Lightning's Gourde Banned for Two

This is another easy one for the NHL Department of Player Safety, as the picking of one's head is now an automatic 2-game suspension with the league's disciplinarians.  Yanni Gourde of the Lightning picked the head of Carolina's Jordan Staal on Thursday night and on Friday evening, the Player Safety group came down with a ban on the Tampa player, an open-and-shut case.

The suspension means that Gourde will now miss Saturday night's game in St. Louis and Monday night's game, at home to Boston.  He will be eligible to return for next Saturday's game, at home to Washington, after an extended break during the week.

The Lightning have already clinched the top spot in the overall standings this season, so there is no real peril in this suspension, if anything it is somewhat of a break for the forward, who has played in 75 games this season, registering 20 goals and 44 points in the process.  As of Saturday morning, he ranks 146th in pool scoring, a very impressive year.

John P. was actually very apt with his pick at the draft, taking the Tampa forward in the 6th round, 144th overall, getting an approximately bang on return for the forward, but unfortunately, that was one of his few excellent picks.  His team was unable to string it all together this season, now ranking 18th this year, 90 points out of the money.

Eichel Also Gets Two

In a case, which was far more clear and to the letter of the law than the suspension down below, Jack Eichel was suspended two games for his illegal check to the head of Carl Soderberg in the game between the Sabres and the Avalanche on Saturday night.  This was a textbook case of a pick to the head and what has quickly become the standard from the Department of Player Safety, it's a 2-game suspension for a player without a previous history.

The Sabres are 2-6-2 in their last 10 games and their playoff hopes have all but dwindled away at this point, as they sat 10 points out of a playoff spot, now with 14 games remaining and they'd have to pass through three teams to get there.  Whatever last gasp the Sabres may have had will be short on breath with their captain out of the lineup.

According to the schedule, Eichel will miss Tuesday night's game at home against Dallas and Thursday night at home to Pittsburgh, eligible to return on Saturday, when the team travels to Carolina to take on the Hurricanes.

With play already underway on Sunday night, Eichel has been hovering around the top 25 of pool scoring, dropping ever so slightly already tonight to 27th, with 25 goals and 72 points in 65 games this season, having a very good year with the club.  Without that offense for two key games, including a game against a team they're chasing versus Pittsburgh, the hopes may be extinguished.

Grant's situation is only mildly troublesome, as his team, at the time of this post, with play already midway through the schedule on Sunday night, his team sits in 3rd place, 8 points clear of 4th.  Staying in the money may not be in jeopardy in the coming week, his team has been strong beyond Eichel, but chasing down 2nd place, where his team stands 9 points back, may be an uphill battle.  Still lots of hockey to be played though.

Two Games for Voracek

A couple of suspensions highlight the news off the ice in the NHL on Sunday night, the first being assessed to Jakub Voracek for his high hit on Johnny Boychuk in the game between the Flyers and the Islanders on Saturday. Voracek was assessed a major penalty for his interefering hit on Boychuk in the game and in the video below, the NHL Department of Player Safety outlines the reasons why such a hit was deemed to be worthy of a suspension.

With the Flyers thick in the Eastern Conference playoff race, this will be a tough loss for the team, who hosts Ottawa on Monday night and hosts Washington on Thursday night.  Voracek will not be eligible to return until Friday night's game in Toronto.

The veteran forward has been having a good 2019 campaign, scoring 18 goals and 61 points in 66 games this season, which has him firmly in the top 75 in pool scoring this year, well worthy of a 3rd round pick, if we were to redo the draft today.  This sort of offense will be impossible to replace and the team's next two games will be critical, as they stand 5 points out of a playoff spot at the start of play on Sunday night.

For Derek B., however, he's got the rookie money all tied up and Voracek isn't a part of that race at all, so it really doesn't bother his side too much.  His team is awfully close to last place though, which meant it was a solid tank job on his part for the mini-game money.

