Goalie Announcements (Dec 5)

We have some early games today, so we'll pound out a quick goalie post, as we still have a couple of teams desperate to stay in the survivor pool on Saturday. Both Scott and Stuart have yet to see wins this week from their goaltending and we'll have a look to see if either of them have a shot on Saturday.

Out of the two pool teams, only Scott has goalies on the list to play tonight and only one of the two are scheduled for starts tonight.

Jake Allen will get the nod for the Blues, as he will take on the newcomer to the Maple Leafs' net, Garret Sparks, who was taken in the Waiver Draft by Ryan.  You would think a match-up against the Leafs would be a fairly easy win for St. Louis, but those Buds have been playing fairly well of late, so it's a tough one.

Allen is Scott's last kick at the can, since his other goalie, Martin Jones of the Sharks, played last night against the Ducks, losing, obviously.  The Sharks go again tonight, but it's on back-to-back nights, so Alex Stalock (Derek & Dan) will get the rare start for their side tonight.

Stuart, on the other hand, will have to wait until Sunday for his last kick of the can, so we'll provide a post for that tomorrow.

Week Nine Waiver Draft (Dec 5)

On Friday night, we were able to conclude the Waiver Draft's two rounds, where everyone had the shot to move out a player and fill that spot with the same positional player for the first time this season.  Out of 54 possible selections, 50 were made, as there were only four passes in this draft, which is pretty impressive.

Let's see how this Waiver Draft finished up.

We left the string of posts with Brenda & Seward passing to finish up Thursday night,  So, the morning kicked off with Brian dropping a defenseman and picking up John Moore of the New Jersey Devils, who has started to find his stride again with his new team.

It was back-to-back defensemen, as John S. went rogue with an injury-related pick, taking Kyle Quincey of the Detroit Red Wings, who is currently on the shelf with an ankle injury, which was originally diagnosed to be a 9-to-12 week issue, back in the beginning of November.  John dropped an active defenseman to pick up an injured defenseman, so there is no sort of compensatory pick available for that line of thinking.

Troy went to improve his forwards a bit, as he chases down the money, unearthing a potential diamond in the rough in New Jersey's Patrik Elias.  Elias started the season on the Injured Reserve, but returned in the last couple weeks to a hero's welcome.  This could be a huge pick for him moving forward.

A downgraded injury problem forced Dale B.'s hand, as he moved to improve his forward group a bit, taking Antoine Roussel of the Stars, adding both a little bit of scoring and a few more PIM to his lineup.  Dale sits 4th in the PIM pool thus far and as much as he is in the big money race, who knows what the next nine weeks will uncover and he may need to make a move for the goon squads.

Neil decided to take a flyer on the dropped Marian Gaborik, despite the Kings winger not having quite the offensive output that some may have expected.  Still, he found it to be an upgrade over one of his wingers, who has been in and out of their respective team's lineup of late.

Then Jeremy felt the need to upgrade his goaltending, as he wasn't confident enough in what he had, as he scraped the bottom of the barrel, taking Panthers back-up keeper, Al Montoya, citing a better chance for wins than what he had already been getting.  The starts may not be there, but he wasn't getting many anyways, so it's a chance he was willing to take.

The end of the week leader, John P., felt that his 1st round swap was all that he needed and felt comfortable in his team going forward.

So, that concluded the end of the regular portion of the Waiver Draft, which leads us to the compensatory pick that was given to Scott for his loss of his 1st round pick, due to long-term injury.  Since the Waiver Draft is all about becoming competitive again, it didn't seem too fair, albeit this contest is a lot about luck, that he lost one of his picks, before he even started playing.  So, after it was all said and done, he was able to make another move and he reverted back to taking Zemgus Girgensons, who he had dropped in the 2nd round, opting to keep him around.

For those in need of a 3rd round pick, now that everyone has had their shot at two picks, you could submit an injured player for another pick, seeing as though the pickins are awfully slim, to improve your chances, but you can only submit an injured player for replacement.  After the moral outrage of Wes' drop of Jeff Carter in the 2nd round, the competition committee (me!) has decided against any mini-game pumping moves, dropping healthy players for goons or rookies.  That sort of move, since there is nothing about it in the rules, can still happen in the first two rounds.

Send me your injured and I'll give you a 3rd-liner in return.

Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Dec 5)

An upper-body injury was the reason why Calgary Flames defenseman Kris Russell couldn't go last night against the Boston Bruins. According to Rotoworld.com, following his timeline, Russell suffered an upper-body injury a week ago, but was deemed good enough to play during Week Nine, up until Friday night's game against the Bruins. There is no real description of the injury, except that it is in the upper half. The Flames have him listed as out day-to-day and that's all we know at the moment.

Russell belongs to Troy's blueline this season, one that is ranking in the middle of the pool in points, as we near the end of the one-third mark of the season.  In 25 games, Russell has 1 goal and 6 points for his side, which remains in the hunt for the big money this year, only 8 points out of 3rd place, heading into Saturday.

There was an extra note from the Flames and Bruins game last night, as forward David Jones left the game with a lower-body injury.  Jones reportedly suffered the injury blocking a shot in the 1st period against the Bruins and was not able to return to the hockey game.  Jones has been a reasonable source of goals for the Flames this year, scoring 7 and adding 3 assists in 26 games, making him a tough asset to lose.

Dale B. added Jones to his roster in the Waiver Draft, dropping Anaheim's Patrick Maroon in the process.  If this injury is significant, this would qualify, for a compensatory pick in the 3rd round, much like Scott's pick, after he lost Teemu Pulkkinen to a long-term injury, before his activation.

In a surprise move, from the outside looking in, Scott Hartnell was a scratch for the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night, as they took on the Florida Panthers and there is a chance that he may sit again on back-to-back nights, before they play against the Flyers in Philadelphia.  The Jackets coaching staff cite some fairly ineffective and undisciplined play from the veteran power forward and the coaching staff want him to shape up under the system.

This was an actual skater game lost for Dale B. last night, which could have come in handy, now that he is outside of the money, looking in this week.  Dale's team sits in 4th, heading into Saturday, 5 points out of 3rd place, 11 points out of 1st.  He'll need Hartnell to shape up as well and quickly.

It has been somewhat of an irregular occurrence this season, but it has happened once before, according to my counts, as Jordie Benn was a healthy scratch for the Stars last night in Edmonton.  The older of the two Benn brothers has actually chipped in here and there this season, picking up 7 assists in 25 games this year, but has been known to spend some time in the press box.  Now having been there twice, he might find his way back to blog from time to time.

Especially since Ryan picked him up in the 2nd round of the Waiver Draft, as he dropped Ottawa's Patrick Wiercioch to acquire him.  It is a step up for Ryan, which is the point of the mid-season player swap and since Benn is playing far more than Wiercioch, it does give him a better chance for points on a night to night basis.

The announcement on Saturday morning may have caught a few media types by surprise, but I don't think anyone in the pool is all that surprised... the Chicago Blackhawks placed forward Viktor Tikhonov on waivers, likely for the purpose of sending him down to the minors.  Tikhonov has not been the player that the Blackhawks were hoping for, bringing him back from the KHL after a long stint back home, as he has failed to register a point in 11 games and has only sat in the box for 6 minutes.

This pick was a home run swing for Grant, which didn't pan out for him at all.  With the 2nd drop/pick in the Waiver Draft, Grant successfully acquired Dylan Larkin of the Red Wings to replace the non-scoring Russian, which should be a big move in the overall standings and in the rookie race.

Click here for the updated injury/news page on the website

Week Nine Waiver Draft (Dec 4)

It was a good day for passing and making people wait to pass on Thursday.  Stacey M., Clayton and Brenda all passed on Thursday, accepting that their teams are about as good as they're going to get through this process.

Picks 37 through 47 went on Thursday, including those three passes, and it was all led off by Dan Girardi of the Rangers, taken by Allan, making him the first of three defensemen taken on the day.  Nick Holden of the Avalanche was taken 43rd by Dale C. and Jordie Benn of the Stars was taken by Ryan 45th overall.

Only one goalie was selected on Thursday, as the current Buffalo back-up Linus Ullmark was snapped up by Stacey C. with the 38th overall pick, as he has been getting some solid minutes, just behind a slightly weaker team on paper.

