Goalie Announcements (Mar 24)

Big night in the NHL tonight, as there is 11 games on the schedule and it's the brink of a long weekend, so get your fill before Good Friday.

Let's start with the money teams, see how the races for the moolah are shaping up tonight.

Jeremy won't have a starter tonight, as one isn't playing and one is designated to back-up.  Brenda & Seward are expected to have Jonathan Quick in the Kings' net tonight, as they visit Ondrej Pavelec (Stuart) and the Jets.  That quickly sorts out the top two, where the duo needs a big night from their number one, as they head into the evening 9 points back.

Brian continues to hold down the 3rd place spot in the standings, now 10 points up on John P. and 15 points up on Neil.  It is expected that Brian will have one keeper going tonight, with Cam Talbot getting the call for the Oilers, while they visit Martin Jones (Scott) and the Sharks.  John P.'s goalies both have the night off tonight, while Neil will have a back-up tonight, but no starters.

I don't think we can necessarily count Kristy & Don completely out of the 3rd place race, as they start the night 18 points back and they have Roberto Luongo going for the Panthers tonight, while they visit Tuukka Rask (Dale C.) and the Bruins.

Derek & Dan own the Mover & Shaker lead after three nights, but they are without a goalie tonight.  Kristy & Don are one of two teams following up with 10 points and they've already had a mention.  Then there is Grant, also at 10 points, and his goalie will either be backing up or in the press box tonight.  Ryan, one of four teams with  9 points, will have the rookie Garret Sparks going for the Maple Leafs tonight, with the Anaheim Ducks and Frederik Andersen (Benson) at the other end.  Derek W., another one of those teams with 9 points, Brian and Stuart are the others (already mentioned above), has Devan Dubnyk going for the Wild tonight, facing former teammate Niklas Backstrom (non-pool) and the Flames.

Race to the Sin Bin (Mar 24)

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have 11 games on the schedule, which means there has to be some key match-ups in the PIM pool, right?

Wes' team opens up the night, 28 minutes back of Derek & Dan, and hasn't recorded a single penalty in the first three nights.  That's not to say that the duo are much better, they only have 4 minutes to their names this week.

There's a lot hinging on the Colorado/Philadelphia game, where Cody McLeod and Gabriel Landeskog are going for Wes tonight and they'll have some dance partners in Wayne Simmonds (Dale C.) and/or Ryan White (John R.) in the pool.  This game has some real potential to it and might be worth a watch, especially since both teams are in a dogfight for a playoff spot in their respective conference.

Derek & Dan's best response will be playing in the late game tonight, as Zack Kassian and the Oilers are in San Jose, trying to play spoiler, as the Sharks try to earn a playoff spot.  Kassian has 88 PIM in 30 games, so there's a good chance he'll be ready to skate to the box.

Let's not forget about Justin Abdelkader, another one of the duo's top PIM getters this season.  He and the Red Wings will be in Montreal to take on the Canadiens tonight,  He's been good for a minor penalty here and there, not to mention the odd bout of fisticuffs and he could have a partner in Mike Brown (non-pool) in this one.

Also in the match-up tonight, Wes will have Ryan Kesler of the Ducks and James Neal of the Predators, both with 60+ PIM this season, while the only other player over the hour mark for Derek & Dan is Shane Doan of the Coyotes.  Those are your best bets of the night.

How about our weekly leading goon team, belonging to John R.?  We know he's got White playing for Philly tonight, but he also has another 60+ minute guy going in Michael Stone of the Coyotes.  Stone has been consistently making his way to the box in recent games, so that's a plus.  How about Jeff Skinner of the Hurricanes, who came out of nowhere this week for 14 minutes against the Sabres this week?  He's playing the Jackets tonight, who might goad him on for some more minutes.

In order for John R. to make the top five in the PIM pool, he has to jump over Brenda & Seward, who are 2nd this week in minutes.  They have Zdeno Chara & Matt Beleskey of the Bruins at 65 & 57 minutes, respectively.  They could make it more difficult, if they keep pumping in the minutes.

The pool is only averaging 8.4 PIM per NHL game this week, so hopefully, tonight's action will give it a big boost.  Fight!  Fight!  Fight!

Myers On the Surgery Schedule

It's a good thing that the Winnipeg Jets are already committed to their fate as a lottery team this season, as the injury hits just keep on coming.  The team announced on Thursday morning that defenseman Tyler Myers is now done for the remainder of the regular season, as he will need to undergo knee surgery right away and then hip surgery in the near future.  His recovery time is in the 20+ week range, but the team is expecting him to be close to ready for around training camp.

Myers, acquired from the Sabres last season, fit in quite well with the Jets in 2016, scoring 9 goals and 27 points in 73 games this season, currently ranking 284th overall in pool scoring.  The overall depth of the Jets blueline may have kept him from bigger minutes and more substantial numbers, but his contributions were pretty good, considering.

