Player Notes in the Draft (Apr 9)

It just goes to show you how important it is for teams to clinch their playoff spot as early as possible, as it can afford those teams to allow their players to rest their season-wearied bodies a little bit more before the playoff push. The Boston Bruins are one of those teams, as both David Krejci and Jarome Iginla were held out of Tuesday's contest against the Minnesota Wild. Iginla had been dealing with some lower-body issues of late and they may have been cited for his rest, but Krejci appears to be a straight scratch.  It is important to note the injuries, as teams are still required, by rule, to ice the best team possible every night.

No money impact here in the final week, as Clayton (9th) and Wyllie (20th) had their players scratched on Tuesday night.

The Buffalo Sabres were without Drew Stafford, among a number of other players, on Tuesday night against the Red Wings, another loss in the books for the last place team in the league. Stafford has apparently been dealing with this injury for a little while now, missing out on the last three games, but the team is suggesting that he could be ready to play again for Thursday night, but that likely isn't 100% yet.

Again, no money impact here either, as Benson (12th) is without Stafford in an active line-up at the moment and is just trying to now stay in the top half of the standings.

A couple of injury notes from the Columbus Blue Jackets, as R.J. Umberger is expected to miss the remainder of the regular season and then be re-evaluated before the playoffs start, assuming the Jackets can hang on to a Wild Card spot.  Umberger suffered an upper-body injury over the weekend and was listed as out indefinitely on Monday, a listing that didn't quite make the Newsletter.

The Jackets also welcomed back Nathan Horton to their line-up on Tuesday night, in their 4-3 overtime win, but the welcome didn't last very long, as Horton left the game again, likely re-aggravating his lower-body injury that had held him out for about a month.  I wouldn't expect him back for the rest of the week and his availability in the playoffs may also be in question.

Umberger belongs to Doug (24th) and Horton was a Waiver Draft pick-up for John (22nd) this season, neither have really featured much in the money conversation this year.

With the Phoenix Coyotes on the outside looking in on a wild card birth in the playoffs, they need all the healthy bodies they can muster up, especially if they are generally starters. Saying that, it has been a rough season for Martin Hanzal, who has seen his fair share of injuries and missing out on Tuesday night with another lower-body injury might cap off his year.  Hanzal didn't skate leading up to the game on Tuesday, so it seems fairly questionable that he'll re-join the line-up any time soon.

There isn't much that Mike's (10th) team can do to improve their season in the final days of the year.  The best he'll be able to finish is about 8th place now.

The St. Louis Blues may be holding their breath a little, as they await the word on a lower-body injury that David Backes suffered on Tuesday night.  Backes was hurt after blocking a shot on the inside of his foot, leaving the game not long after trying one more shift after the injury.  The Blues are currently fighting for top spot in the Western Conference and if they are without Backes for any extended period of time, that could hurt their chances of doing that and possibly lasting very long in the playoffs.  I'm sure they'll be on the edge of their seat, waiting for the news.

Finally, we have some possible money impact, as Dale C. (5th) is only sitting 6 points out of 4th and 8 points out of 3rd with only five nights to go in the regular season.  Dale has the most projected games left in the season, but that could easily drop, if Backes either can't play or is rested for the playoffs.

Another scary moment for a playoff-bound team, as the Tampa Bay Lightning saw their number one goalie, Ben Bishop, helped off the ice, nursing an upper-body injury after landing awkwardly trying to catch a puck that was hanging in the air.  Bishop dove through the air to try and snag the puck and in doing so, landed funny.  Bishop was attended to on the ice for quite a while, before giving way to Anders Lindback, who eventually got credit for the win over Toronto.  Bishop will be re-evaluated on Wednesday and we'll await the news.

HUGE impact here in the pool, as Scott is only 1 point out of 1st place behind Allan and he could have used the win (and the shutout) against the Leafs to go into Wednesday night with the lead.  Unfortunately, this may cost him the pool win, but his hold on 2nd place and the segment race should be safe... should be!