Rounding out the forwards taken on Day 4 of the Waiver Draft were Torrey Mitchell of the Habs (Derek W., 39th), Rickard Rakell of the Ducks (Eric, 41st), Matt Read of the Flyers (Scott, 42nd) and Stuart took Ales Hemsky of the Stars with the 46th overall pick.

It wasn't a great day, by the number of selections made, but we started Friday with only seven picks left to do.

If you had missed the post before this one, Scott will be granted a compensatory pick for his loss of his 1st round pick, Teemu Pulkkinen to injury.  When you see that on tomorrow's post, just don't be surprised.  Requests for a 3rd round pick can be made, but will be allowed due to injury, trying to curb any funny business, like the Jeff Carter debacle we saw in this first Waiver Draft.

Pulkkinen On the Shelf Before He Gets to Go

How incredibly unlucky.

One of the available and taken Red Wings in this week's Waiver Draft, Teemu Pulkkinen, has suffered a major shoulder injury in Thursday night's game against the Arizona Coyotes and the team has announced on Friday that he will be out of action for the next 6-to-8 weeks with a separated shoulder.

In 24 games this season with the Wings, the 23-year old Finn has 6 goals and 11 points, plus 10 PIM, which made him a higher ranked forward available this week, but was hardly a superstar option.

Scott used his 1st round Waiver Draft pick to drop Tyler Ennis to pick up Pulkkinen and given this situation, a 3rd round pick compensatory pick will be given to Scott, since we're in the season of making trades and coming away with two fresh players for our lineups.  He will get a fresh pick after everyone else is done, which should be enough to be both fair and punishing in the end.

Click here for the updated injury/news page on the website

Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Dec 4)

In the same game where Milan Michalek suffered a broken finger from Flyers defenseman Radko Gudas, the same rough-housing defender got forward Mika Zibanejad up high with a hit, given a major for interference and a game misconduct, plus a 3-game suspension for the hit. Well, that has also cost Zibanejad at least one game, as he wasn't able to go on Thursday night against Chicago and there hasn't been much word as to how much time he'll miss exactly, but the coaching staff seem optimistic.

Ryan's team was once in the top three... back in Week One.  After Thursday night's action, his team currently sits in 11th, but the last time it finished a week in that position, it jumped back up to 6th, which the fate of his Waiver Draft pick-ups will decide whether or not that will happen again.  His team is currently 26 points out of the money, looking forward to the quick return of Zibanejad.

Detroit forward Teemu Pulkkinen was on the wrong end of a Martin Hanzal hit in the Red Wings/Coyotes game on Thursday night and it forced the young scoring forward from the game with an upper-body injury.  There was no immediate word, as to the nature of the injury or how serious it is, but we're going to monitor this one.

Pulkkinen is one of the Waiver Draft pick-ups this week, taken by Scott, as he gambled by dropping an injured Tyler Ennis and now likely activating an injured Pulkkinen to take his spot.  The hope here is that Pulkkinen isn't very badly hurt and that he can return sooner, rather than later.  We'll have to wait and see.

Reports had surfaced during the game between the Devils and the Hurricanes that forward Travis Zajac had left the game with an upper-body injury and at the time, he was questionable to return. By the time on ice report, Zajac left midway through the 1st period, tried one shift at the end of the period and didn't come back for the 2nd. As of Friday morning, we still haven't seen any news on what it could be or how serious it is. We'll keep an eye on this situation.

Zajac is another pick-up this week in the Waiver Draft, as Neil scooped him up to help his run at the money in the coming weeks.  Neil tried to improve his standing with a healthy drop, letting go of Antoine Vermette to get Zajac, so if Zajac is out long-term, it becomes quite a big loss.

Click here for the updated injury/news page on the website

Goalie Announcements (Dec 3)

We're going into night four of the week and only three of seven surviving teams have clinched their spot into Week Ten: Dale B., Derek W. and Allan.  The other four, with chances to clinch already, have yet to have results, which is making the weekend look more and more interesting.

One all-survivor match-up tonight, Corey Crawford and Craig Anderson will go head-to-head for Stuart and John P., with the Blackhawks and Senators doing battle in Ottawa.  The loser will have to hope they have enough starts Friday through Sunday to get them through.  I can tell you that Stuart has one more Blackhawks game to look forward to, while John has lots of opportunities, in theory, between his two goalies this weekend.  An Ottawa win would put Stuart on the hot seat.

