Another Negative Markov Update

The news just continues to keep Andrei Markov down, as he rehabs a serious knee injury this season. After a few weeks of skating on it, he still hasn't felt 100% as of yet and on Saturday afternoon, the team announced that their star defenseman will be out just a little bit longer, as he will go under the knife one more time for another minor procedure. The team expects Markov to be out for another three weeks, delaying his season debut until the beginning of January or so.

Even with this new bit of news, it didn't force Wes M.'s hand to drop the Russian defenseman, citing that there isn't really a defenseman that is expected to get as many points as Markov might upon his return, plus he could probably get more points from a new forward instead.  Wes decided to pick up Kristian Huselius for Kyle Okposo instead, trying to boost him a little higher in the standings, where he currently stands in 13th spot, 8 points out of the top 10.

Draft Player News (Dec. 3)

The Blue Jackets were forced to keep forward Jeff Carter out of the line-up in Edmonton on Friday night, due to a lower-body injury. The injury is believed to be a minor ankle sprain, which he suffered the night before in Calgary, but there has been no official confirmation on that just yet. The reports that have suggested the ankle sprain, also suggest that it is so minor, that he could be able to play on Tuesday, in Montreal, which is the team's next game.

Even in the games he has been able to play, Carter has not been his usual scoring self, which has been a real disappointment for the team this year.  In 15 games, he has only picked up 3 goals and 5 assists, which is only good enough for 319th in pool scoring.  It hasn't been a good match for him in Columbus, which could amp up the trade talks a little bit more, upon his return.

In the draft, Carter belongs to Munden G., who would likely accept a trade to a better environment for one of his top forwards, as he currently sits in 17th, going into Saturday's action, 12 points behind 16th.

Fortunately for Niklas Backstrom, before he suffered is groin injury, which forced him out of the game against the Devils after the 1st period, the Wild had already scored three goals, so when the final buzzer went at the end of the game and it was a 4-2 victory, he was able to register the win, as the goalie on record for the winning goal.  The real unfortunate part is that he was actually injured and forced to leave the game.  The initial word is that the injury isn't too serious, but he will miss a few days, which could equate into a couple of starts right now.

The goaltending in Minnesota has been one of the key reasons for their early season success, Backstrom included, as he has 10 wins, 2 shutouts and 2 assists this season, good enough for 26 points and he currently ranks 23rd among all players in pool scoring, 8th among all goalies.  That's a very solid start, especially when you consider he has shared a number of starts with Josh Harding this year.

This isn't good news for Leon G., who is trying to keep that gap between himself and Munden alive in 16th spot, while also trying to chase down a tight group, as Leon only sits 13 points out of 11th spot, which would be one good week away from closing in on the top 10.  Backstrom hasn't been guaranteed starts, but he has been good in his, so one or two starts isn't much, but if it gets to be any more than that, I would consider this to be a big loss.

Sheet Player News (Dec. 3)

Sabres' Box 24 forward Nathan Gerbe was the victim of a fairly nasty accident, where his teammate was tripped up during a face-off and one of his skates came right up from underneath him, kicking Gerbe square in the mouth with his skate blade. Gerbe immediately left the ice in considerable pain and left the game, not to return. There have not been very many details regarding the injury, but the Sabres have announced that he will not be able to go tonight in Nashville.

It appears that defenseman John Moore was a healthy scratch for the Blue Jackets on Friday against the Oilers. The Box 14 rookie defenseman has not panned out offensively, as the team may have liked to start the season, only having 1 goal in 17 games this season. There may have been some defensive concerns as well, since the team was matching up against a speedy and dynamic team in Edmonton, but that is just speculation on my part. I don't expect Moore to be out of the line-up much longer, unless, he's got a ticket to more minutes in the AHL.

Box 8 forward Bryan Bickell was a healthy scratch for the Blackhawks on Friday night, as they played at home to the Islanders. The checking forward hasn't been terribly effective for the team of late, so a game in the press box was needed. The checking forward was included on the selection sheet this year, after a good season in 2011, but he has only 3 goals and 2 assists in 24 games for the Hawks, which isn't quite good enough.  I don't think Bickell could be out of action for too long, but that'll be a coaching decision.