It appears that Joffrey Lupul's season is now done, undergoing knee surgery this week will do that.  Also, with the Leafs losing to Tampa on Tuesday night, their season is officially completed on Sunday as well, so Lupul will have nothing to come back to until September.  Lupul was hurt last week, missing out on a game before coming back on the weekend, but it appears that his return came too quick, which has likely led to this surgery.  After Tuesday night, Lupul finished 136th in pool scoring overall with 44 points in 69 games.

Stuart (18th) has the least amount of projected games left in the final week, thanks in part to Lupul's future absence, not to mention some other injuries.

The Washington Capitals were able to hang on to their slimmest of playoff hopes on Tuesday night with a 4-1 win over St. Louis, but they did so without defenseman Mike Green, who may have been lost for the remainder of the regular season, at the very least, with an upper-body injury.  Green was injured over the weekend and Tuesday's game was the first game that he missed with this new injury, but without much for details, I can't confirm completely.  It does seem unlikely that the Capitals will make the playoffs, so his value going forward is moot.

Green belongs to Kristy & Don (17th) and his injury caps off a long season that was mired in injury.  The duo held the top spot in the standings in the early part of the season, but goaltending injuries forced their season into the gutter.  No money impact here either.

Week Twenty-Five Newsletter

The Lead Changes Again

Well, Scott's lead didn't last very long.  Allan took Scott's 7-point lead after Week Twenty-Four and made a 5-point lead of his own.  With only one more week to go, the lead is not very safe, no matter who has it.  It is, however, a two-horse race down the stretch, as the gap between Scott and the tie between Wilton and Stacey M. is now 15 points,

Chris Falls Out of the Prizes

The longest streak of weeks being in the prize positions was held by Chris, as he held every prize position at least once over a 16-week span, but Week Twenty-Five saw a bunch of injuries catch up to his team, as he fell down to 5th place, now 6 points out of 4th place.  Of course, he could make those points up, assuming his team was healthy, but it does seem less likely, even in a busy week like Week Twenty-Six will be.

Third Segment Race Tightens

Scott's lead in the segment race also shrunk, as it has become a three-horse race, going into the final week of the regular season.  Scott holds a 3-point lead over Allan and an 8-point lead over Dale C..  Injuries have been playing a large part in this race and all three teams are dealing with one form or another, which continues to make this whole race interesting.

For the three times that Mike has had the Mover & Shaker nod in a week, he had yet to see a Player of the Week nod from his team... until now.  Taylor Hall finished the week as the outright winner of the mention, picking up 9 points in Week Twenty-Five.  That was 4 points less than what Mike had all of last week, when he earned his only Basement Dweller nod of the season.

In Week Twenty-Five, Hall started his own 4-game points streak, picking up at least a point in every appearance on the ice.  On Tuesday, he got off to a good start, scoring a goal and adding 3 assists against the Sharks, followed up by single helper nights on Wednesday in Anaheim and Friday in Phoenix.  Sunday, he capped off his week with another goal and 2 assists, at home to the Ducks.

Despite the Oilers struggles to win games when it mattered, Hall has amassed a pretty good year on the scoresheet, scoring 27 goals and adding 50 assists through 72 games, missing some time due to injury.  Hall is currently ranked 13th in pool scoring with his 77 points, scoring at over a point-per-game.

Only 14 forwards have played more than 30 games and averaged more than a point-per-game, which is pretty good company to be in.

There is no better time to be earning a Mover & Shaker nod than when you're battling for 1st place at the end of the year.  Allan was able to re-take the lead with a Mover & Shaker week of 33 points.  He bettered Scott's week by 12 points and earned himself a bit of a lead, heading into the final week of the season.  I suppose the only thing better than this scenario would be getting the Mover & Shaker week to win the pool, am I right?

