Groin Injury for Lehtonen

The Dallas Stars are in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race again, they got off to the same fast start that they had gotten off to last season, but much like the 2011 season, the Stars are poised to drop off the face of the map and this new injury news will only exacerbate the issue. On Saturday night, their number one goalie, Kari Lehtonen, only managed to play in just over five minutes against the Phoenix Coyotes, before making a save doing the splits and then crumbling in pain.  Lehtonen had to be helped off the ice and the rest of the game was left to Andrew Raycroft.

On Sunday morning, the Stars wasted no time in placing Lehtonen on the injured reserve, which doesn't bode well for the Stars or their number one keeper.  It is believed to be a groin injury that has sidelined him and I think it is fair to say that he will be out indefinitely.

Lehtonen has made 19 appearances in the Stars' crease this year, amassing a record of 13-4-1 with no shutouts, a 2.34 GAA and .926 save percentage.  His wins are good enough for 26 points in the pool this season, which currently has him in 11th pool scoring, 6th among all goalies.  The Stars next option, Raycroft, has a record of 0-5-0 this year, so this could be a pretty big blow to the team, who will have to rally around their back-up, for as long as it takes to get their number one guy back in the crease.

The Stars have recalled goaltender Richard Bachman to take back-up duties behind Raycroft and I would imagine that if Lehtonen is out for the long-term, Bachman will probably figure into some games before too long.

In the draft, Wayne H., our pool leader, made Lehtonen into the last pick of the 2nd round of the draft, 44th overall, and was getting some 1st round results out of the Finnish netminder, which has helped his cause in opening up a significant lead in the pool, at the end of Week Eight. Going into Sunday's action, Wayne has a 12-point lead and will pick last in both rounds of the waiver draft, without any doubt.  The question going into the waiver draft will be, how much of a gamble would it be to keep Lehtonen through the draft and is there a good enough goalie available with the 22nd pick to offset the loss and keep him afloat?

Boyes Out With High Ankle Sprain

The lower-body injury that Sabres forward Brad Boyes suffered this week has indeed turned up to be a high ankle sprain and he will be out of the Sabres line-up indefinitely. Boyes had his leg collapsed on during Wednesday night's game and he was not able to participate in Friday night's contest, which ended a very long ironman streak at 513 games.

Boyes was not off to a great start to the season, considering the company he was keeping offensively, but a lot of this points did come from the talent around him and some power play time.  At the time of his injury, Boyes had 2 goals and 6 assists in 21 games and today, that total is good enough for 294th in pool scoring, which is somewhat disappointing for the scoring winger.

Given that the injury is a high ankle sprain and his scoring rates have been underwhelming, there is a pretty good chance that Boyes will find his way to the available player list at the time of the waiver draft, as Clayton C. may not want to keep him around for too long.  With some more significant forwards on the available list, it would be kind of silly to wait on an underachiever like Boyes.  Going into Sunday's action, Clayton sits in 6th place, 11 points out of 3rd and he'll have a week to sit with Boyes in his line-up, before anyone else can actively take his spot.

Draft Player News (Nov. 27)

There was plenty of secrecy surrounding the Buffalo Sabres going into Saturday's game against the Capitals, as they have run into some serious injury trouble this year, the first year of their high expenditures and big name players. At game time, it was revealed that Drew Stafford was held out of the line-up, due to an undisclosed injury, so to a point, the secrecy continues. There was no new word on Sunday morning, so for now, we'll consider him out day-to-day. The Sabres have done a number of recalls over the last week, so it is getting kind of hard to determine, who came in for who at this point.

Stafford being out comes as a fairly significant blow, as he has been okay in pool scoring already this season, picking up 4 goals and 8 assists in 22 games, which is just over half a point-per-game to this point.  It isn't exactly great production, but it is okay.

Stafford will make the decision a little bit more difficult for Wes M. this coming week, but I would imagine that Wes will be waiting for definitive word on the injury, before he determines whether or not Stafford will be one of his two players that will get dropped in the waiver draft.  Wes goes into Sunday's action, to determine the position in the waiver draft, in 12th spot, 4 points back of 10th, but only 4 points up on 15th.  There is lots of wiggle room there.

The Edmonton Oilers are waiting to hear word on one of their young superstars, Taylor Hall, who suffered what appeared to be a shoulder injury on Saturday night against the Avalanche, after getting hit into the boards awkwardly in the 1st period, came back for a shift, where he took a cross-check to the same arm and left for the remainder of the game. The Oilers had no immediate report on the injury, but we'll be paying close attention.