Two more goalies are going for the pool and they both belong to Jeremy, who still needs a win.  He'll get a rare start out of Eddie Lack for the Hurricanes, as they host the Devils and Keith Kinkaid (non-pool) tonight, not a bad shot at a win there.  If that fails, he'll also have Braden Holtby for the travelling Capitals, as they take on Mike Condon (John R. next week) and the Canadiens at the Bell Centre.

The weekend should be a ton of fun for the survivor pool, as we could potentially have three teams still in need of wins tomorrow and an outside chance that four teams could still need wins.

One other notable starts tonight will see Kari Lehtonen (Dale C.) returning to the Stars' crease after an injury, as they take on Ryan Miller (Clayton) and the Canucks in Vancouver.

Week Nine Waiver Draft (Dec 3)

These sort of posts are better suited to the morning, but it just hasn't been working out for me that way, but we'll get a quick review of Wednesday's action in the Waiver Draft.

Wednesday saw the end of the 1st round relatively early and we managed to plow through a good portion of the 2nd round, before my head cold got the best of me and shut the process down a little bit earlier than preferred.

The big news out of Wednesday's action in the Waiver Draft wasn't that we concluded the 1st round, rather that Wes decided to drop some scoring talent, in order to respond to Derek & Dan's push for the PIM Pool title.  So, I guess we're starting with the goon story today.

Earlier in the day, Derek & Dan were able to relieve themselves of a player that fell well below expectations and then picked up a goon of great proportions, as they dropped Marian Gaborik of the Kings to pick up Derek Dorsett of the Canucks, immediately putting the pressure on Wes.

Wes responded in kind, but with more of a measure of desperation, as he dropped a forward with the least amount of PIM in the Kings' Jeff Carter, in order for him to take New Jersey forward, Jordin Tootoo.  So, our two teams that will lead the goon pool, will do so with style, which should make for a good race down the stretch.  I wonder what will happen over the next nine weeks.

In dropping Carter, he didn't exactly last very long on the available players list, as Kristy & Don, who were next up after Wes, traded up by dropping Nick Bonino of the Penguins, in order to snag Carter in the pool.  Who knew that having the 36th overall pick would be this good?  Not me, that's who.

Speaking of picking up previously dropped players, Jeremy, with his 1st pick, 26th overall, snagged Logan Couture, who may be closer to returning than not, another drop from our dear friend, Wes, who was really priming his roster for those goons.  Jeremy may count himself lucky, 18 picks after the drop, to even get Couture.

Only one goalie was snagged on Wednesday, as Colorado back-up Reto Berra was taken by Tony, who could use a little bit more play from the crease and might get more than he expected, as the Avalanche crease situation remains a hot topic.

John P. added Mattias Ekholm in Nashville, John R. picked Michael Stone in Arizona and Cindy decided on Nathan Beaulieu in Montreal, as these were the only three teams to add defenders.

The other three forwards, cleaning up the rest of what happened on Wednesday were as follows: Grant swept up Mikhail Grigorenko of the Avalanche 29th overall, Vladislav Namestnikov of the Lightning went to Benny in the 30th spot and then 31st overall was Brett Connolly of the Bruins to Mike.

The 2nd round hasn't nearly moved as quickly as one would have hoped today, but we should be able to motor through tomorrow, assuming someone shows up to their computer or their phone in time.

Fisher Hits the Injured Reserve

Nashville Predators forward Mike Fisher left Tuesday's game against the Coyotes with a lower-body injury, not to return, an injury that sort of flew under the radar until about Wednesday afternoon.  It was then that the team placed the veteran centre on the Injured Reserve with this lower-body injury, resigning themselves to the fact that Fisher will miss the next four games, as his injury gets tested and they will re-evaluate the situation after this next stretch of games.

Fisher has been anything, but productive this year, picking up only 5 goals and 7 points in 24 games, except that he does have 19 PIM, but that isn't here or there at the moment.

John S. picked up Fisher in the 11th round and hasn't been getting good value for his pick, as the veteran is coming in about two rounds lower in the rankings overall, definitely better suited to be a 13th round pick.

John currently sits in 6th place, 13 points out of the money, still with a 2nd round Waiver Draft pick to use and there could definitely be some serious consideration in dropping Fisher, especially with the potential for more time missed.