Allan had a huge week from his goaltending duo of Semyon Varlamov and Sergei Bobrovsky, who each finished the week with 8 points a piece.  This cemented their position as the best duo taken in the pool this year, yet they came up empty at the Olympics (snicker, snicker).  Allan also had a good week from Corey Perry, who had 5 points, while Brian Gionta and Ryan O'Reilly each potted 3 points.  Only three players on his team didn't pick up at least a point, two of which have season-ending injuries and the other spent the better part of the week in the minors.

Allan has 43 projected games left to play down the stretch, compared to Scott's 49, so he'll need to sneak out a very solid week from those healthy players to lock up the win in the end.

It hasn't been a great year for Derek Wyllie, who only peaked at 12th place after Week Seven, but has since hovered in the 15th/16th range before his latest free fall, which has seen him drop all the way down to 20th, thanks in part to his Week Twenty-Five Basement Dweller performance of 10 points.

This is Wyllie's second appearance in the Basement Dweller spot this season, the other coming in Week Twelve.  He can thank the pool's worst goaltending, which has a total of 9 wins this year and 0 points (again!) last week.  His best player in the week was Patrick Sharp, who finished with 3 points, while five of his active 12 skaters all finished with donuts.

More to his goaltending, only 3.8% of his total points have come from the crease.  Dale B., on the other side of the spectrum, has the 2nd-best goaltending, which has accounted for 27.3% of his total points this year.

NEWS AND NOTES

Despite the number of injuries that the Chicago Blackhawks have seen down the stretch before the playoffs, they were still making statements in their line-up, as Brandon Saad earned himself a trip up to the press box for some pretty cold play of late.  Saad sat out on Sunday afternoon against the St. Louis Blues, a game which Chicago won, 4-2.  I would imagine the demotion will be short-lived, given the injury situation.

Also joining the injury parade for the New Jersey Devils was Ryane Clowe, who has been suffering from a head injury and has missed some time already, including Saturday's game in Carolina.  The Devils are still expecting to see Clowe play before the end of the regular season, but I don't suppose they could rush this injury, given the nature of it.  He is listed as out day-to-day, but that's about as far as anyone is prepared to take it, by the look of things.

Undisclosed injuries to forward Jussi Jokinen and defenseman Olli Maatta have weakened the Pittsburgh Penguins line-up a little on Saturday, but Jokinen did return to the line-up on Sunday and added an assist to his season totals, while the young Finnish defender also missed Sunday's game.  There has been no mention of a timetable for return for Maatta, but no one has said it is anything serious, so it may just work out to be a bit of rest before the end of the year.

The season has come to an early end for Winnipeg Jets forward/defenseman Dustin Byfuglien, who suffered a torn muscle in his upper-body. The Jets are long shots to make the playoffs in the Western Conference, so it does seem rather likely that his season is pretty well over now.  Recovery from the injury was likely going to be in the number of weeks range, rather than a day-to-day issue.

Also another note on the Winnipeg Jets, forward Evander Kane was a healthy scratch on Saturday night, but it has already been noted that he will return to the line-up on Monday, as the Jets host the Wild.

Link to the Injury/News Page

Player Notes in the Draft (Apr 5)

Three Anaheim Ducks have found themselves in the press box at some time or another this week, as the team vies for top spot in the Pacific Division, looking for some home-ice advantage in the playoffs. Defenseman Sami Vatanen has been a scratch for the better part of the week, coming out of the line-up for Wednesday night's game and not playing on Friday night. Daniel Winnik was scratched for Wednesday's game, but jumped back in for Friday's loss to the Predators. Coming out for Friday's game was young forward Jakob Silfverberg. It looks like the coaching staff is trying to get an extra push out of the younger players, but with Friday's result, it may need to be a bigger push soon.

There are some money implications here, as Wilton has Vatanen and sits in 3rd place, while Stacey M., who is in 5th has Silfverberg and Dale C., 6th place, has Winnik.  Players coming out of the line-up in the late part of the race will make for some serious white-knuckling to the finish.

Just when I think the Bruins may be slowing that carousel for blueliners down, Andrej Meszaros becomes a scratch again and the spinning continues.  This is nothing new to their line-up, but since I had to put him back on the news page, I had to give him a new link to click on.