Oilers' McDavid Suspended

I dare say, the reaction to the Connor McDavid hit on Nick Leddy on Thursday night was surprisingly polarizing, when there are numerous examples of the exact same hit on the Department of Player Safety's portion of the NHL video website.  Nevertheless, as expected, the league's disciplinary committee did come down on the Oilers captain on Friday afternoon, issuing him a 2-game suspension for his hit, the details are in the video down below.

The Oilers still believe that they have an outside shot at the playoffs this season, but they do have six teams, at least, to overcome in the standings to get there and things are going to be difficult in their next two games, Saturday night against the Ducks and Monday night in Nashville.  With the trade deadline looming, there are likely plenty of thoughts about how to proceed for this team and the next 48 hours will be key.

In the pool, this is a small, yet tough break for Tony's team, which sees the 1st overall selection in this year's pool draft sit for a couple of games, especially when Tony's team is 8 points out of 6th and 44 points out of 3rd place.  Taking your team's best player out of the equation, even for a couple of games, probably means he misses out on a couple of points, possibly more, given his explosiveness.

Malkin Given a Game

Pittsburgh Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin will miss tonight's game against the Edmonton Oilers, as the league suspended him for the one game for a stick swinging incident on Monday night against the Philadelphia Flyers, the video of the incident is below.

Malkin had just returned to the lineup from a brief absence, due to injury, only to pick up a point in his return, not to mention a match penalty on the play in question and the league's ruling on Tuesday afternoon.  He will be eligible to return to the lineup on Saturday afternoon, when the Penguins play host to the Flames.

Even with his brief absence, Malkin has been one of Steve's best players this season, posting 56 points in 51 games with the Penguins, which has him ranked 34th in hockey pool scoring this season.  Still, Steve isn't quite getting the return he was hoping for, taking him with the 13th overall pick in the draft this year, but he has had some other bargain picks to make up for it, somewhat.

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.

Morning Player Notes (Jan 30)

The Columbus Blue Jackets were without forward Boone Jenner on Tuesday night against the Buffalo Sabres, as he was held out with an undisclosed injury. He's currently listed as out day-to-day and the team did not include him on their trip to Winnipeg for Thursday's game, so he has already been ruled out of that one as well.  Jenner has 9 goals and 21 points in 48 games this season, good enough for 252nd in pool scoring, leaving a reasonably sized hole in the Columbus lineup.

Nashville Predators forward Austin Watson was admitted into stage 2 of the NHL/NHLPA substance abuse program on Tuesday, meaning that he is suspended without pay while he looks after his alcohol problem.  There is no timetable for any sort of return for this program, he will be out indefinitely.

It's bad news for Steve's team on both accounts, one more so than the other.  The Jenner injury is the more concerning for his team, as the Blue Jackets forward is still active on his roster, while Watson was dropped in the Waiver Draft this week and is only active for another few days.  Steve's team currently sits in 6th place, 23 points out of the money.

Predators' Johansen Suspended

On Friday, the NHL's Department of Player Safety made a ruling on Nashville's Ryan Johansen, giving him a 2-game suspension for a reckless high-stick on Winnipeg's Mark Scheifele on Thursday night.  The high-sticking call was for an inadvertent chop to the head of the Jets forward in trying to pivot past him, which also earned him a penalty on the ice.

What this means is that Johansen will now miss Saturday's home game against the Panthers and Monday's contest in Colorado and will be eligible to return on Wednesday for their visit to Sin City.

Johansen has been very good for the Predators this season, scoring 8 goals and 42 points in 49 games, which puts him 59th in scoring, with play already started on Friday night. 

Steve picked up the Nashville centre in the 4th round of the draft, 88th overall, so he is certainly getting a good return for an early round pick this season.  One of a number of good picks on Steve's team, which has helped him into the top 10 this year, after a disappointing debut season last year.

Morning Player Notes (Jan 2)

It was announced on Wednesday morning, that Alex Ovechkin has informed the NHL that he will not be participating in this year's All-Star Game festivities, opting to take advantage of the time off to rest up for the unofficial second half of the season and prepare for the playoff push.  In doing so, Ovechkin will have to likely sit for a game, as per league rules, which would likely be the game on February 1st, home to the Flames.  I would imagine that the league will name his replacement fairly soon.