A leg injury has sidelined Islanders defenseman Andrew MacDonald on a day-to-day basis, forcing him to miss Friday night's contest against the Blackhawks. MacDonald's injury is considered to be minor, as he was a game-time decision on Friday night, but the team likely aired on the side of caution for the evening, not dressing him.  MacDonald was one of last year's surprise players, getting a lot of attention from his scoring rate, but this season, he hasn't quite lived up to those new expectations, only having 1 goal in 22 games for the Islanders.

Kings' Richards to the IR

The news on forward Mike Richards took a small turn for the worse, as the Kings have placed him on the Injured Reserve with his lower-body injury.  Richards suffered the injury on Thursday night against the Florida Panthers, not returning to the game.  Now that Richards has been placed on the IR, he will have to miss at least the next week of action, which would make him eligible to return to the line-up on December 9th.

Richards has been a very important part of the Kings offense in the early part of the season, having 11 goals and 9 assists in the first 25 games of the year, which had him ranked 57th in scoring before play started on Friday night.  Missing out on a week will likely mean he'll be out for four games, but of course, that is on the low end of the scale, as there has been no real confirmation of when he will comeback.

On the plus side, of sorts, the Kings will welcome Dustin Penner back to the line-up, as they activated him from the IR on Friday afternoon, the same time they placed Richards on the list.  Penner has been out since the middle of November with a hand injury.  Unfortunately, his numbers that he left the line-up with have not given anyone any confidence that he will make a big impact on the team, but I don't think you can really count out the possibility that he may be a bit more refreshed and he could be coming back with a better idea of how the team plays.

Well, Stuart G. sees all the draft pool action from this news byte.  He has both Richards and Penner, but he only has Penner for another couple days, as he was the first drop from his draft team this week, improving to Luke Adam of the Sabres in the process.  There was no confidence that Penner was going to make a big impact in Los Angeles upon his return.

At the time of Penner's injury, Stuart was in 3rd place in the standings, only 4 points of 2nd place, but a few weeks away has seen him drop down to 5th spot, 4 points back of 3rd place and 7 points back of 2nd, but with waiver draft improvements and the loss of Richards, it's hard to tell how good Stuart's team is really going to be.

Giordano Out Indefinitely

The news is not good for Calgary Flames forward Mark Giordano, who has suffered some ruptured tendons in his leg, which will keep him on the shelf for an indefinite period of time, according to a team release on Friday afternoon. Giordano suffered the injury on Tuesday night against the Predators, having left the game early, not to return and the MRI results from Thursday's scan came in negatively, which has led to this announcement.  His next MRI to show his progress is scheduled for three weeks from now, which would be considered a minimum amount of time away from the ice for now.  I don't think any one was prepared to say what the worst-case scenario would be.

This is going to be a big hole for the Flames to fill, as Giordano has been one of the catalysts for whatever offense they have managed this season, registering 4 goals and 4 assists in 24 games with the club, but this is where it'll stop for the time being.  At the time of the injury, Giordano was ranked 304th in pool scoring, 56th among all defensemen in the league.

This is not good news for Munden, who has already burned both of his waiver draft picks on a couple of players, but he was able to pick up a forward and a defenseman who are healthy, so he might not miss Giordano too much, for now.  Munden sits in 18th spot in the standings, 51 points out of 4th place, which might be a bit out of reach, unless his team gets their acts together.

Draft Player News (Dec. 2)

Although technically, Kris Versteeg isn't part of the draft as of today, he will be on Monday and injury news should be considered significant.  On Tuesday night, Versteeg took an elbow from the Hurricanes' Derek Joslin, which has reportedly broken his nose.  A broken nose isn't necessarily going to keep him out of the line-up for too long, but it will cause him to miss some more time, probably in the range of a week or so, which will delay his début in the draft pool this season.

Versteeg has had a phenomenal start to the 2012 season, scoring 12 goals and 14 assists in 24 games for the Panthers, which has him unofficially sitting in 13th in pool scoring, going into Friday's action.