On another note for the Bruins, Jarome Iginla missed his first regular season game in quite some time, as a lower-body injury forced him out of one mid-week game.  On Thursday, however, he returned to the line-up and was the regular force that he has been this season.  The scratch was likely just precautionary and if it was a playoff situation, he would have likely played.

Not much impact on the money here, as both Meszaros and Iginla belong to teams outside of the money, Wes and Wyllie, respectively.  Wes sits in 14th and Wyllie is currently the leader for the Basement Dweller of the Week, down in 18th.

A lower-body injury has sidelined Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Andrej Sekera this week, as he sat out of Thursday night's contest against the Dallas Stars.  Sekera has been one of the brighter spots on a dull season for Carolina, as the rearguard has posted some respectable numbers, 11 goals and 33 assists in 74 games, scoring at over half a point-per-game this season, which is good for a defenseman, especially one playing on an inconsistent Carolina team.  He is listed as out day-to-day for right now and doesn't expect to dress on Saturday.

Another tough loss to the line-up for Dale C., who has been dropping games this week in his chase for the top four.  Sekera was a 2nd round pick in the first Waiver Draft this season for Dale, collecting 33 points in 50 games.  Dale goes into Saturday in 6th place, 6 points out of 4th.

The Detroit Red Wings are now clinging to their playoff lives and a streak that is over two decades long of being in the playoffs, but injuries have been the bane of their season.  Earlier in the week, Daniel Alfredsson missed out on another game this year with a lower-body injury, but it was the only game he missed in the week, as he did return on Friday night, as did Pavel Datsyuk, as the team begins to get healthier for one last push in Week Twenty-Six.  Alfredsson was a productive member of the team on Friday night against the Sabres, scoring a goal and adding an assist.

More concern for Dale C. down the stretch, as I would have to believe that Alfie isn't 100% heading into the last week of the regular season and the playoffs.  We know where Dale is in the standings and he'll need Alfredsson to improve upon his 47 points in 64 games this season for him to move up any more.

It sounds like back problems are plaguing Florida Panthers forward Brad Boyes, as he had left Tuesday's game against Long Island after only five shifts and then didn't dress on Friday night, against the Calgary Flames.  Boyes had been finding some new life with the Panthers in 2014, scoring 20 goals again in his career, plus adding another 14 assists in 75 games.  It wouldn't surprise me if the Panthers shut down Boyes for the last week of the season, possibly to rest up, while the team plays out the remainder of the year without a playoff push.

Boyes was a Waiver Draft pick up for Tony this season, but he couldn't rescue Tony's team from the depths below 20th place in the standings.  There is no immediate money impact here.

There's no question that the Los Angeles Kings organization breathed a heavy sigh of relief, when the news came down that Drew Doughty may be able to play Saturday night against the Vancouver Canucks.  Doughty was hurt on Thursday night against the San Jose Sharks, leaving the game with an upper-body injury, believed to be a shoulder injury.  Doughty was listed as out day-to-day, but since there was a few days between games, the scoring defenseman has been able to recover enough to make another appearance in the line-up, despite the Kings likely finishing 3rd in the Pacific, unlikely to move up or down in the standings in the final week.

No money impact with Doughty's injury, as he belongs to the duo, Kristy & Don, this season, who sits in 16th place after Friday night.

Upper-body injuries to a couple of the Minnesota Wild's top young players will likely make their playoff push a little hairier than they would have wanted. Both Nino Niederreiter and Markus Granlund missed out on Thursday night's game against the Blackhawks, a 3-2 shootout loss, and their status for the weekend is up in the air. Niederreiter may be the closer of the two to returning, but the team has come out and said that they won't rush him back and with a fairly firm grip on their wild card spot, there is no reason to panic yet. Granlund, on the other hand, may be in a little more danger of missing out on more games, as his upper-body injury may be concussion related, but nothing has been confirmed. There is a chance he may be shut down for the final week and then re-evaluated before the playoffs start.

