Wild Injury Concerns

Things have been far from good in Minnesota these last few days. Injury problems have compounded during the week and the first half of the weekend and now they have been officially eliminated from playoff contention, so I can forgive them if they were feeling a tad downtrodden for the next week or so.

First of all, they received news that Nick Schultz would not be back again this season after suffering a concussion this week. Schultz had been missing some time of late, but I was unaware of it being because of a concussion until recently, so that was pretty bad news for one of their good stay-at-home defensemen.

Marek Zidlicky was not able to dress on Saturday against the Lightning, because of an undisclosed injury, which has not been officially related to the hamstring problem he was dealing with not long ago, but no new reports are out there to suggest otherwise. He's considered day-to-day and won't likely be rushed back.

In Saturday's contest against the Lightning, the Wild lost both Martin Havlat and John Madden to injury, decimating their line-up even further. Havlat suffered an undisclosed injury, likely after getting run over by a clean check from Mattias Ohlund, while Madden suffered a lower-body injury, not sure how, but he won't be available to the Wild on Sunday either.

There are equal portions of offense and defense being lost to the Wild at the moment, but now that they are not in the race any more, they'll likely be able to coast down the stretch and début a few new faces in their line-up, getting a jump on training camp next year.

Yes, there are a few pool concerns here in this post and one of them actually has play on the money spots as well for this week.  Havlat belongs to the 2nd place team that belongs to the duo of Kristy and Don.  Now, they do seemingly have a safe 15-point lead for 2nd place going into the week, but an injury is still an injury and could make this race a bit closer.  Also, Zidlicky belongs to Derek W. this year and he's trying to stay out of 20th place, carrying a 9-point lead over the bottom spot in the standings going into Sunday's action.  How much significance will this injury have on the race for the basement dweller?

Link to the Injury/News Page

Draft Player News (Apr 3)

Late in last night's game between the Ducks and Sharks, Lubomir Visnovsky suffered some kind of upper-body injury after Doug Murray toppled over him, during a very awkward check, just after the Ducks defender let go of a slap shot.  Visnovsky made it back to the bench on his own power, but went directly to the dressing room favouring something in the arm or shoulder area.  It's hard to say what the injury could be, but it didn't look too good.

With only one week to go in the season, Chris M. is possibly losing out on one of the better defensemen in pool scoring and with only a 7-point lead over 4th place, there could be some real concern.  More will come when this situation gets updated.

The Red Wings skated without Niklas Kronwall on Saturday against the Predators and they are likely going to do the same on Sunday against the Wild as well.  Kronwall is currently dealing with a shoulder injury, but it does sound like it is minor.  Kronwall took the pre-game skate on Saturday, but was a late scratch, likely exercising some cation before a long playoff run and not getting into a game that has very little meaning.  Since the Red Wings have now clinched their playoff spot, they should be resting more players down the stretch.

This, of course, doesn't help Peter H. too much, as his team is doing a good job of staying a float in the bottom half of the standings, climbing into 15th place this weekend.  Peter will miss out on another game from Kronwall on Sunday, which may hurt his numbers on Sunday, since he is only 2 points up on 16th and 3 points up on 17th.

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Sheet Player News (Apr 3)

In only his second game back from a concussion, Box 5 forward Gilbert Brule left Saturday night's game against the Canucks with an undisclosed injury, with much speculation about whether or not he suffered more concussion-like symptoms in the game. If that is the case, don't expect to see Brule for the remainder of the regular season.

A lower-body injury kept Box 24 forward Jeff Halpern from joining the rest of his Canadiens teammates on their trip down to New Jersey for their game against the Devils on Saturday night. The Canadiens will return home for a game against the Blackhawks on Tuesday, but there is still no word as to whether or not Halpern will be ready for that.

This one is more for the playoff pool sheet, so it is deemed important to note... Box 7 (on the playoff pool sheet) forward Jordin Tootoo suffered a bit of a back/neck injury in the week and that was what kept him out of Saturday's contest between the Predators and Red Wings. No word on the severity of the injury, but it will be worth paying attention to, because Nashville could be one of those teams that could surprise come playoff time.

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Hejda Handed Two Games

A suspension to report on Saturday morning, as Blue Jackets defenseman Jan Hejda was given two games for elbowing Blackhawks forward Marcus Kruger on Friday night.  Hejda was given a 2-minute minor on the play, but without a good replay available, I would have to assume that the elbow was to the head and the league starts sending a message towards elbows to the head with a small suspension.