This news won't have an effect on the pool until the end of the month or the beginning of next month, but it's out there, so we might as well make note of it.  This means that Jesse will miss a skater game at some point near the end of the month, due to the league suspension and he won't have a player in the All-Star festivities that should likely be there.

Yesterday, the Arizona Coyotes announced that forward Nick Schmaltz was day-to-day with a lower-body injury, but didn't say much more than that. It kind of sounds like he was unable to practice on Tuesday, so this would be why they had mentioned something. I would say he's probably questionable for tonight's game, at home against the Oilers, but with an injury announcement, it may even lean more to doubtful.  It's tough to tell at the moment.

On Wednesday morning, the Calgary Flames announced that they had recalled Jon Gillies from the AHL and he'll fill David Rittich's spot for tonight in Detroit, as Rittich is reportedly dealing with a lower-body injury of his own and is now day-to-day.  It sounds like Rittich may have pulled something in the New Year's Eve game against the San Jose Sharks, but was able to finish the game, registering the win.  The Flames are now on the road for four games and Rittich is still traveling with the team, so he may not be out for very long.

Both Schmaltz and Rittich belong to Ryan's 8th place team in the standings and this isn't the way that Ryan wants to see his team start the New Year.  Fortunately, neither injury sounds like they are serious, but his team has been treading water in the top 10 and could still be for a while yet, but moving up seems somewhat unlikely over the next few days.

Week Twelve Newsletter

Well, it's time to take down that Festivus pole and resume normal life-living activities.  "Wait, how many more days off do we get?  What's this for again?  Christmas?  Okay, I guess."

The holiday season is upon us and with the NHL schedule finishing off yesterday until Thursday's restart, you can chew on this week's Newsletter a little longer.  Hopefully, it's not as dry as your turkey this week, but it very well could be.  I better add some gravy to it.



The Columbus Blue Jackets must have looked at this week in the schedule and said that they really needed some results, so they leaned on their number one goalie, Sergei Bobrovsky, and he gave them one hell of a week.  The Jackets played in four games, including a back-to-back, Saturday and Sunday, and he played them all... and won.

Bobrovsky set a new season-high in points this week, finishing with 12 points in four starts.  A shutout against the Golden Knights on Monday, followed by a win against the Devils on Thursday, a win against the Flyers on Saturday and then he capped it off with another shutout against the Devils on Sunday.  4 wins, 2 shutouts for 12 points.

This is the first 12-point week since Week Five of the 2017 season and the 13th week of its kind, since the hockey pool website was setup in the 2007 season.  In that 2007 season, back when it was only the selection sheet pool, was the only time we saw a 13-point week, which has been the recorded record.  We have never seen a 13-point week in the draft in that long.

For Kristy & Don, this big week has certainly kept their money hopes alive, as they made up some ground this week, thanks to Bobrovsky and company.  The duo have been getting some great performances, including the Columbus goalie, who is now up to 16 wins and 36 points in 27 appearances, good enough for 44th overall in hockey pool scoring, 3rd among all goalies.

For the second time this season, Stacey M. has seen her team rise to the occasion of the Mover & Shaker nod for the Newsletter and that was just in the last three weeks of the season.  Her team has really been fired up since the activation of our Waiver Draft picks and her only selection in the swap, Travis Zajac of the Devils, has only been a minor help.  A switch must have flipped for her side, because it's rolling along even better since we flipped over at the start of Week Ten.

With 38 points in Week Twelve, there was no tie-breakers necessary to figure out this one and if you have been watching the goalie posts through the week, her team practically went wire-to-wire on this week, really cruising along.

