Draft Pool News (Mar. 4)

Another goaltending incident, similar to Niklas Backstrom of the Wild's on Friday night, happened again on Saturday afternoon, as Tuukka Rask had to leave the Bruins' game against the Islanders with a lower-body injury. Rask went down for a save and looked to have tweaked something on the way back up from the butterfly position, much like Backstrom's groin strain, which will now keep the Wild goaltender out for up to a month.

There has been no confirmation of the injury severity of the injury, but the team has called up goaltender Michael Hutchinson to back-up Tim Thomas on Sunday, so they certainly don't expect him to be ready to play right away.

Rask belongs to Ryan M. in the draft this season and after this week, there may still be an outside shot that he makes it to the top 10, unless Rask is out for the long-term.  Ryan has had a great week in Week Twenty-Two with 26 points, but he still sits 33 points out with only a month and a bit left in the season.  There is no money impact here, but the top 10 would be a huge improvement from being in last place early on in the season.

The Colorado Avalanche are reportedly going to be without newly-acquired forward Steve Downie for their game against the Minnesota Wild on Sunday evening. Downie was injured on Saturday night during a multi-body pile up, hurting his shoulder, and the injury is considered to be significant enough to keep him out of action.  Downie has had some tests done on the shoulder since the game on Saturday night, but the results have not been disclosed, so all we can figure is that he is out day-to-day for right now.

Downie has been good since his move to Denver, keeping Wayne H. in the money conversation in the draft standings, but this injury could be significant, since he only holds a 1-point lead over Benson G. for 5th going into Sunday's action.  If the injury turns out to be more serious, this could be real trouble for Wayne's team.

The Capitals have called up goaltender Braden Holtby on Sunday morning to back-up Michal Neuvirth during their contest against the Philadelphia Flyers in the evening, thanks to an lower-body injury that will keep Tomas Vokoun from doing the job. Vokoun was hurt on Saturday and the team held out as long as they could to confirm his status for the game, but on Sunday, it was made official that he wouldn't dress, so Holtby had to come up. This is about all we know at the moment and he will be listed as out day-to-day.

No money value in this news byte, as this is another hit to Leon G.'s draft team, missing out on another possible start from Vokoun.  Leon now sits in 14th spot, 46 points out of the top 10.

Draft Player News (Mar. 3)

As noted in the Sheet news down below, the Blackhawks are running with some real depth on their squad, especially due to some of the key injuries and the lack of call-ups they can have down the road. Another regular healthy scratch made it back up to the press box on Friday night, as defenseman Sean O'Donnell was a healthy scratch again for the game against the Senators.  With the acquisition of Johnny Oduya at the deadline, O'Donnell has been penciled out of the line-up for now, but when a couple more players get healthy, it could be more of a permanent move.

No money impact with this move, as Munden G. has O'Donnell this season and is sitting down in 18th spot. Munden's defense has hurt him this season, having only collected 68 points in total this season, well-below the pool average of 91 points.

In the Red Wings' 6-0 slaughtering of the Wild on Friday night, the team lost a piece of the line-up in Todd Bertuzzi, who left the game with a groin injury.  As of late on Friday night, there was no immediate update on the condition of Bertuzzi, so there was no word on his availability for Sunday afternoon's Central Division clash with the Blackhawks.  Generally, if the move was precautionary, there would have been some mention of it, so this could be a significant injury to consider, but he'll be day-to-day, until otherwise noted.

The race for last place has become a little bit more interesting, as Darren S. pulled himself out of 22nd in the standings and moved up to 21st this week, but he has Bertuzzi and a 1-point lead over last place.  The battle for the basement has really started to heat up.  It should heat up, since that's where the furnace is.

Even more injury troubles for the Minnesota Wild, as rough-and-tumble forward Cal Clutterbuck left Friday night's game against the Red Wings, due to an upper-body injury.  Clutterbuck has suffered from charley horses at a couple different points in the season, but an upper-body injury is a bit of a new one.  There was no update from the team on Saturday morning, so he'll remain day-to-day with the upper-body injury, as we approach a Sunday evening clash against the Avalanche.

Darren's team takes another hit with the loss of Clutterbuck, already having lost Bertuzzi to injury above in this post.  Darren made up 5 points on Derek W. in the week, to give him that 1-point edge, but now with a couple of new injuries, there could be some concern as to whether or not he'll be able to keep 21st place.