Click here for the updated injury/news page on the website

Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Dec 3)

With the return of Nate Thompson to the Anaheim Ducks lineup on Wednesday night, one player had to come out of the lineup and that was forward Patrick Maroon, who has yet to really provide a spark in the lineup this season. In 24 games this season, Maroon has 1 goal and 4 points, plus 20 PIM, which isn't quite good enough for this club, which has struggled to find some consistency.

Dale B. has thought roughly the same thing about Maroon, making him into his 1st round drop in the Waiver Draft, opting for David Jones of the Flames to take his spot.  This should definitely be an offensive upgrade, starting next week.

A lower-body injury was what forced Benoit Pouliot from the Edmonton Oilers lineup on Wednesday night, as they hosted the Bruins for a mid-week clash.  Pouliot hasn't quite been the same, since his centre, Connor McDavid, went down with his collarbone injury, but he has still been able to provide some quality minutes for the Oilers.  To date, he has 5 goals and 12 points in 24 games, but there is no indication about how much time his lower-body injury would cost him.

Mike currently holds the 25th position in the standings, but is only 3 points out of 20th, so there is some wiggle room to move, especially if Pouliot can get healthy right away.  Mike has made a couple moves with his forwards already in the Waiver Draft, so he hopes he'll get more of a scoring punch before too long.

Finally, the Colorado Avalanche announced on Wednesday night that Alex Tanguay has been taken off the Injured Reserve, which means he should be good to return to the lineup, Thursday night in the Big Apple against the Rangers.  Tanguay had 6 points in 14 games before his knee injury, so the Avalanche will certainly hope for a little bit more production to lift them over the hump.

Grant did a good job not dropping Tanguay too soon, as he is now expected back, so his team can battle their way out of the bottom two teams, which seems to be more of a daunting task than not here.  Grant goes into Thursday night, 14 points back of 25th place.

Click here for the updated injury/news page on the website

Bernier Accepts Conditioning Stint

It was a bit of a stretch, from a professional point of view, but the Toronto Maple Leafs and goaltender Jonathan Bernier came to an agreement, which sees the struggling keeper accept a conditioning stint in the AHL, where he would spend up to two weeks with the minor-league club, trying to find his game again.

Bernier has yet to find a win in nine appearances with the club, picking up 0 points and losing the faith of his coaches with the team.

With a salary cap hit of $4.15 million annually, it would be a stretch to think that there are many teams willing to accept that sort of hit, in a trade or a waiver claim, in order to take on a goalie that has yet to pick up a win this season.  He would need a manager to assume to some risk and have some belief that he can bounce back and be the goalie that he was once projected to be.

With a lack of goalies on the list and one bum already in the minors (and dropped), Cindy has had the worst luck in the crease this year, but she hopes that she can turn that around with Anders Nilsson of the Oilers.  She'll have to hope that Bernier finds his stride again and/or gets dealt out of Toronto, possibly finding new life in new surroundings.

Cindy's team currently sits in 22nd place after Wednesday night's action, 55 points out of the money.

Click here for the updated injury/news page on the website

Sutter's Status Degrades

A couple of weeks ago, the Vancouver Canucks announced that the abdominal injury that Brandon Sutter has would be re-evaluated after about this amount of time and the hope was, that time to heal would have helped him jump back into the lineup.  That wasn't the case.

On Wednesday, the team announced that Sutter had undergone successful sports hernia surgery and his recovery from that will be in the 4-to-6 week range, which will take a good chunk of the second segment season.

Sutter's value has now diminished significantly, which leaves Dale B. with a bit of a decision to make with his 2nd round move in the Waiver Draft, which is coming up pretty soon.  There isn't a great deal of talent left on the board, but whatever is there, will be available to him, if he so chooses to drop Sutter at the time.

Dale currently sits in 3rd place, after Wednesday night's action, only 3 points out of 1st place.

Click here for the updated injury/news page on the website

Week Nine Waiver Draft (Dec 2)

We almost made it through the 1st round of the Waiver Draft on Tuesday, just ever so close... only two picks short.  Nevertheless, it has been a pretty good push to this point, so we'll quickly go over what we saw on Tuesday, hoping that the second round gets going here soon.

Picks 14 through 25 were more about the veterans, rather than the rookies and more about the skaters, than the goalies.