Boston goalie Jaroslav Halak has probably been the bargain pick of the year, again leading all players on her team this week with 9 points and has been just instrumental in her team's success, earning all kinds of minutes in the Bruins' crease.  Halak's teammate David Pastrnak has been no slouch either, finishing the week with 8 points, and Nashville's Roman Josi had a good week as well, finishing with 5 points.  Both Nathan MacKinnon of the Avalanche and Carey Price of the Canadiens each had 4 points, rounding out the top performers of her week.

Maybe the most notable statistic for Stacey's week was that her team had five active players on her roster without a point.  That's getting the top guys to really carry the load, when you're up in the Mover & Shaker with only nine players scoring for you.

We'll certainly have more on her team's climb in the standings shortly, but what I can say here is that things are going very well for her side the overall scheme of things.

How about a 'welcome to the hockey pool' moment for Jesse and his team in Week Twelve, as he gets initiated into the Hall of the Basement Dwellers.  It's certainly not a prestigious honour and an honour that not all teams have found their way to earning, remarkably, but one in your first year almost is expected with new teams joining every season and this is Jesse's moment, I guess.

Jesse's team finished with a weekly-low of 16 points in Week Twelve, no tie-breakers necessary this week.  It ties the season-high for points in the Basement Dweller nod and it's the highest ranked team at the end of a week with a nod at 13th place.  When you're in the top half of the standings, running into a dweller week is very disheartening, because it means you've likely dropped a lot of points between your team and the money sides.

Gabriel Landeskog of the Avalanche led the way for his team with 3 points, but five players didn't register a point in the week, same as our Mover & Shaker, but as you can see, his team leaders were not nearly as productive.

The gap to the money is now 49 points, which isn't at all impossible at this point of the year, especially with one more player swap to go.  With only one injury today and a day-to-day one at that, he may not be able to do a whole lot with his team when the next swap is to come around in January.

The top five of the standings really did some dancing around in Week Twelve, really livening up this hockey pool season.  Troy's team went from 1st to 5th, Stuart's team lifted back up into a tie for 1st place, but gets it on the tie-breakers, while the Mover & Shaker, Stacey M., entered that tie and take 2nd place and Grant stays steady in 3rd.  Kristy & Don, holder of our Player of the Week, moved up a spot to 4th and it's a tight-knit group in the top five, as there is now a 14-point gap to 6th place.

A team is going to need a solid Mover & Shaker week from the top 10 to crack into this group in the top five, especially since 10th place, Steve's team, is 34 points back of 5th.

Three teams were tops in the rookie scoring for Week Twelve, finishing with 4 points in the week.  Derek B., Steve and Wilton all led the way in the week, which isn't a record, by any means, but still isn't too bad.  Linus Ullmark of the Sabres for Steve's team and Andreas Johnsson of the Leafs for Wilton's team led the way, posting those 4 points that both teams needed.

Clayton's team finished with 3 points in the week, so Derek's team only made up 1 point on the mini-game race, so the lead now stands at 20 points, 53-33.

There were plenty of games that went to extra time in Week Twelve, but not as many of them reached the skills competition, leading to the collection of only 5 markers, so there wasn't a lot of movement in the standings.

Wes' team led the way in the week with 2 goals in the shootout this week, bringing his overall total up to 3 goals this week.  A 200% gain, which looks great on paper.  Jeremy, Grant, Mike and John P., our mini-game leaders, didn't score goals in the week, but they still lead with 6 goals each.

Benson's team had a monster week in the game-winning goals mini-game, tying a season-high for weekly goals with 5 clutch tallies in the week and his team moved into a tie for 2nd place with 21 game-winners this year.

Stuart's team posted 3 clutch tallies in Week Twelve, which brings his season total to 26 goals and has a 5-tally lead over both Benson and Clayton's team.  Mike's team is also still hanging around with 20 tallies and Tony is at 19, so there is still plenty of movement possible in this game.

There's nothing that reflects the holiday season more than the PIM pool, don't you think?  The goon team of Week Twelve belonged to John P., who finished with 31 minutes in the box.  John's team also leads the pool in penalty minutes in the second segment of the season, already posting 79 minutes in the first three weeks.  This brings his numbers up to 212 minutes, but it's only good for 6th in the overall standings.