Hejda, an unpopular member of Box 13 on the selection sheet this year, likely won't be missed in the pool.

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Pre-Game Notes for Saturday (Apr 2)

The Panthers are not expecting to have Stephen Weiss in their line-up on Saturday evening, as they take on the Penguins.  A reported groin problem is the reason for keeping Weiss out, not to mention not a great deal to play for on Saturday night, since Florida is already out and Pittsburgh is already in, there really is no spoiling left to be done.

As for some good news, it looks like Zach Parise will finally dress for the Devils tonight, as he has been cleared to resume his NHL career, albeit late for any meaning this season, but at least he'll be on the ice and playing before the season is done.  Parise is coming back from a major knee injury, which had to be surgically repaired and had a couple of setbacks thrown in for good measure.  It'll be good to see him back.

Link to the Injury/News Page

Ottawa to Debut Da Costa

I'm a little late to the party on this one, mostly because knowledge of NCAA players is hard to come by without extensive research, but the Ottawa Senators won the Stephane Da Costa sweepstakes on Thursday, a highly-touted 21-year old forward out of Merrimack University in the Hockey East Conference.  Da Costa signed a 2-year deal, which includes a pro-rated amount for the last week of NHL action this season.

Da Costa is considered to be more of a playmaking forward with some goal scoring capabilities, but does have some size concerns, standing only 5'11" and 180 pounds.  Of course, at 21, he's still got some growing to do.

Da Costa was chased by 16 NHL teams over the past week, as the reports go, so there is somewhat of a consensus about what he'll be able to bring to the table in his NHL career and now the Senators get first crack at him, starting tonight against the Leafs.  Da Costa will reportedly wear #24 and play on a line with Ryan Shannon and Erik Condra, a speedy line that should have some drive to the net.

The Devils Survive, the Blues Do Not

The West picture became a bit clearer on Friday night with another elimination, as the St. Louis Blues were eliminated before the final buzzer sounded against the Flames.  The Blackhawks ended up beating the Blue Jackets in the shootout, but it was the overtime point that the Blackhawks earned after 60 minutes that did the job in the end.  The Blues couldn't keep it together, assuming they were scoreboard watching, so they rolled over in the 3rd period and let the Flames stay in the race with a loss.  So, yes... the Blues are now out and only three teams are on the outside looking in on the West playoffs.

The New Jersey Devils survived the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday night, beating them 4-2.  The Devils just need to keep winning and hope that the teams ahead of them keep losing for any shot at the playoffs, but they are only holding on by the adjusted wins tie-breaker, which means they have to keep winning in regulation or overtime to make that work.  Tonight, the Devils have the Canadiens, which will be their next test with only five games remaining on their schedule.

Also on the chopping block in the Eastern Conference is the Atlanta Thrashers, who are in Boston to take on the Bruins tonight.  Any sort of loss will eliminate them from contention, since they will lose a point or two in their potential maximum finish and lose the adjusted wins tie-break and that will be that for them.  The makings of two eliminations in the Eastern Conference on Saturday night.

In the West, the Minnesota Wild are the only team on the block tonight and the Tampa Bay Lightning are in town to see them off.  The Wild are hanging on by the adjusted wins tie-break as well, so any sort of loss on Saturday afternoon will see them eliminated from the playoff pool sheet today.

An interesting look at today's schedule sees that neither 8th place team in the West or East are going on Saturday, which keeps the fate of the outside teams in their own hands for another day.

As for clinching a spot in the playoffs, none of the three remaining teams in the East can do so, but they can move leaps and bounds forward with a Hurricanes loss to the Islanders and a Maple Leafs loss to the Senators. Not sure how likely either one are, but that would make the story a little easier to process on Sunday.

Frankly, the Dallas Stars are the lynch pin in the West, as they have the games in hand and the better possibility of making the playoffs if they keep winning.  A division rival weekend for them will be awfully telling, especially since both rivals are in the playoffs going into Saturday's action.

In the West, the Red Wings can clinch a spot tonight by making it to overtime tonight, but a win would make them a win away from the Central Division title, which they are likely looking forward to.  The Coyotes are off for the weekend and they will be paying close attention to the Dallas Stars, who play the Kings tonight and the Ducks on Sunday, two regulation losses and the Coyotes coast into the playoffs.