Versteeg was taken 2nd overall in this week's waiver draft by Ryan M., who is in desperate need of some points to get him back into the game.  For Ryan's sake he'll be hoping that Versteeg is ready to play on Monday night, when he becomes active for his team.  Ryan has since moved up a spot to 20th in Week Nine and does have striking distance to a couple of other spots above him.

One of the Kings' prized off-season acquisitions, Mike Richards, took a high hit from the Panthers' Sean Bergenheim in the 2nd period of their game on Thursday night and didn't return to the game.  The official line from the team is that he left with an upper-body injury and wasn't expected to return.  He'll be considered day-to-day, until there are further updates on his condition.

Richards has been good for the Kings to start the year, scoring 11 goals and 9 assists in 25 games, which is good enough for 57th overall in pool scoring, through Thursday night.

This isn't good news for Stuart G., who likely won't want to make a trade for him, so he's hoping for a speedy recovery.  Stuart currently holds the last money spot in the pool, 4th spot, but only by a thread.

The Minnesota Wild remarkably lost two players out of their line-up on Wednesday night, due to charleyhorses, one of them being Cal Clutterbuck, a player in the pool and non-pool forward Darroll Powe.  Both players are considered to be day-to-day and both are considered to be doubtful for tonight's game, at home to the Devils.

Clutterbuck, who is the only pool player in this byte, hasn't exactly been lighting it up for the Wild this season, having only 7 goals and 3 assists in 24 games this year, good enough for 247th overall.

Well, if Darren S. is going to start a climb back up to the top of the standings, he is going to need all of his players healthy, starting today.  Darren now sits 95 points out of 1st place and 70 points out of the last money spot.  I don't know if I want to say it is too late, but I think most are already saying it.

An undisclosed upper-body injury was enough to keep Predators forward Sergei Kostitsyn out of the line-up for their game against the Canucks on Thursday night.  Kostitsyn has already been out of the line-up once before this season, so it hasn't been the best of starts to the season for the dynamic winger.  He is currently listed as out day-to-day and is likely considered to be questionable for the weekend's action.

In 20 games this season, Kostitsyn has 3 goals and 8 assists, so his scoring results have not been too bad, scoring at over half a point-per-game, but the Predators could always use a little more offense, despite their 6-goal explosion on Thursday night.

This is one of three players that Niesa S. has lost on this post alone, the last two coming after this.  Niesa has been having a pretty good week to this point, as one of the weekly leaders with 17 points, through Thursday night.  If Kostitsyn can return on the weekend, Niesa's team will be in much better shape to contend for the Mover and Shaker for the week.

A lower-body injury, thought to be a slight aggravation of a previous groin injury was the reason that defenseman Sami Salo was out of the Canucks line-up on Thursday and it could have been argued that he was missed in a 6-5 loss to the Predators.  The injury isn't considered to be serious, likely keeping the defender out of the line-up to prevent further and more severe injury.

Salo has been quite good, in terms of defenseman standards, scoring 5 goals and adding 8 assists in 21 games for the Canucks, picking up a lot of points on the power play this season.  His presence has been good at both ends of the ice.

In the draft, Dale C. has benefited a lot from the little extra that Salo has provided this year, now sitting in 2nd spot in the standings, 17 points back of 1st place.  If Salo is back for Saturday's game against the Flames, this will be considered a little blip in his season and nothing to really worry about.

The Washington Capitals have not seen many dividends pay from the off-season signing of Roman Hamrlik, who has been rather disappointing this year. On Thursday night against the Penguins, the new coaching staff for the Caps decided to make Hamrlik a scratch and sent him up to the press box for the night.  The Capitals only allowed one goal in the game, but they were unable to score, which was also rather disappointing.

In 23 games this season, Hamrlik only has 1 goal and that is nowhere near the production that anyone thought they would see out of the veteran Czech defender.

And it is that kind of production that has forced Niesa to make Hamrlik her first drop in the waiver draft, picking up Panthers dynamo Jason Garrison.  This should likely be the last time we see Hamrlik in the draft player news, now that he'll be relegated to the sheet news.

An undisclosed injury kept Nikolai Antropov out of the Jets line-up on Thursday night, after feeling the effects of the injury on Tuesday night against the Senators.  Antropov didn't finish the game against the Sens on Tuesday and was held out of the game last night, but his status is yet to be updated officially.  We'll consider him out day-to-day for now, but without a proper update, we are just guessing at the moment.