The New York Islanders announced on Saturday morning that Michael Grabner will not be able to participate in Saturday afternoon's game against the Bruins in Boston, because of an illness.  Grabner's spot will be taken by Nino Niederreiter, who has been a healthy scratch for the last few games this season and I would expect to see Grabner back in the line-up before too long.  Grabner has not been able to replicate the same sort of success he had after moving to Long Island last season, scoring only 15 goals and 10 assists in 63 games this season.

In the race for 3rd place money, Stacey C., who has Grabner, is trying to chase down Stuart G. on Saturday, trailing only by 2 points and will now be without one of his speedy scorers.  Stuart has a few more games already scheduled for the remainder of the week than Stacey, will gain an extra one, thanks to this scratching.

Sheet Player News (Mar. 3)

A fairly bad season for Ducks back-up goalie Dan Ellis has gotten worse and the likelihood that he sees any more action in the crease this season is next to nil.  Ellis, who has already been sitting out with a sports hernia, underwent groin surgery on Friday, which will keep him out of the line-up for the next 4-to-6 weeks, which pretty well concludes his regular season.  After this week, there will only be five more weeks of action and the Ducks are so far out of the playoff race, that it seems very unlikely that they will make it.  Ellis will finish the season with only 3 points, thanks to 1 win and 1 assist to his name.

We are now at a point in the season, where teams can start to carry more players on their roster, if the salary cap can allow it and the number of minor-league recalls have now been capped, so there should be a few extra players getting scratched between now and the rest of the regular season.  In the press box on Friday night for the Blackhawks were Box 4 forward Brendan Morrison and Box 7 forward Michal Frolik, each have been regular scratches for a good portion of the season.  The Blackhawks are safe in the playoffs, for now, but their depth hasn't done anything to help their slide down the Western Conference standings, neither have the injuries.

The Florida Panthers are scheduled to play in back-to-back home games on Saturday and Sunday, so it was decided that veteran defenseman Ed Jovanovski will get one of those nights off and it appears to be Saturday's game against Nashville.  With the Panthers firmly entrenched in a playoff spot, okay not firmly at all, but in a playoff spot, the team will look to preserve some of their health, especially on back-to-back nights and start preparation for the playoffs now.  Jovanovski is scheduled to make his return on Sunday against the Senators, a key Eastern Conference match-up.

Newly-acquired Box 25 forward Nick Palmieri suffered an upper-body injury on Friday night, when the Wild took on the Red Wings. There has been no update on Saturday morning from the team or the media outlets, so his availability for Sunday's game is still up in the air.  I would imagine that if he does miss the game, he will be listed as out day-to-day with the injury.  The Wild play in the evening on Sunday, so the update may come a little bit later and unless the update is something long-term, we probably won't have an update on the blog, since he wasn't terribly popular in the pool.

Goalie Backstrom Out 4 Weeks

The injury news for Niklas Backstrom is already in from the Minnesota Wild and he is now expected to be out of the crease for the next 2-to-4 weeks with a groin strain,  Backstrom suffered the injury in the 1st period of the game against the Canadiens on Thursday night, having to leave the game with under three minutes played.  He was helped off the ice, unable to put any weight on the injured area, which makes this news less-than-surprising.

After a pretty rockin' start to the 2012 season, Backstrom's season really cooled down and now he is barely hanging onto a spot in the pool rankings that would consider himself one of 30 starting goalies in the league, according to pool point rankings.  As of Friday afternoon, Backstrom sits in 25th among all goalies with 17 wins, 4 shutouts and 2 assists for 44 points, which is also good enough for 98th overall.  This injury should not finish his season, but it will put a significant dent in his rankings, something that may play heavily at the pool draft next season.

As it was noted earlier in the day, this injury won't have any effect on the money races in the draft or the sheet pool and since it is unlikely that the Wild are going to be participating in the playoffs this year, it certainly won't have any effect on the selection in that pool either.

Broken Foot for Van Riemsdyk

The Philadelphia Flyers and James Van Riemsdyk just can't catch a break this season, unless it's a bone. On Friday, the 22-year old underwent surgery to repair a broken bone in his left foot and now he is expected to miss the next 4-to-6 weeks worth of action, placing his possible return near the middle of April.  With the regular season scheduled to end on April 7th, there is a chance that Van Riemsdyk may not be able to return before the end of it.