Hall has played very well in his sophomore season, scoring 7 goals and 11 assists in 22 games this year, which has him ranked 66th in pool scoring, unofficially, on Saturday morning.  The Oilers have been an offensive juggernaut at times this season and losing one of their big weapons could be a significant hit, especially to a team that has been struggling to string together some wins after a fast start to the year.

This comes as a significant hit to Clayton C.'s team in the draft, as Hall is one of seven players in the top 100 in pool scoring on his team, keeping him alive in the money race this year.  Hall is one of Clayton's best players in the week with 4 points, so if the injury is long-term, it could be very costly.

On a rare occasion, Vancouver Canucks defenseman Alex Edler took the worst of a solid bodycheck, this time against Sharks forward Jamie McGinn, forcing the Swedish defender from the game in the 2nd period, not to return.  Edler will be re-evaluated on Monday, but for now we'll consider him out day-to-day, with the promise that if there is any more significant news, that it will be posted up on the blog.

Edler is currently 3rd on the Canucks in scoring with 3 goals and 13 assists in 23 games, which is also good enough to be unofficially ranked 100th in pool scoring this year.  Edler is having a whale of a season, so his presence will certainly be missed, if he is out for any extended period of time.

The loss of Edler will also leave a pretty big hole on Stuart G.'s pool team, which currently sits in 5th spot with 193 points, right in the thick of the money race.  Stuart currently has the best four defensemen in the pool to this point in the season, picking up 56 points from his blueliners, which has some space to give to be 2nd place as well.  An extended time away for Edler could certainly hurt these numbers.

Sheet Player News (Nov. 27)

It wasn't a good night for the Dallas Stars, losing their number one keeper and they also lost Box 13 defenseman Trevor Daley to an upper-body injury. It was later revealed that the injury was a muscle strain in his back, so this could be an injury that keeps him out of the line-up for an extended period of time. It could certainly be something that would be considered day-to-day, but I would imagine that he could be up for upwards of a week, while he just waits for the pain to subside.

Some injuries around the Panthers kept some of the regular scratches in the line-up for an extra few days or so, but the rotation appears to be back in service, as Box 29 defender Keaton Ellerby was a healthy scratch again for the club, as they took on the Lightning in Tampa.  Ellerby has not done a great job of keeping a job around the club these days, but he is still getting plenty of opportunities, rather than being sent down to the minors.  Between himself and Erik Gudbranson, the team is able to teach their youth a bit more about big league defense from the press box and give them time to apply those lessons on the ice.

On Sunday morning, the old switcheroo was pulled on the Senators line-up, involving a pair of young forwards, both players on the selection sheet. Heading down to the minors for some more minutes is Box 25 forward Stephane Da Costa, who has only 5 points in 22 games and coming up from the minors is Box 21 forward Nikita Filatov, who has 1 assist in six games with the Senators this year.  The Sens are expecting to have Filatov in the line-up when they go against the Hurricanes this afternoon.

On Saturday afternoon against the Rangers, Box 24 forward Andreas Nodl suffered an upper-body injury and didn't return to the game.  There was no immediate word as to the severity of the injury and I don't think I could comment on the play itself, since I didn't see it.  We'll await word on his injury, but he wasn't a very popular player in the pool and he has been a healthy scratch a number of times already this year, that even if he was taken, it would have been wise to trade him away by this point.

Much like the situation in Florida that I had already written about this morning, the San Jose Sharks continued their young defensive rotation on Saturday night for their game against the Canucks, as Box 14 defenseman Justin Braun was out of the line-up again.  Braun is in a rotation with Jason Demers and neither player has been able to produce offensively in a high-pressure situation, one that will keep them in the Sharks' line-up, if they can put some points on the board.  Both players have shown flashes of offensive brilliance in the past, but they haven't been able to channel that sort of offense this season.

Prizes for the 2012 Hockey Pools

Holy crap, I've really dropped the ball with this announcement. I think I had mentioned a few weeks ago that I would have announced this much sooner, but I hadn't. Nevertheless, I have got all my calculations done, despite not having received all the money yet, and I have what the prize amounts are going to be this year.

In the draft, we had a nice increase in bodies for the year, which means there is a slight increase in the prize pool for the year.  I have increased the budget for the jersey prizes to $200, but I haven't purchased them quite yet this year.  I was waiting on the Winter Classic jerseys for the Rangers and Flyers to be official before I went out to get them.  The first jersey prize, which will be awarded at the end of next week, will likely get a free choice of whichever team they want, but the other two will likely be the Winter Classic jerseys.