There is some money impact here, as Granlund, who could be shut down, belongs to Scott, who now barely holds on to a 2-point lead in the standings, may be down a key man for the final week.  Scott is being chased down by Allan now, who also has some injury concerns, so this makes for a more interesting race, for sure.  Niederreiter, on the flip side, belongs to Doug, who is now expected to finish last in the standings.

The New Jersey Devils slim playoff hopes took an amazingly tough hit on Friday night, as they lost a few forwards to injury and a couple of them are pool related.  Forwards Patrik Elias and Adam Henrique both suffered upper-body injuries against the Washington Capitals, but the team still managed to pull out a 2-1 victory over a key playoff race rival.  There were no immediate updates on the status of the two forwards, but since the Devils turnaround and play again on Saturday night, away to Carolina, neither will be made available for the game.  A pretty heavy loss, to say the least.  Both players will be listed as out day-to-day.

Both players have money impact, as Chris, 4th place, has Elias and has relied upon him heavily this year, while Wilton, 3rd place, has Henrique, and has enjoyed some mild success with him in the line-up.  If these injuries are deemed more serious, the final week of the year just opened up and the race would really be on.

As if the Toronto Maple Leafs were not playing their way out of their Eastern Conference playoff spot as it was, mounting injuries are now putting in the final nails in the coffin.  Their number one goalie, Jonathan Bernier, left Thursday night's game against the Boston Bruins, a game they managed to win, with a lower-body injury.  Bernier has been diagnosed with an MCL sprain in his knee and will miss the remainder of the regular season and if the Leafs were to make the playoffs, he would likely miss the first round.

Missing out on Thursday's game and likely to miss Saturday's game, Joffrey Lupul has been sidelined with a lower-body injury as well and is listed as out day-to-day.  There is no details on the injury, but we all know that this is coming at a pretty awful time for the Leafs.  Lupul has 44 points in 68 games this season, ranking 128th in pool scoring.

Heading towards the last week of the season, there is no money impact from these Toronto injuries, as Bernier belongs to Mike, who has fallen to 13th in the standings, and Lupul belongs to Stuart, who sits down in 19th place.

Toews To Sit Final Six

As we lead up to the playoffs, more and more players are dropping out of their team's line-ups and an increasing amount are for precautionary reasons, trying to save these top players from further injury.

On the weekend, the Chicago Blackhawks felt another large injury, as their captain, Jonathan Toews, suffered an upper-body injury when he was hit by Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik.  Toews came away favouring his shoulder and did not return to the game.  All indications after the game were that Toews wouldn't be out for very long, but with only 10 night worth of action left in the NHL regular season, the Blackhawks made the move to rest up

The Blackhawks, losers of their last three games, are fairly safe in 3rd place in the Central Division, but would have to lose out to fall into a wild card spot, assuming Minnesota wins out their schedule.  With Patrick Kane already out of the line-up for the remainder of the regular season as well, one begins to wonder.

Toews will finish the regular season with 28 goals and 40 assists in 76 games for Chicago this season and as of Wednesday afternoon, he was ranked 29th in overall pool scoring, just outside of our 1st round selection rankings.

All in all, it was a pretty good year for Toews, who hadn't missed a game to this point in the season, but will now finish six games short of the full 82, but should still finish with a respectable ranking.  Kane, who hasn't seen any action in the last week and a bit, still ranks 27th, with one more goal than Toews this season.

In the standings, this will affect Cindy's chances at having her team stay in the top 10, as it stands in 10th, tied for the position and winning the goals scored tie-break over Mike.  Losing Toews could be the difference between finishing 10th and finishing 13th, by the look of things today.  Nevertheless, not much of a money threat here.

Player Notes in the Draft (Apr 2)

Not long after returning from dealing with some personal issues, Kings forward Dwight King missed out on Monday night's game, due to an undisclosed injury.  On Tuesday, King returned to the team's practice, preparing for Los Angeles' next game, Wednesday night, at home against the Phoenix Coyotes.