Eric led off the day with a defenseman, taking Colin Miller from the Bruins, who has been playing in the top two pairs for a Boston team that their power play has improved greatly this season.  Rookie defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere was the next defenseman taken, down in the 20th spot by Brenda & Seward and he's been making an impression since his call-up a couple of weeks ago.  He'll be hard to send down, if they do.  Rounding out the defensemen on the day was another Bruin, Dennis Seidenberg, who got a late jump to the season, due to injury, but John S. may have found a suitable replacement for a blueliner that is now stuck in the minors.

Up front, teams were trying to rustle up whatever offense they could find, as Scott dropped a major injury for Teemu Pulkkinen in Detroit, Dale C. dropped a major dud for Jason Chimera in Washington, Stuart let go of a constant scratch for Tobias Rieder in Arizona, Brian added Jannik Hansen in Vancouver for somewhat of a disappointment, Troy cut his losses on a late pick, adding Leo Komarov of the Leafs instead, while Dale B. dropped a Duck, added a Flame in David Jones and Neil swapped centres, picking up Travis Zajac of the Devils.

Possibly the biggest storyline of the day was in the crease, as Ryan snagged Garret Sparks, who became the first Leafs goalie ever to register a shutout in his NHL debut for the team. With the Leafs' problems in the crease, Sparks was a pleasant surprise, shutting down the Oilers on Monday night, obviously catching the eye of a bargain hunter like Ryan.

Sparks will reportedly get another start on Wednesday night, but the understanding is that James Reimer is still the number one in town, as the former number one, Jonathan Bernier, will get some time on an AHL conditioning stint to help find his game, but there is plenty of intrigue here.

Taken with the pick before, Clayton also tried to take advantage of a poor goalie situation, this time in Anaheim, as he snagged John Gibson, who has been running the hot hand for the Ducks, possibly taking the job away from Frederik Andersen in the process.  Interesting situations all the way around.

Let's hope that the second round is just as interesting.

Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Dec 2)

Well, his stint in the lineup didn't last too long, as Detroit forward Tomas Jurco was back up in the press box on Tuesday night, as the Red Wings took on the Sabres at home. Jurco hasn't been a regular in the lineup this season, being a seat-warmer in the press box, more often than not.

In five games, Jurco only has 1 assist and 6 PIM, which is why Stuart has made him a 1st round drop in the Waiver Draft this week.  If you're thinking that Jurco is due for a comeback, he is free to snap up, if you'd like.

One of the worst things you want to hear about one of your pool players is that they were hurt in practice... it wasn't even a game! The Florida Panthers, who are currently on a road trip, have sent forward Nick Bjugstad back home after suffering an upper-body injury in practice on Monday.  Bjugstad didn't dress for the Panthers on Tuesday night against St. Louis and is currently listed as day-to-day.

Doesn't sound like this will be enough for John S. to drop him in the 2nd round of the Waiver Draft, but you never know... things could worsen before his pick rolls around.

More vague news (surprise, surprise!), as the Nashville Predators were without forward Colin Wilson for Tuesday night's game against the Coyotes, as the 26-year old is dealing with a lower-body injury.  He's currently on the list as out day-to-day and that's all we really know.  The Predators were ahead of the curve on this one, recalling Cody Bass from the minors and getting him in the lineup, but that doesn't help us on the injury front.

It's definitely one game missed for Tony and I suppose there is always the possibility for more.  He's day-to-day for right now, so if anything changes for the worse, we'll have an update for it.

Canucks defenseman Christopher Tanev was held out of the lineup against Los Angeles, due to an upper-body injury, officially, but it is believed that he had blocked a shot against the Ducks with his hand and he was unable to go, because of that.  Tanev is currently out day-to-day with his injury and will likely get looked at a little more thoroughly, when they get back to their own doctors.

Tanev hasn't been nearly as effective as the Canucks (or Brian) would have hoped he would be, only picking up 1 goal and 4 points in 24 games this season.  He definitely has a potential drop in him this week, I'm thinking.

It hasn't been the best of starts to the year for Dallas defenseman Jason Demers, who has already seen a couple knocks this year. On Tuesday night against Calgary, he was forced from the game with an upper-body injury and as of Wednesday morning, there was still no update on the injury.