Antropov has been okay for the Jets to start the year, scoring 4 goals and 11 assists in 22 games, which is good enough for 142nd in pool scoring.  It isn't a great start to the year, but the Jets, as a whole, haven't been highly potent in the offensive end.

This is the third of Niesa's players who were out on Thursday night, but fortunately, it doesn't sound like there is anything serious among all three of them, so that is certainly a positive.  Niesa, with another pick left in the waiver draft, can still make some noise in the pool this season.

Sheet Player News (Dec. 2)

The Ottawa Senators were without Box 28 defenseman Filip Kuba on Thursday night, because the veteran defenseman suffered an upper-body injury on Tuesday night against the Jets, leaving the game and not returning. There hasn't been much for an injury update, but for now, I would feel comfortable saying that he'll be out day-to-day. Kuba has 2 goals and 6 assists in 24 games for the Sens this season, which isn't solid numbers, but at least he has been contributing a little to the season.

An undisclosed injury kept Jets forward Eric Fehr out of practice on Wednesday and then he was held out of Thursday night's game against the Coyotes, but as of early on Friday morning, there was no explanation as to why.  On the plus side, Fehr's absence gave Box 25's Carl Klingberg a recall from the minors and he made his NHL debut on Thursday night, but was held pointless in the game.  At least there was some kind of small positive in this news byte.

Contract Extensions of From the Last Couple Days

On Thursday morning, the Boston Bruins announced they re-signed forward David Krejci to a new 3-year contract extension, worth $15.75 million over the duration of the deal, a $5.25 million cap hit per year.  Krejci, 25, was scheduled to become a restricted free agent this coming Summer, but his new deal will avoid that situation and he won't have to worry about a new deal until 2015.

Krejci has been an instrumental player for the Bruins over the last few of seasons, including through their Cup run last season, so the team made sure that he will be a part of the core group for a little while yet.  In 20 games this year, Krejci has 4 goals and 9 assists, which is only good enough for 174th in pool scoring, but he does play a solid two-way game, which the Bruins obviously feel is worth the extra coin.

On Wednesday, the Tampa Bay Lightning announced that they have signed their 1st round pick from 2009 to a new contract extension, as his entry-level deal is set to expire in July. Victor Hedman signed a 5-year deal, worth $20 million, which works out to be a $4 million cap hit per season, which starts next season and runs through the 2017 season.

Hedman has quickly developed into a solid starting defenseman for the Lightning in his first 2-plus seasons with the club, although his offensive numbers haven't quite been as spectacular as they may have hoped.  In 21 games this season, the 20-year old has 2 goals.  Still, there is a lot he brings to the table each night, which makes him a very good value for the team.

Draft Player News (Dec. 1)

The New Jersey Devils were without defenseman Andy Greene on Wednesday night for their game against the Colorado Avalanche, due to some minor bumps and bruises, likely categorized as a maintenance day.  Greene is considered to be day-to-day and shouldn't be out of the line-up for very long.

In 20 games this season, Greene has picked up 8 assists, good enough for 322nd in pool scoring this season.

Greene belongs to our pool leader, Wayne H., who continues to roll in the pool this season, still leading and having a pretty good Week Nine, maintaining his lead.  I don't think he'll be missing out on one or two games from one of his defensemen.

It was a good stretch of games for Cody Franson after being a healthy scratch for an extended period of time for the Leafs, but it all came to an end, as the team sent him back up to the press box on Wednesday night, in favour of young defenseman Keith Aulie.  This has led to all kinds of speculation that Franson could be on an accelerated path to the trade market, but most of that talk is still premature.

In 10 games played, Franson has 1 goal and 4 assists, which isn't a bad scoring rate, compared to other defensemen in the league, but there has been a lingering question about his two-way game and his responsibility on the ice, which has been the main cause of his scratches.

It has not been a good week for Clayton C., who has been hit hard by a few injuries and now a healthy scratch again for one of his defensemen.  Clayton has dropped down to 7th spot in the standings, now 13 points out of 4th place.