For Scott, this is his other Jets player, now on the shelf, as Nikolaj Ehlers has been away, due to an eye injury suffered a couple of weeks ago.  Now his team has no Winnipeg representation and his team is reeling this week, but I would say it is necessarily because of the Jets' injury situation.  Scott's team has dropped to 7th, currently tied with two other teams for the Basement Dweller nod this week and his outside hopes for 3rd place money are fading away.

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

Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Mar 24)

Doesn't look like there was anything new to report upon from last night's games, so we look ahead to Thursday night, where it is expected that David Desharnais will suit up again for the Canadiens, after missing 17 games with a broken foot.  Of course, this is a case of too little, too late, but not in the pool, I guess.

For Benson's team, he'll be a happy camper, getting a scorer back to keep him out of the pool's basement for the year.  Benson's team is still 18 points clear and is keeping a slightly better pace then the teams below him, so he should be safe, barring a disaster.

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

Goalie Announcements (Mar 23)

Through 14 games on the NHL schedule in two nights, the pool was averaging 116 minutes collected, but when we only get two games going tonight, the pool will only have two of the four starting goalies collecting time for us.  Worst of all, it's only in one game.

The marquee match-up of the night... the Boston Bruins are visiting the New York Rangers tonight, where it is expected that the match-up will be Tuukka Rask (Dale C.) against Henrik Lundqvist (Derek & Dan).  Dale's team sits in 11th place, while Derek & Dan are down in 17th, 25 points apart, so one start won't make a big difference here, but it should be a good game, nonetheless.

In the other game tonight, it will be Andrew Hammond (Dropped) against J-F Berube (non-pool) in the Senators and Islanders game tonight.  What a waste of 120 minutes in the crease this one is.

Race to the Sin Bin (Mar 23)

What a disappointment we're going to see tonight in the NHL schedule and the PIM pool. The top three players out of tonight's four teams, belong to the Ottawa Senators, and none of them are expected to play tonight. What the hell, man?!?

Tonight's prime goonage will come from the Boston/New York game, where Brad Marchand (Brian) and Zdeno Chara (Brenda & Seward) are the top two active players in the pool, with 88 and 61 PIM, respectively.  This doesn't sound like nearly as much fun, until you realize that it is the Bruins and Rangers and fireworks could go off in this playoff push.

For the Rangers and picked in the pool, the top PIM-getter is Chris Kreider (Stuart), who only has 52 minutes in penalties, so I'm not expecting too much from the Blueshirts tonight.

Is there anything from the top two PIM pool teams tonight?  Wes will have Travis Hamonic going for the Islanders, he sits with 35 PIM and is his best hope of closing up the gap, which now sits at 28 minutes tonight.  Derek & Dan only have goalie Henrik Lundqvist healthy tonight, but he could take a couple hacks at Marchand, I'm sure.

Noon Player Notes in the Draft (Mar 23)

It sounds as though Tyler Bozak will return to the Maple Leafs' lineup on Thursday night, when they take on the Ducks at home.  Bozak has been out since February 8th with a concussion and has been skating recently, but with some of the emergency call-ups being sent down, the indications are that he is ready to go.  It won't mean much to the Leafs right now, but it is a positive that he is up and moving around again.

Allan's team currently occupies the middle spot in the standings and with the potential return of Bozak, his team could make a quick push for the top half, at best.  Bozak will get a chance to play with the team's up and coming youth, so there's another positive for everyone there.

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

Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Mar 23)

That flu bug is really making its rounds these days, a late push, by the look of things.  Nick Foligno of the Blue Jackets succumbed to the bite on Tuesday night, missing out on the game against the Flyers, which allowed Alexander Wennberg to draw back in from being a healthy scratch as well.  The Jackets are home to the Hurricanes on Thursday night and I would assume that Foligno will draw back in for that one.

Cindy's team appears to be safely situated in the top 20 for now, even with the lost game on Tuesday night.  Moving up still appears to be a possibility, but the likelihood of moving up a bunch is still pretty slim.

It has been a rough year for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, already missing out on a fair bit of time this season to injury and there is a good chance he could miss some more after suffering an upper-body injury against the Coyotes last night.  Nugent-Hopkins was hit by Arizona defenseman Connor Murphy in the 2nd period, forcing him from the game and wasn't to return.

The Nuge has been a bust pick for Stacey C. this year, thanks to all that time missed.  Stacey took the centre with his 4th round pick, 94th overall, but with only 33 points to his name, he ranks 222nd after Tuesday night.  His team is 28 points clear of 27th in the standings, which should be enough to keep him out of last place before the season ends.

Things are not sounding very rosy for the Kings and Tanner Pearson, as the reports are saying that he was scratched from Tuesday night's game against the Wild for personal reasons.  There isn't a lot of details here, but he'll be on the list as day-to-day for right now.