The Flyers are in the playoff race, however, so he may be should be able to figure into the line-up for some playoff action, which will likely be a much-needed addition down the stretch.

This being Van Riemsdyk's third full season in the NHL, it was thought that he would be able to really break out with a bit more responsibility in the Flyers line-up after the trades that saw Mike Richards and Jeff Carter leave the organization, but injuries have been a major concern in his season and he grows near the injury prone tag, which may scare people away from his fantasy value, which is sure to grow over time.

In 43 games this season, Van Riemsdyk has 11 goals and 13 assists for 24 points, which is only good enough for 262nd overall in pool scoring, already below his rookie season ranking of 236th and it will continue to drop, the longer he stays out of the line-up.  A very disappointing year, to say the least.

It was a horribly unlucky season for Scott G. and his favourite Philadelphia Flyers, as he just couldn't string together long stretches without injury this year.  Scott's skaters are among the pool's worst for games played this season, which has led to his 19th overall spot in the standings.  Having the games played is half the battle in the pool, most of which is luck, but there is some planning that can be done.

Bone Bruise on Lidstrom's Ankle

The Detroit Red Wings are expecting to be without their most steady player in their line-up, captain Nicklas Lidstrom, thanks to a deep bone bruise in his ankle. Lidstrom has already missed one game with the injury and will not be playing in either Friday night's game against the Wild or Sunday afternoon's contest against the Blackhawks. There is also a fear that he will be missing more time after that, but that has yet to be officially confirmed by the team.

Going into Friday night's action, Lidstrom ranks 20th among all defensemen in scoring with 31 points (10 goals and 21 assists) in 62 games with the Red Wings, scoring at an even half a point-per-game, which isn't the electric pace he is normally known for.  Lidstrom currently ranks 194th in pool scoring overall, his lowest rank in quite some time.  There has been a serious drop off in his offensive production, but with the Wings near the top of the Western Conference, the only people really complaining are his poolies.

Two seasons ago, Lidstrom finished 131st overall with 49 points in all 82 games, which is above the pace he is at right now, not to mention having to miss a few games now this season.

A tough break for Niesa S., who now sits 17 points out of the money and will miss some key games from her best defenseman this season.  The likelihood of Niesa making it to the money will take a hit with this injury news, but her forwards have been rolling along, so they might be able to make up for the loss over the weekend.

Niesa's defense has been hovering around the average all season long and they currently sit 1 point better than the pool average, which is 90 points, so missing out on Lidstrom for a couple of games may drop her team below the average mark.

Draft Player News (Mar. 2)

The Minnesota Wild's season has been ruined by injuries and the hits just keep on coming, as Niklas Backstrom was forced to leave Thursday night's game against the Canadiens, due to a lower-body injury, which he suffered in the first few minutes of the game. Backstrom was stretched out in the butterfly and in that position (or getting back up from it), he appeared to tweak a muscle or a joint, likely groin or knee and he wasn't able to get off the ice completely under his own power.

The injury didn't look good, but there was still no update on the severity of the injury on Friday afternoon, but the Wild did call up Matt Hackett to help fill the void.

No money impact with this injury, but Leon G. is trying to make a move on 13th position this week, with a good week to this point.  His team only sits behind Brenda F. by 4 points, but that's about the only impact that this injury will likely have now.

A couple of injuries for the Blueshirts to report on, as Ryan Callahan missed out on Thursday night's game against the Hurricane with a foot injury, while Michael Del Zotto left that game with a hip injury.

Callahan is listed as out day-to-day with a foot injury, considered to be a bruised foot, which kept him out of Thursday's game, but his availability for the weekend is somewhat up in the air.

Del Zotto reportedly suffered the hip injury last weekend in a game on Saturday and that same injury was aggravated on Thursday night, forcing him to leave the game.

The Rangers go again on Friday night and an update will be provided before game time, on both players, but until then it will just be day-to-day.  If the update reflects a day-to-day status, there likely won't be any more posted on it.

Wayne H. goes into Friday night's action with a 9-point cushion in the last money spot in the standings, currently sitting in 5th place.  He also sits only 4 points out of 4th place, but for now his concern will be dropping without Callahan in his line-up.  Del Zotto, on the other hand, belongs to John P., who sits in 11th place, 12 points out of 10th place, going into Friday's action.

