Morning Player Notes (Dec 20)

Already having been in the AHL since the early part of the regular season, the Carolina Hurricanes were kind enough to send prospect Martin Necas to the World Junior tournament to play with the Czech Republic over the next few weeks.  Necas was a standout in last year's tournament and since he wasn't being used at the NHL level, it was a no-brainer to send him.  This will mean that he will be ineligible to come back to the NHL level for at least the next three weeks, but it will be a good opportunity for him and his development.

Derek B. has opted to play hard in the rookie mini-game and he was hoping that Necas would be making a return sooner, rather than later, to the Hurricanes club.  There are no points for the World Juniors, although it wouldn't be a bad idea to put a selection sheet together for it.

Wednesday night was good for a couple of key returns to lineups, as Alex Kerfoot returned to the Avalanche lineup from an undisclosed injury, while Patric Hornqvist returned to the Penguins lineup from an upper-body injury.  Both Stacey C. and Chelsea should have been pleased about that.

We're expecting two more key returns tonight, as John Klingberg of the Stars and Matt Duchene of the Senators are both returning to their respective lineups tonight, coming off the IR, giving Eric and Jesse some new hope moving forward.  Klingberg returning from a broken hand and Duchene, a significant lower-body injury.

Noon Player Notes (Dec 18)

The Chicago Blackhawks announced a couple of hockey pool related moves on Tuesday morning, activating defenseman Gustav Forsling from the Injured Reserve after missing the last two weeks with a shoulder injury.  In corresponding news, the Blackhawks have opted to send rookie defenseman Henri Jokiharju to the World Junior tournament, loaning him to the Finland side for the next few weeks, to which he'll be able to return once the tournament concludes.  It's one of those rare situations where a team has loaned out a player to the tournament, but with how poorly the season is going for the Blackhawks, heading off to play big minutes in a big tourney could do a lot of good for his development.

The return is good news for Neil's team, who has not seen much from his Waiver Draft pickup just as of yet, hurt in his first game under the team's umbrella.  His team can use a little bit more help, having dropped down from their good start this season, down to 19th place.  Brian, on the other hand, will be without his only involvement in the rookie pool for the next three weeks or so, as the Finn has 11 points on record so far, which ranks Brian in 11th in the mini-game.

A lineup note for the Dallas Stars today, as they faceoff against the Calgary Flames at home... they'll be without forward Jason Spezza, as he's fallen under the weather and is day-to-day.  Doesn't sound like anything too serious and I think we could expect him back for Thursday's contest, home to the Blackhawks.

This will be a skater game lost for Dale C., who picked up Spezza in the Waiver Draft and has seen some reasonable production, since his activation.  3 assists in six games isn't too bad for a late season add, but that half a point-per-game scoring rate will take a quick break this week.

Sheet Player News (Dec. 23)

On Tuesday night against the Coyotes, Panthers Box 6 forward Marco Sturm left the game with what was called a leg injury after blocking a shot. The details are now getting somewhat hazy on Friday morning, as there is a hint that Sturm may have been hit on the head with a puck, while he was on the bench and is now suffering concussion-like symptoms. There is no real confirmation on the concussion, so we'll just call it a leg injury for now, but at least we have something to keep an eye out for.  Sturm is not much of a fantasy option this season, with only 3 points to date.

The rotation among Panthers defensemen continued on Thursday night, as Erik Gudbranson was a healthy scratch yet again, as the team took on the Senators.  Gudbranson hasn't dominated any play this year for Florida, so his season has been somewhat disappointing.  Gudbranson has only 1 goal and 1 assist in 26 games this year and did doesn't appear like his play away from the puck or in the defensive zone have been good enough to keep him in the line-up, despite his offensive numbers, so he may not be a good pick this year.  Re-visit him again next season.

Another one of my long shot prospects on the sheet, Austin Watson of the Nashville Predators, was named to the USA squad for the World Junior Championships this year, which is a great honour for him. Watson was sent back to juniors out of training camp this year, after being heralded as a top prospect for Nashville this season, but obviously, the team wanted a little bit more seasoning on him before joining the big club.  Watson has 33 points in 32 games with the Peterborough Petes in the OHL this season.

The Sheet Pool and the World Juniors

For the past couple of seasons, I've been trying to get the selection sheet pool ahead of the curve a little, trying to designate some of the top drafted young players onto the sheet and hope we get some real gems to breakout for lots of points. Since I've expanded the selection sheet to 32 boxes a couple of seasons ago, I had the chance to add young player boxes in Box 9 and Box 25 for forwards and Box 14 and Box 30 for defensemen, which has worked to varying success.

What I have noticed, this year especially, that a good number of those kids who were picked for those young player boxes have gone on to represent their country at the World Juniors, the under-20 tournament, which is one of my favourites, around this time of year.  Well, the sheet pool has been well represented this year, mostly by Canada, of course.

Brett Connolly, Louis Leblanc, Ryan Ellis, Calvin de Haan, Brayden Schenn and Ryan Johansen are all figuring prominently for the Canadian side at this year's tournament and most of them were very close to cracking their NHL squad, with Schenn actually playing in eight games for the Kings this season.

Only one American was chosen on the sheet this year, as Kyle Palmieri of the Ducks was selected to represent the USA in their title defense.

Let's also not forget the Swiss speedster, Nino Niederreiter, who managed to get in his nine games with the Islanders this year.  He was awfully close to cracking the Islanders full-time roster, but his development was better served in the WHL and playing in this tournament.

The eight players that were chosen from this year's sheet is way up on the sheet from the 2010 season, where only Cody Hodgson, Jordan Eberle and Alex Pietrangelo were selected from the junior program.  It is definitely better to have less players play at the World Juniors if they are on the selection sheet, but at least you should have a keen idea of who should be good enough for the NHL eventually.  Plus, you will have already seen their names once or twice before they really break through.

It's just a little food for thought this year.