That being said, here is how the prize breakdown in the draft goes this year... $500 for 1st place, $250 for 2nd place, $100 for 3rd place and $50 (or your money back) for 4th place.  Very straight-forward and easy.

The sheet pool is where the expense go for the website and sadly, this year, the expenses have gone up to around $100, so that gets taken off right away.  There was a slight loss in participants this year, down to 32 from 33 a year ago, but that doesn't do too much to the prize pool.  We'll have $400 for 1st place, $150 for 2nd, $75 for 3rd, $50 for 4th and $25 for 5th, just to keep it all interesting.  Handing out prizes is fun, so I like to spread out the wealth in the sheet pool a little bit more.

Well, now you know what you're playing for this year, I hope everyone has some fun and we'll look to do it all again in the Playoff Pool, come April.

Van Riemsdyk Hurt

In somewhat of a surprise announcement before the Flyers game against the Canadiens on Friday afternoon, the team announced that James Van Riemsdyk will be out of action for the next 1-to-2 weeks with an undisclosed upper-body injury, which we will count down from Friday afternoon, placing his worst-case scenario return on December 10th, home to the Lightning.

There was no word of when or where Van Riemsdyk was hurt, which is a little discomforting, but they were forthcoming with a timetable, so it isn't all bad, I guess.

The 22-year old forward is on pace to have his best season in the NHL, currently sitting in 85th in pool scoring this year with 8 goals and 8 assists through 20 games.  Last season, Van Riemsdyk hit the 40-point mark, right on the nose, ranking him 195th in pool scoring, so if he was to keep his position this season, he would be in great shape.  Still, missing two weeks will likely cost him eight games at best, plus a game he has missed earlier,  he still has a pace for 58 points, which is a definite plus to his career.

In the draft, Van Riemsdyk belongs to Scott G. in the pool, who goes into Saturday's action in 8th spot with 174 points, now 11 points back of 7th and 23 points back of 2nd and 3rd place, so the loss of Van Riemsdyk could be big over the next couple of weeks.  A drop does give him a couple better picks next week, where he can fill some gaps in his line-up, but I'm sure he wishes he was a little closer to the top group for a smaller gap to close up.  Nevertheless, there is still lots of hockey left to play.

Draft Player News (Nov. 26)

I wonder if you could say that the honeymoon is over between the Anaheim Ducks and defenseman Kurtis Foster, a relationship that got off to a slow start with an injury, met by a goal upon his return to action then only an assist since, playing in eight games for the Ducks, being a healthy scratch yet again this season on Friday night against the Blackhawks.  The Ducks are already in a tight spot near the bottom of the Western Conference standings and not gaining much ground, so roster shuffles have been needed.

This doesn't bode well for Allan S., who is struggling mightily before the first waiver draft of the season, having only 5 points through Friday's action in Week Eight, looking at the Basement Dweller for the week and a much better pick than he was going to have a week ago today.  The race around him had gotten better, but injuries have really taken their toll, not to mention the healthy scratches.  Going into Saturday's action, Allan sits in 14th spot with 163 points, 5 points back of 11th and 2 points up on 15th.

The Hurricanes were without defenseman Jay Harrison on Friday night against the Jets, citing an upper-body injury for his absence.  The injury does appear to be minor, as he was able to practice on Thursday, so his absence is likely for precautionary measures, more than anything else.  With Derek Joslin hanging around the press box from game-to-game, there was no need to put Harrison in danger of getting injured any further.

Earlier in Week Eight, it really looked like Darren S. was going to make that push to try and catch Ryan M. for 21st place in the pool, possibly working his way out of the 1st overall pick in the waiver draft next week, but there is a 13-point gap with only two days worth of action to go, so I don't really see that happening at the moment.  For his sake, I think we'll see Harrison back in the line-up for the Hurricanes soon, so I don't think he'll be a candidate to be dropped.

An injury update on Brendan Morrow, as the team has now placed their captain on the injured reserve, with no exact timetable to return from a back/elbow injury, which he suffered last weekend. Morrow was thought to have a minor injury, with the expectation that he wouldn't be out of the line-up very long, but now he'll not be rushed back into the line-up, the team will wait for him to get to 100% before he returns.  There is no exact timetable at the moment, but now the Stars can call up a new player to the active roster.

This is bad news for Benson G. in the pool, who sits in 11th spot with 168 points, 3 points out of the top 10 and in need of a good rush here at the moment.  Benson sits right in the middle of the pack and will get an okay pick in the first round of the waiver draft, but with the race around him so tight, he could drop on a night like Saturday, which is very busy and his pick could improve without losing too much ground.