Stuart's team still leads the pool in penalty minutes, with 257 minutes and that's to be expected.  Have you seen those Greenley boys over the holidays?  Absolute mayhem.

And then there were three!

Between Devan Dubnyk of the Wild and Carter Hutton of the Sabres, Wes could not seem to catch a break in Week Twelve and he saw his pair of goalies fail to win one game in Week Twelve and that means his team has been eliminated from the game.  On the plus side, it didn't really cost him any money back, but still, it would have been a good title to have.

We haven't seen an elimination since the Week Eight Newsletter, but with a holiday-shortened week ahead of us, there is a chance that Stacey M., Troy and/or Jeremy could also take a fall and the race could be shortened greatly, well before the All-Star break.

We haven't had a look at the plus/minus stats in a little while, so let's have a quick peek at this week.  We've got the time.

Both Neil and Stuart led the week with a combined +11 rating in the week and Neil's team has been fairly solid in this stat, leading the pool with a total rating of +60 this season.  Neil's team has only seen two weeks this season that had a combined rating of less than even.  That's a pretty solid effort through the year.

We should hear about who the All-Star captains are next week, they didn't post the voting results through the month of December, so it is anyone's guess who the captains of each division for the 3-on-3 tournament, but we'll probably find out when the holiday break is over.  Stay tuned!

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

For a week that had 55 NHL games on the schedule, it was an exceptionally disappointing week for scoring.  In total, we only managed to collect 631 points, 111 points less than last week, which had four less games in the week.  It looks like a lot of players were already on holiday, as we got closer and closer to the break.

We had a pretty good participation rate for our skaters, 17.62 skater games in each of the 55 games this week, but with all the back-to-back games we saw, the pool goalies didn't get nearly all the minutes, which isn't a big surprise.

Next week, there is only 32 games next week, starting on Thursday.  The NHL will have to pack them all into four nights, so it will be busy and our goalies might have the same kind of participation.

NEWS AND NOTES

Well, in order to round out this blog post well and so I don't have to do too many posts today, I will include the suspension that Erik Karlsson had earned earlier in the week. It was a 2-game ban for his illegal hit to the head of Kings forward Austin Wagner. Karlsson has already missed Sunday night's game against the Coyotes and will miss Thursday's game against the Ducks for the hit.  The explanation video is down below for you, if you so choose to check it out.

For Clayton's team, Karlsson's lack of dominant offense has been a disappointment so far and tacking on this suspension certainly doesn't curry any favour.  Already having missed one game and missing one more isn't too bad, but it adds to a somewhat disappointing year, so far.

Leafs' Hyman Suspended

The NHL's Department of Player Safety found another interference call to rule on this weekend, as Zach Hyman of the Toronto Maple Leafs made an ill-advised decision to hit Boston defenseman Charlie McAvoy both late and high and it has now cost him a couple of games.  Hyman was ejected for the game after this hit and the league ruled that a couple more games was in order, so he'll sit for games against the Hurricanes on Tuesday and the Lightning on Thursday.

Hyman has been a productive member of the Leafs this season, posting 7 goals and 15 points in 30 games, ranking in the top 200 in scoring.  After the game against the Bruins, he brought his penalty minute total up to 36 minutes this season, which is good enough to be tied for 17th in the league.

More tough luck for Derek B.'s team, which should come away with goon team of the week honours in tomorrow morning's Newsletter, but it will struggle to improve upon its 23rd place ranking next week without Hyman in the lineup.  This is Derek's second suspension this week, already having Mark Giordano of the Flames missing a couple games this weekend.  Could the number of games missed due to suspension become a mini-game in year upcoming?

Giordano to Sit For a Couple

It was a very costly 2-0 victory over the Minnesota Wild for the Calgary Flames on Friday night, as they were hit by a couple of suspensions and an injury, but for the sake of this post, we'll try to focus it on the pool worthy suspension.