Pre-Game Notes for Friday Night (Apr 1)

Very good news out of the Flames dressing room, as they are expecting to dress Daymond Langkow for the first time this season, after a long year of setbacks from his vertebrae injury that he suffered last season. Langkow finally received all of his clearances this week and Friday night in St. Louis will be his first bit of game action in over a calendar year.  I understand that no one has him on the selection sheet, due to his injury, but it is definitely worth pointing out today.

In last night's game against the Capitals, Steve Mason reportedly suffered an undisclosed injury and is considered to be doubtful for tonight's game against the Blackhawks.  The Blue Jackets have called up David Leneveu, if Mason cannot dress for the game tonight, but I would imagine that they won't push their franchise goalie now, especially since the game is meaningless to them.  They could, however, play spoiler to the Blackhawks attempt at clinching a playoff spot, but whether or not the Jackets feel that they need to is another story.  We'll consider Mason to be out day-to-day for now.

Link to the Injury/News Page

More News & Notes on Friday (Apr 1)

The Islanders lost the services of Frans Nielsen in Thursday night's game against the Rangers after taking a hit from Marian Gaborik in the 1st period.  Nielsen reportedly suffered a head injury in the game and didn't return.  The severity of the injury beyond leaving the game has not been disclosed as of yet, but it's being looked at and will likely be updated before the end of the season.

The Senators reportedly lost Erik Karlsson last night against the Panthers, as he suffered a lacerated thigh in the game.  The opening required about 25 stitches to close up, but fortunately for the up-and-coming defenseman, there was no muscle damage in the ordeal, which likely would have cost him the rest of the regular season, for what it is worth.  Karlsson will be considered day-to-day and questionable for their next game.

Karlsson belongs to Larry D. this season and he is currently 17 points out of the top 10 after Thursday night, so it does seem rather unlikely that he had a shot at finishing in the top half and any time now missed by Karlsson will compound that likelihood.

An update on Chris Pronger has dropped and he is now not expected to get back into the Flyers' line-up before the end of the regular season.  Pronger is dealing with a hand injury at the moment and it sounds like there was a setback in his rehabilitation, which will cost him the last couple games of the season, to which he was aiming to return for as a primer for the playoffs.  With a few days in between the end of the season and the start of the playoffs, he should have enough time to be ready, in theory.

The initial diagnosis was for Pronger to miss about 4 weeks of action, which technically, he is still in line for, which Ryan M., if he was paying attention to the news page, would know.  Ryan is in that race for a top 10 spot in the standings this year and likely would have preferred Pronger to return, but he's SOL now.  Can he crack 10th without him?

It looks as though Dennis Wideman is done for the remainder of the regular season and the start of the playoffs now sounds in doubt, as it has now been reported that Wideman is suffering from compartment syndrome in one of his legs, leading to a haematoma and possible some permanent damage to his legs.  It does sound quite serious, but the diagnosis is looking like at least the next two weeks on the shelf and could be more, depending on setbacks.  You may want to avoid Wideman in the playoff pool, if you're as uncertain as the rest of us.

Again, this shouldn't be a great concern for Allan S. in the draft, as he has established a big enough lead to give Wideman the rest of the season off, as if he had the choice.

Link to the Injury/News Page

A Couple of Clinches and an Elimination

Finally, a little bit of action on the playoff pool selection sheet this morning, as some of the results shook a couple of teams into the playoffs and one officially out of the playoffs.  I have a few minutes this morning, so I'm going to get through it really quickly and adjust the playoff pool selection sheet to reflect these same results.  So, here goes...

First off, the Canucks clinched the President's Trophy, meaning they will have home-ice advantage in each round they play this Spring.  With the Flyers losing to the Thrashers in regulation and a win at home over the Kings, no other team in the league will best them in the standings.

The San Jose Sharks clinched their spot in the Western Conference playoff picture with a convincing regulation win over the Dallas Stars on Thursday night.  They are the second West team to clinch this season, with more right around the corner.

The Tampa Bay Lightning earned a win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night to clinch their spot in the playoffs, making them the fifth team in the East to clinch.

On the way out, the Columbus Blue Jackets only needed to lose in overtime to be eliminated and that was exactly what happened.  The Jackets lost in overtime to the Capitals and that was that for them, eliminating the likes of Rick Nash and Steve Mason from the online selection sheet this morning.  It was a pretty rough year for the Jackets and now they don't have to worry about the rest of the year and start looking forward to their Summer.