Sheet Player News (Nov. 26)

On Friday evening, Winnipeg Jets defenseman Ron Hainsey was held out of the line-up against the Hurricanes, but it was hard to tell whether or not it was because he came back too early from injury or whether the coach felt he needed a bit more practice to be a contributing member of the blueline.  Either way, it doesn't sound like there is any more injury news for Hainsey, who had a good start to the regular season before getting injured.  I don't think I would rush to get Hainsey for your pool team, unless you feel the Jets are really going to catch fire.

Expected Returns (Nov. 25)

The Edmonton Oilers are finally expecting to see defenseman Ryan Whitney back in their line-up on Friday night, after missing five weeks with a sprained knee, which was only initially scheduled to keep him out of the line-up for two weeks.  It may be fair to say that the Oilers may have missed Whitney in the line-up, as things haven't been too rosy for the team since his departure, dropping well down in the standings, so this could be the spark that they need.

In the draft, this could be a welcomed addition to Chris M.'s line-up, so has been missing him for over a month now.  At the time of the injury, Chris was in 16th spot, 20 points out of 3rd place and upon his return on Friday night, Chris now sits in 15th spot, 22 points out of 3rd place.  Okay, maybe he hasn't exactly "missed" Whitney, but he may be in a better position if the defenseman was active over the last month.  Inconsistent weeks at the top of the standings would likely be the reason why Chris has kept pace with the top three to this point.

This afternoon, the Islanders will give Al Montoya the start against the New Jersey Devils, marking his return from a hamstring injury, which officially put him on the shelf for over a week now.  Montoya was originally listed as a healthy scratch at the end of Week Six, but that turned out to be a bit of a lie, as the goalie suffered the injury around that time and was held out of the line-up, without much explanation and in a 3-goalie system, it didn't come as much of a surprise.  A few days later, he was placed on the injured reserve and has now been activated for Black Friday's game.

Montoya belongs to Peter H., who didn't have where he was in the standings measured at the time of the injury, but at the end of Week Six, he was in 13th spot in the standings and since then, he immediately dropped down to 18th spot.  Montoya was not the whole reason for the drop, as Peter has six players on the injury/news page and he is desperate for the waiver draft at the moment, just to get healthy again.

Sheet Player News (Nov. 25)

Box 25 forward Blake Comeau was placed on waivers on Thursday by the New York Islanders, after being a healthy scratch for a number of games in the early part of the season, only to be claimed by the Calgary Flames on Friday. Comeau has no points in 16 games for the Islanders this season, but he does have some scoring potential, which could come in handy for the Flames this season.  In the 2011 season, Comeau finished with 46 points in 77 games, which ranked him 149th in overall scoring, which is a pretty good year, but has yet to see those kind of results this season.  A change of pace in Calgary may be just what he needs to pick his game up.

With Ian White returning to the Red Wings line-up before the Thanksgiving break in the US, that closed up a possible roster spot for Box 14 defenseman Brendan Smith, who has been up filling in for the scoring veteran.  Smith was a healthy scratch on Wednesday night, White's first game back in the line-up and with Mike Commodore already hanging around the roster as the seventh defenseman, there was no need for Smith to hang around and now get any minutes.  Now that he's AHL-bound, he'll get plenty of minutes with the Grand  Rapids Griffins and will be ready to fill in when called upon.

On Friday morning, the Nashville Predators saw the passing of Niclas Bergfors through $125 waivers, which opened up the ability to release him from his contract.  Bergfors cleared regular waivers this week, in order for the Predators to send him down to the minors, but Bergfors was not pleased with this move and requested a move back to his native Sweden and the team complied with him, placing him on the next set of waivers, in order to release him.  Everything went according to plan and now the Box 8 forward is now useless on the selection sheet pool.  I do not believe he was taken at all, but if you did take him, now is a good time to trade for him.

On Thursday, the New Jersey Devils decided not to keep Box 23 forward Nick Palmieri around for the holidays, sending him down to the minors, likely for a brief stint in Albany. Palmieri has already played 19 games with the club and has 3 goals and 3 assists, so I don't think a demotion is really all about his production, which isn't stellar, but frankly, isn't all that bad.  I would expect to see Palmieri back up with the club before too long, especially with the Devils in the thick of the playoff race early on this year and Palmieri should be considered a solid option in the line-up.