Brenda & Seward are flying up the standings in Week Nine, leading the way through a couple nights worth of action in the Mover & Shaker race, already picking up 14 points, including 1 point from Demers.

Click here for the updated injury/news page on the website

Broken Finger for Michalek

The Ottawa Senators were dealt a big blow to their forward ranks, as Milan Michalek left last night's game with an apparent hand injury, which he reportedly suffered from Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Radko Gudas. Well, the news on the injury came in first thing and it is a broken index finger and the team expects him to be out indefinitely.

It wouldn't be too surprising if the 31-year old would be back in about a month's time from this injury, but being as though it is an important finger, it could run just a little bit longer.

In 24 games played this season, Michalek ranks 292nd in pool scoring with 5 goals and 8 points, also collecting 10 PIM in the process.

This season, the Czech forward belongs to Jeremy in the pool and we are currently waiting on his decision on who he wants to pick up for Michalek today.  There was a pretty good chance that he was going to run with the status quo for his team, but this injury came at almost the right time... besides being an injury, of course.

Click here for the updated injury/news page on the website

Goalie Announcements (Dec 1)

After the survivor pool got a night off, it should be a little bit busier for our seven remaining teams in the pool.  Plus, a few of the newly-picked goalies will get a chance to shine in Tuesday night's action and maybe a couple more will get to show off their wares to prospective pool teams, still looking for goalie help.

Let's start with the head-to-head match-ups tonight, in the first game, the Wild and Blackhawks game will feature a couple of survivor pool goalies in Devan Dubnyk (Derek W.) and Corey Crawford (Stuart).  This Central Division game will be the only shot that Stuart has at qualifying tonight, while Derek, who has left the last couple weeks until late, does have another crack at it tonight.

The other head-to-head match-up will see Steve Mason (Derek W.) and the Flyers go into Ottawa for a date against Craig Anderson (John P.) and the Senators.  This will round out both team's nights, as Derek will be in tough for a couple of games, both opponents won't exactly roll over.

Scott has his pair of goalies going tonight as well, giving him two shots at qualifying for Week Ten, as Jake Allen gets the call for the Blues, as they host Roberto Luongo (Kristy & Don) and the Panthers, while Martin Jones was confirmed for the Sharks, as they play host to the Penguins, who are expected to have Marc-Andre Fleury (John R.) in net.

The only other survivor pool goalie set to go tonight is Mike Smith of the Coyotes, giving Dale B. a start, albeit against Pekka Rinne (Ryan) and the Predators, a very tough match-up, to say the least.

That's the skinny from the survivor pool.

Wes will finally get another start out of Jacob Markstrom of the Canucks, as they are in Los Angeles on back-to-back nights, where he'll face Jonathan Quick of the Kings.

Still looking for a goalie?  How about Linus Ullmark, who will get the start for the Sabres tonight against the Red Wings?  Petr Mrazek (Tony) will get the start at the other end.

Week Nine Waiver Draft (Dec 1)

On Monday, we kicked off the first of two Waiver Drafts and we got off to a very respectable start.  Before the end of the day on Monday, we managed 13 picks in the 1st round, nearing the halfway point of the pool, which is great, considering we have more people participating this year.

John R. got us all kicked off first thing in the morning, as the flood of goalies hit the draft hard, starting with Montreal's Mike Condon, who is taking over for the injured Carey Price.  It wasn't long after John made that pick, that the Habs announced that Price would be missing the next six weeks with his lower-body injury, which immediately put a smile on John's face.

Monday's goalie fix didn't continue until the 7th overall pick, where Cindy, who is still looking for her team's first win of the season, picked up Edmonton's Anders Nilsson, who is working towards the number one job for the Oilers at the moment.  Allan went off the board a little, taking Winnipeg's Connor Hellebuyck, on the heels of the injury to Ondrej Pavelec, thinking that he could unseat Michael Hutchinson with a good stretch of play.  The fourth goalie taken on Monday was Boston's Jonas Gustavsson, who arguably has been the better of the two Bruins keepers, but they continue to roll with Tuukka Rask as the number one, but Gustavsson has been getting some time and winning in that time.