Sheet Player News (Mar. 2)

The Flames began back-to-back nights in the Pacific Division and there is a plan to have Leland Irving in the line-up for Friday night's game against the Ducks, so they had called him up from the AHL for this trip.  Unfortunately for Henrik Karlsson, he has become the odd-man out for getting starts and giving Miikka Kiprusoff a break in the net, so he sat as a healthy scratch, while Irving backed-up Kiprusoff in Thursday night's game in Phoenix.  There hasn't been any indication as to whether or not Karlsson will dress to back-up Irving in Anaheim, which is a likely scenario, to give Kiprusoff a proper night off, but we'll have to wait and see.

There are of an eye injury for Canadiens forward Scott Gomez, which will keep him out of Saturday evening's contest against the Maple Leafs, but there really hasn't been much for details beyond that.  It will likely be best to considered the playmaking forward out day-to-day for the time being or at least until further notice.  Gomez has not had a very good season in 2012, playing in only 35 games, scoring 2 goals and 8 assists.  His overall fantasy value has diminished dramatically and he would need a couple of healthy seasons before I could start to trust him again.

Wild Sign Coyle

It has been a little while since I was able to use the 'One to Watch' marker, but now that we are in entry-level contract season, I'll try and pick out some of the higher profile prospects that are getting new deals these days.

On Thursday, the Wild have signed 20-year old forward Charlie Coyle to a new entry-level deal, which will begin next season.  Coyle was the 28th overall selection in the 2010 entry draft by the San Jose Sharks and was included in the deal that saw Devin Setoguchi head to Minnesota for Brent Burns.

Coyle has some good size, last listed as 6'2" and 205 lbs, which is already good enough for NHL play and with a little bit more age and maturity than some rookies that will join the league next season, he could be an early candidate for some Calder talk, even before stepping out onto the ice.

The top prospect moved from NCAA hockey to the QMJHL this season after the World Junior Championships, where he is a 2-time participant for the USA and he is having a pretty good season with the Saint John Sea Dogs.  I would keep a close eye on him in training camp in September, possibly ear-marking him for a late forward pick in the draft next season.

Draft Player News (Mar. 1)

On Wednesday, the Islanders announced that they had called up goaltender Anders Nilsson on an emergency recall, because Al Montoya has reportedly suffered an upper-body injury and will be unable to dress behind Evgeni Nabokov on Thursday night, when they play the Flyers in Philadelphia.  Montoya is currently listed as out day-to-day, but without knowing the nature of the injury, it's hard to gauge when he might be able to return.

No money impact here, as Peter H. has Montoya this season and his year hasn't been very good.  His goaltending tandem ranks in the bottom-third of the pool with only 60 points to date and missing out on more time from Montoya is not going to help his cause.  His team has been in 16th place for the last month and that doesn't appear to want to change any time soon.

There were a couple of new injuries to report out of the Penguins and Stars game, both off of the visiting bench on the evening, as Kristopher Letang and Steve Sullivan were unable to finish the game with injuries. Letang was clocked early on by Eric Nystrom, reaching for the puck and Nystrom caught him in the head with his arm. Letang was able to get off the ice under his own power, but it took him an extra few moments. Sullivan mysteriously left the ice with a lower-body injury, no word of a cause or the nature of the injury.  Both will likely have updates later on Thursday.

The player with the greatest impact to the money is Sullivan, as he belongs to Dale B., who sits in 2nd place, on the wrong side of the first tie-breaker, goals, after Wednesday night's action.  Again, there is no word on his condition, but he was able to score a goal before leaving the game with the injury, so it isn't like Dale got nothing out of him before getting hurt.

Letang, on the other hand, just adds to the injury total of Scott G.'s season, who has one of two teams in the pool this year without more than 600 skater games played.  The top teams in the pool this year are up over 700 games and Scott's team has only 597 and there is a chance that Letang could be out for a while again.

Sheet Player News (Mar. 1)

The Edmonton Oilers decided to send Magnus Paajarvi back down to Oklahoma City of the AHL on Wednesday, now that all of their bodies are pretty well healthy.  There was talk that the Oilers were trying to move some more of their veteran UFA talent at the deadline, but since that didn't happen, there just isn't much room in the line-up for Paajarvi, so he'll be getting his ice-time and development from the minor league team.  In 41 games with the Oilers, Paajarvi has 2 goals and 6 assists, which is not enough to keep himself up with the big club, regardless.