Draft Player News (Nov. 24)

In the Sabres game against the Bruins on Wednesday night, forward Brad Boyes left the game with a lower-body injury, not to return to the game. One tweet I had seen last night suggested that it could be a ankle injury, after having a player land on it during the game, but there has been no confirmation, as of Thursday morning.

Boyes belongs to Clayton C. in the draft this season and his team has struggled in Week Eight, which isn't a bad week to struggle, as the end of this week will determine the drafting order in the waiver draft, which goes next week.  Clayton will go into Friday's action in 6th place, but is only 7 points out of 2nd place, so it's a tight race at the moment.

Reports on Wednesday night suggest that Colorado Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson has suffered a groin injury, but the extent of the injury is not known right away. Johnson didn't dress for the team against the Canucks on Wednesday night, apparently missed practice on Tuesday as well, so they are giving him some rest right away.  An extra day off on Thursday will likely help, but like all new injuries today, I imagine we likely won't get any updates until Friday.

Derek W. has the underachieving defenseman from the Avalanche in the draft this year and he's poised to have a great pick in the waiver draft this week, as he will likely pick 3rd when the draft starts next week.  Derek currently sits 59 points out of 3rd place, but he will likely be in line for a player that is on fire at the moment and if Johnson can get back on track, he could start the recovery process.

A minor upper-body knock held Dallas Stars captain Brendan Morrow out of the line-up against the Kings on Wednesday night, but the coaching staff are confident that the injury is minor enough to not keep him out of the line-up much longer than last night's game. His availability for Friday's game against the Maple Leafs does sound rather probable, which is good news for the Stars.

This is also likely good news for Benson G. in the draft this season, who isn't very far from the big race into the top three of the standings.  Benson currently sits in 11th spot, 20 points out of 3rd place, but a couple good weeks and he'll be back in the mix.  Getting Morrow back for the weekend will certainly help, despite him being cold to start the season.

The Florida Panthers were without defenseman Dimitri Kulikov on Wednesday night, as they took on the Rangers at home. The offensive defenseman sat out of the contest with a lower-body injury, but it sounds like the injury is considered to be minor, so he isn't expected to be out much longer than the one game he has already missed.  The speculation is that he was injured in the Panthers' game previous to Wednesday night, but Kulkov did finish that contest, so that should be a fairly solid indication of how minor it is.

Peter H. didn't really need to see another injury on his side this week, as he already went into the week with a lot of injuries on his side and not many skater games scheduled to be played because of it.  Peter is among the lower teams in scoring in Week Eight, having dropped down to 18th spot in the last couple of days and there is a possibility that he could drop a bit further to get a better pick in the waiver draft.

An emergency set of circumstances saw Niklas Backstrom unable to dress for the Minnesota Wild and set off a wild day of making sure that the team had a back-up goaltender for their game against the Predators.  Backstrom is expected to be back from his personal situation, when the team resumes their schedule on Friday, at home to the Oilers, so there shouldn't be much concern from his standpoint.

As it so happened, Leon G. did miss a start from Backstrom, as the Finn was scheduled to get the start against the Predators, which may have turned into 2 points for him, as the Wild played well last night for the win.  Leon could have used those points, as there is a 7-point gap between himself in 16th and 15th place.

The start to the 2012 season has not been kind to Scott Gomez, opening the season on the injured reserve with an upper-body injury and not long after returning, he suffered a lower-body injury, having to leave the game against the Hurricanes, long before the game went to a shootout and his side picked up the victory.  Gomez will be re-evaluated on Thursday and his availability for Friday's game against the Flyers will likely be disclosed late on Thursday or after the morning skate on Friday.

There is a pretty good chance that Gomez will get plenty of consideration from Wes M. at the waiver draft, as he is the worst forward on the side this season, having only 4 points in 13 games to this point.  Wes sits in 14th spot in the standings, 22 points out of 3rd place, so a good waiver draft could go a long way for Wes.

Jaromir Jagr's return from a lower-body injury didn't last very long on Wednesday night.  In the game against the Islanders, Jagr left the contest in the second period with the injury and did not return to the ice.  Early speculation suggests that Jagr re aggravated the lower-body injury he had just returned, which is believed to be a groin problem.  There is no immediate word what his availability will be like for their next game against the Canadiens on Friday, but if it is believed to be long-term, there will be another post for him.

This isn't good news for Scott G., who has benefited greatly from Jagr's presence in the Flyers line-up.  Without Jagr over the last week or so, Scott has dropped off a little bit, falling down to 8th in the standings and now has an 11-point gap between himself and 7th and doesn't have a lot of breathing room between himself and 15th spot, so missing out on Jagr could hurt.  Stay tuned.