The Department of Player Safety gave defenseman Mark Giordano a 2-game suspension for his knee-on-knee contact on Wild forward Mikko Koivu in Thursday night's game, which means he'll be sitting for both games this week, Saturday at home to Nashville and Sunday night in Edmonton.

The 35-year old defender has been on a torrid pace this season, picking up 3 goals and 29 points in 29 games, good enough for 39th overall in hockey pool scoring, 5th among all defensemen.  Clearly a huge loss to the roster, with two very important match-ups to come this weekend.

Derek B. has a blueline group that he can be very proud of, one that ranks 2nd in games played and 5th in total points, but that has been his only bright spot in the first segment of the season, since his team couldn't find traction and currently sits 23rd.  His move towards the rookie pool looks like a solid one at this point.

Just for the sake of a complete report, Flames forward Ryan Lomberg was also assessed a pair of suspensions, an automatic 1-game suspension for instigating an altercation in the last five minutes of the game and another game for leaving the bench on a legal line change with the sole intention to start the altercation.

Wings' Bertuzzi Banned for Two

The Department of Player Safety has delayed the hockey pool debut for Detroit Red Wings forward Tyler Bertuzzi by a couple of games, as they have suspended the forward for those games for his participation in an altercation from the bench against the Avalanche on the weekend.  Bertuzzi will miss Tuesday's game at home to Tampa and Thursday's game in Toronto, eligible to return on Saturday, back home for the Islanders.

Bertuzzi has been a productive member of the Red Wings, scoring 9 goals and 16 points in 27 games this season, but was overlooked at the hockey pool draft in September, so those points have fallen to the wayside in the hockey pool standings.

Benson decided to take a flyer on a player on his favourite team, but like it was said already, he'll be missing the first couple games of the week, keeping the luck of Benson's hockey pool team down to a minimum.  Bertuzzi will have a huge load to carry, as Benson's team opens the week in 20th place in the standings, 53 points out of the money.

Panthers Matheson Suspended for Two

On Monday afternoon, the NHL Department of Player Safety announced that they had suspended Florida Panthers defenseman Mike Matheson for his body slam of Elias Pettersson of the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night.  Matheson was suspended for interference and unsportsmanlike conduct on the play, after he had legally finished his check on the play.  Pettersson suffered a concussion on the play and will miss the next week's worth of action.

The 24-year old will miss Tuesday night's game in Philadelphia and then Friday night's game in Washington, eligible to return on Saturday, when the Panthers return home to face the Red Wings.

Two games for a defenseman on John P.'s roster won't be such a huge burden to bear, but it is certainly worse than having him in the lineup everyday.  John's defense is off to a slow start, where three out of the four defenders, including Matheson, have yet to register a point in the early part of this season, but you can bet your lucky stars that John is happy to have John Carlson of the Capitals on his team, picking up the slack.  John's team opens the week in 9th place, 4 points out of 3rd place, which is pretty good shape.

Caps Wilson Suspended 20 Games

Well, if today's decision on the suspension of Washington's Tom Wilson isn't a sign of things to come, especially for repeat offenders, then I don't know what would be.  The NHL Department of Player Safety suspended the Capitals forward for 20 games on Wednesday afternoon, just ahead of the team's opening night game against the Boston Bruins.

Wilson was suspended for his high, reckless hit on St. Louis' Oskar Sundqvist on Sunday, in his team's last preseason game, picking the head of his opponent and causing an injury.  As the video below illustrates, Wilson is considered a repeat offender, this being his 4th suspension in very close to a calendar year and the suspension length was partially determined to that frequency of offenses.

This is a huge blow to the Capitals, taking a key player out of their lineup for a quarter of the season, but it is an even bigger blow to Scott's hockey pool team, as he misses out on a big chunk of action from his 11th round pick this year.  Wilson will be eligible to return on November 21st, when the Blackhawks visit the Verizon Center.

As for preseason Waiver Draft, prior to this season, only injuries were eligible to be swapped out and the only change made to the proceedings, announced at the draft, were demotions were now eligible.  Unfortunately, that excludes suspensions.