King was a Waiver Draft pick-up for Dale B. this season, but hasn't been quite as effective as one would hope, only picking up 8 points in 25 games since the Waiver Draft.  Dale's team sits in 15th place, after Tuesday night's action.

The Carolina Hurricanes did a number on the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night, beating them 4-1, and they did so without one of their leading scorers, Alex Semin, who was under the weather.  Semin has 22 goals and 42 points in 62 games this season for the Hurricanes, which ranks him 142nd in pool scoring this year.

When you're at the top of the standings, this is when a game here and a game there gets a little bit hairy and this was a game missed for Scott, who dropped a point from his lead on Tuesday night.  He'll go into Wednesday night with a 6-point lead.

The Columbus Blue Jackets are also feeling the pinch of some late season pressure, as they hold the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, but only marginally. Needless to say, they were holding their breath when they found that Nathan Horton was unable to go, due to a lower-body injury.  There's no word on the severity of the injury, but obviously, it is enough to keep him out of the line-up, when they need him the most.  He is currently listed as out day-to-day.

On the flip side of being needed, forward R.J. Umberger made another trip to the press box on Tuesday night.  Umberger still has another three years on his current deal, which has a cap hit of $4.6 million per year and I would wonder if the Jackets will be trying to find a new home for him in the off-season.

As for this season, both Horton and Umberger belong to teams that are well-below the equator of the hockey pool standings, as John and Doug have them, respectively.

There was no indication of any injury in any of the line-up news from Tuesday night, so I believe it may be safe to assume that Avalanche defenseman Andre Benoit was a healthy scratch for Colorado's game against the Blue Jackets on Tuesday night.  Benoit has 27 points in 72 games for Colorado this season, but may have been in line for a rest game down the stretch, as the Avalanche have already clinched a spot in the playoffs.  Hard to say for sure, but it does sound like a plausible reason.

Resting players down the stretch is another fear for the teams that hold prize positions in the hockey pool, as Chris' margin for error has dwindled again on Tuesday night.  He now hangs onto 4th place by 3 points, going into Wednesday night's action.

On the weekend, Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen suffered a facial injury, after taking a puck up high in the game against the Boston Bruins.  Timonen didn't suffer any major injury, but the injury was enough to keep him out of the game against St. Louis on Tuesday night.  The Flyers likely could of used his offensive capabilities in the game, as they lost 1-0 in the shootout to their Western Conference foes.

No money impact here, as Timonen belongs to Ryan V. in the pool this year, but this could be something to watch, as we near the playoffs.

A lower-body injury forced back-up goaltender Al Montoya from performing his loyal duties on the Winnipeg Jets' bench on Tuesday night, thanks to a lower-body injury that he has been nursing.  I don't believe that Montoya had missed a start, as the Jets are looking at trying to make the playoffs with their number one, Ondrej Pavelec, in net down the stretch.  Montoya may be, if at all, used sparingly with only a few games left in the regular season.

Thanks to the investment in both goalies, Brenda really didn't miss out on a start here, as her team has both Winnipeg goalies.  Unfortunately, her team has fallen off since the Olympic Break and is now out of money contention, sitting 37 points back of 4th in 9th place.

Finally, the New York Rangers took away a costly win from Vancouver on Tuesday night, as defenseman Ryan McDonagh left the game, late in teh 3rd period, with a suspected shoulder injury after getting double-teamed along the corner boards in the defensive zone.  McDonagh left in plenty of discomfort, but the team has said that they don't believe that the injury is too serious.  Only time will tell here, but it would be a pretty big loss, if the Rangers didn't have McDonagh for an extended period of time.

McDonagh has been the best defenseman on Scott's team this season, picking up 43 points in 77 games, as he leads a defense corps that ranks 2nd in the pool in scoring with 154 points.  Scott's 6-point lead may be challenged down in the last 10 days of the season, if McDonagh can't play in them.