this season.  The Tampa Bay Lightning continue to roll this season, so they can certainly afford to offer the young defenseman some time off to help figure out his game.

Stuart wasn't complaining too bitterly, I'm thinking, since his team had such a great week this week.  His team is well on its way to defending his hockey pool title and taking the trophy for another summer.

Toronto defenseman Jake Gardiner has been having a rough go at it these days, drawing the ire of the home crowds and now he's suffering through some back spasms, which held him out of Sunday's contest against the Arizona Coyotes.  Back spasms are not usually an overly serious issue, but they can go on for a couple of days in some cases, so Gardiner will be day-to-day and he might get an extra day or two off, as we draw closer to the All-Star break next weekend.

In the game against the Coyotes, forward Andreas Johnsson was forced from the game with a concussion, as per the team, not to return to the ice.  It will be a day or two before the team gets a full picture of how long he will be out for, but with the Leafs only playing one game this week, there won't be any hurry to get him back up in the lineup.

Troy's team is trying to hang around, staying as close as possible to the money teams, so his side can still be in reach after the second player swap.  Missing out on a Gardiner game, maybe more, probably won't hurt his chances too badly, in fact, it could help improve his pick status.  The Johnsson concussion is more bad news for Wilton's team, which already has a player note above in the Newsletter and was only 4 points clear of the Basement Dweller this week.