The rookie race was well represented in the opening half of the 1st round, as Grant nabbed Dylan Larkin of the Red Wings, who was also the best forward available at the time as well. Grant is already on the board in the rookie race, having 13 points from Sam Bennett of the Flames and he'll need some help chasing down Ryan, who has 28 points more already.

Mike, who also is already with rookie points, albeit only 4 points, joined the rookie parade, taking Rangers freshman Oscar Lindberg, who is off to a great start this year.  The best defenseman available, Colton Parayko of the Blues, is also a rookie, so that was a double-whammy for Tony, who had yet to have any rookie points this year.  Anthony Duclair was also nabbed, as Derek W. looked to join the rookie race in his own way, taking the next best rookie in the desert.

We should also note that both Condon and Hellebuyck are also rookies, so their value as goalies was improved upon, as they are thought to be valuable freshmen as well.

There were also a few players taken for the sake of just trying to climb back into the race for the big money, looking for that miracle hot streak, starting next week.  Benson went with Lee Stempniak of the Devils, while Kristy & Don upgraded their European presence, taking Tomas Fleischmann of the Canadiens and Stacey M. kept her fangirl status for her Habs, taking Dale Weise.

Finally... the goons!

It was going to be in the first half of the draft order where we would see someone rush for the PIM pool and I wasn't disappointed, as it appears that we'll have a two-horse race for the final tally of pugilistic time spent in the box.

Derek & Dan cast the first stone, taking Chris Neil of the Ottawa Senators, who has done a great job collecting misconducts and fighting majors to start the year.  As of Tuesday morning, they sit 61 PIM behind Wes, but with still one more pick in the draft, they could really make some hay.

That's only if Wes' pick, Colorado's Cody McLeod doesn't have anything to say about that himself.  McLeod opened the week in 2nd place in the individual PIM rankings, so he should offer Wes a good cushion worth of minutes to help him keep ahead of the pool's third duo.

Now that we're getting into the top half of the standings, I don't think we'll see any more goons taken until these two teams show up again.

Stay tuned tomorrow for a recap of Tuesday's picks.

Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Dec 1)

With Carey Price extending his stay on the shelf on Monday, the Montreal Canadiens are committing themselves to Mike Condon for the foreseeable future and they realize that Dustin Tokarski still needs to play some games, so he was sent down to the AHL on Monday afternoon, making way for Zach Fucale to back-up Condon, and the play should be for Tokarski to eventually come back and then help with the workload, if needed.  Wow, that's a lot of goalies in one paragraph.

So, with that being said, John R.'s new goalie gets the bulk of the load, while John S.'s goalie is down, while Clayton's second goalie goes back to the minors.  Could their be a drop in someone's future here?

New York Rangers defenseman Kevin Klein reportedly left Monday night's game against the Hurricanes with a muscle strain in the abdomen area.  The team didn't disclose anything of note about the injury after the game, other than the nature of the injury, so they will likely be doing some tests and then disclosing more later on Tuesday.

This will put a wrinkle into the thought process of Dale C. at the Waiver Draft, who has been thinking about forwards and defensemen to drop and/or pick-up, so this injury could be something that tips the scale, in the 2nd round, if not the 1st round.

A nagging injury has forced Joffrey Lupul out of the Maple Leafs lineup for Monday night's game against the Oilers.  The actual injury itself and how long it might keep him out of the lineup were not disclosed, but if it is only a nagging injury, it shouldn't be considered to be too serious.  If the Leafs are going to try and make a push forward, they are likely preferring that one of their scoring wingers is playing at 100%, because anything less hasn't produced much of anything yet.

Lupul has 11 points in 23 games for the Leafs and for Stacey C., who has already moved a goalie in the Waiver Draft and he may still want to make one more move in the 2nd round.  His team is 41 points out of the money and would need Lupul (or his replacement) to go on a real tear.

It was another return to the press box for Sven Baertschi, as the Canucks struggle to find any consistent offense in their game, finding absolutely no offense against the Ducks on Monday night, losing 4-0.  With the Canucks losing non-pool rookie Jake Virtanen to an upper-body injury last night, it would be safe to assume that Baertschi will be made available for some more regular shifts for the time being.

This is better news for Neil, who yes, did miss one skater game with this scratch, but the outlook going forward isn't that bad.  He'll get more games in, trying to find some offense of his own... unless Neil has any designs on dropping him in the Waiver Draft this week.

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