Friday's schedule is fairly light, but it isn't without some playoff implications.  The Devils can officially be eliminated tonight with an overtime or shootout loss, only needing to lose 1 point to be officially eliminated.  They host the Flyers in one of the evening's early games.  The St. Louis Blues are in the same boat as the Devils, as they host the Flames tonight.  The Flames can keep their slim playoff hopes alive with a win, any kind of win will do, since they already don't have the adjusted wins tie-breaker in their favour.

The Blackhawks can put some more teams on the brink of elimination with a win over the Blue Jackets in Columbus, since they hold the 8th position in the standings, they can lower the death number for all the teams below them by one with a win.  If the Blues beat the Flames tonight and the Blackhawks win, the Blues will still be out of the playoffs.

Undisclosed Injury for Nash

The Columbus Blue Jackets, a team that was pretty well out of the playoffs before last night's action, mathematically eliminated after last night's action, was taking some precautions with their superstar forward Rick Nash, by giving him the night off to rest and undisclosed injury.  Nash, normally a player that see every game if he was healthy, was permitted the night off to help work out whatever injury problems he has, but after the game, it didn't sound like it was getting much better, so he is likely to miss tonight's game against the Blackhawks.

There is some speculation that the injury may be related to some groin issues he has had in the past, but again, that is only speculation at this point.

The 2011 season has not been a banner year for Nash, as he hasn't been able to find that scoring touch we are all used to seeing from the big power forward, so his rankings are a tad disappointing, but the team around him hasn't been too stellar either.  Nash, after last night's action, is ranked 36th in pool scoring with 32 goals and 34 assists, which isn't a bad season, but it's definitely not the banner-type season of 40-50 goals, we've all seen before.  I would imagine Nash will dress again before the end of the season, but another game or two off may hurt his end-of-season numbers.

This may come as a bigger concern to Leon G., who is currently holding onto a top 10 spot in the draft standings and is currently in the running for the Basement Dweller in Week Twenty-Six, so I would think that Leon is hoping that Nash is back sooner, rather than later, just to finish strong in the draft.  Sure, it's not a money position, but a top 10 finish is still a top 10 finish.

Link to the Injury/News Page

Draft Player News (Apr 1)

The Coyotes have been making Oliver Ekman-Larsson into a healthy scratch more often than not down the stretch this season, so it was only a matter of time that the team sends him down to the minors for some regular playing time. With the return of Ed Jovanovski right around the corner, the team needed to make some room on the blueline, meaning one of the players currently being dressed will likely become a scratch for Jovanovski's return.

This doesn't come as a big shock to Clayton C.'s draft team today, as he hasn't seen Ekman-Larsson play in a few weeks, so this really only cinches the deal for him, not expecting to see him in the last week, barring injury.

Link to the Injury/News Page

Sheet Player News (Apr 1)

The Bruins are still finding some imperfections in their line-up and they are still addressing them by making players into healthy scratches these days.  On Thursday night, it was Johnny Boychuk who was the one out of the line-up, as he has not been impressing much lately.  It hasn't been the best of seasons for Boychuk, but if he has a bit more of that playoff magic in him, all will be forgotten.

It was back to the press box for Craig Rivet, as the Blue Jackets took on the Capitals on Thursday night.  If I had to put a guess on it, Rivet's speed or lack thereof, was likely and issue going up against a quick team in Washington, so with nothing on the line, the team gave some younger legs some ice-time and some experience, also giving Rivet the night off.

The Predators surprised no one with the scratching of J-P Dumont again on Thursday night.  Dumont was on a pretty good stretch, where he was figuring into the line-up for Nashville, but that has now come to a halt with the trip up to the press box for the game against the Avalanche.  The Predators will be soon looking at a playoff berth, but I am beginning to wonder what kind of plans they have for a veteran like Dumont for the Spring.

A foot injury was the reason that defenseman Bruno Gervais didn't line-up for the Islanders on Thursday night for their rivalry game against the Rangers.  Gervais is considered out day-to-day with the injury and it is unclear as to how much of the final week and a bit of the schedule he will miss.  The Box 29 defenseman has missed a fair bit of time due to scratches and now an injury is the cherry on top it seems.  This does allow the Islanders to dress some youth down the stretch, as there is no hope for the playoffs.

The Rangers are scratching some players now down the stretch, likely with the intention of getting their game faces on as they head down the stretch.  Wojtek Wolski made a return to the Rangers' press box on Thursday night, not unfamiliar territory for the streaky Polak.  I would imagine that he'll figure back into the Rangers' line-up after Thursday night's beating at the hands of the Islanders, not to say his exclusion was the reason they lost so badly.

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