Tony's team continues to roll up the standings, now sitting in 16th place, only 3 points behind 15th and 7 points behind 13th, so there is still plenty of movement left to happen for his team in these last few weeks.  If Pearson can get himself sorted, he can come back and join a Kings team that is heating up in time for the playoffs.

A couple of notes from the Senators on Tuesday night, as they faced the Capitals and got thumped, 4-2.  Bruiser Chris Neil was absent from the lineup, due to a bout of the flu, something he just couldn't pummel, unlike some faces in the league this year.  He's day-to-day, but I would expect him back before too long.  The other, Dion Phaneuf left the game against the Caps, as the team cited a lower-body injury for his departure.  The team has called up Fredrik Claesson on Wednesday morning, which suggests that Phaneuf could miss some time.

For Derek & Dan, they secured top spot in the PIM pool over the weekend, not to mention a pretty sizable lead to boot, so they could afford a night off for Neil last night.  They picked up a few minor penalties elsewhere, so it's no big deal.  For Brian, however, losing out on Phaneuf is a bit of big deal in his race for 3rd place (or more).  Phaneuf is his 2nd-best defenseman this season with 32 points, so that is a good hole left behind, if he misses any time.

The Washington Capitals are likely going into preservation mode, as they have clinched their spot in the playoffs, the division and the number one seed in the East.  This means that the rotation will likely be on in a few positions, including that of the blueline, where Nate Schmidt was once again a healthy scratch for the team on Tuesday night.  It hasn't been a regular thing, but he has been up and down from the press box in this third segment.  I would expect it to happen more and more in these last few weeks.

This does cramp the defense of 3rd place for Brian, but the rest of his team is picking up the slack, which is a positive for him.  Even with the loss of Phaneuf and the scratch of Schmidt, Brian's team still kept his challengers at bay and now holds a 6-point gap on John P., heading into Wednesday night.

Lastly this morning, the Winnipeg Jets announced on Tuesday afternoon that defenseman Toby Enstrom won't be returning to their lineup in the last three weeks of the regular season, as he suffered a knee injury that required surgery and his status has been labeled as out indefinitely.  His season was somewhat underwhelming this year, finishing with 2 goals and 16 points in 72 games this year for the Jets.  Certainly could have been stronger and is one of many reasons why the Jets are not making the playoffs this year.

John R.'s quest for the top five in the PIM pool may have taken a little hit, as Enstrom was good for a minor penalty every four games or so.  He doesn't go out and do crazy stuff, but as a defenseman, he's bound to get caught flat-footed once and a while.  John is making waves without him though, something we'll cover later today.

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

Perron Out With Shoulder Problem

On Monday afternoon, the Anaheim Ducks announced that forward David Perron is currently listed as week-to-week with a shoulder injury.  The Ducks are currently on the road, so the team sent him back home for all the medical testing, but the initial prognosis doesn't sound very good.

There isn't any indication that Perron's regular season is done yet, but with only a few weeks to go and their playoff spot nearly set in stone, one would imagine that if Perron gets back at all, it will only be with a game or two left, trying to shake off whatever rust he has from being on the shelf for a couple weeks.  We'll see for an official word.

Between Pittsburgh and Anaheim, the 27-year old forward has 12 goals and 36 points in 71 games.  His time with the Penguins was somewhat underwhelming, but since the deal that brought him to Anaheim, things have picked up for him, if only slightly, but missing out on the last few weeks will hurt his overall numbers.

The week-to-week prognosis means that his projected games have come off of Brenda & Seward's totals for this week, at the very least, and their 6-point deficit for 1st place is now becoming quite the hill to climb, with bodies falling off the active roster a little quicker than desired.  They have 32 games left, heading into Tuesday, while Jeremy's team is up at 35 games this week.  Still close, but they still have ground to make up.

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

Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Mar 22)

An upper-body injury forced Kris Versteeg from Monday night's game between the Kings and the Predators, but the injury isn't considered too serious, as the Los Angeles coaching staff feel that he could be back sometime this week, while the team is on a road trip.  He's considered day-to-day, obviously.

Cindy's team is off to a 2-point start after Monday night, with only a little bit of play left in the standings, barring a collapse from her better players.  Her team sits 3 points back of 18th and 7 points up on 20th, heading into Tuesday night.

The Winnipeg Jets currently sit in last place in the Western Conference, so there's a good chance that they will be rushing Mathieu Perreault back from a concussion he suffered on Sunday against the Ducks.  Protocol would mean he wouldn't be eligible to come back until next Monday, when the Jets visit the Flyers, but it's hard to expect that they would even consider bringing him back, if they didn't have to.  A better shot at the 1st overall pick in the Entry Draft is at stake.

This must be the prize for being the Mover & Shaker of last week, as Mike's team suffers another blow, as his team is the one chasing down Cindy's team for 19th place.  His team is already down a number of projected games, Perreault included, so it's probably going to be a sputtering finish to his season.

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

Goalie Announcements (Mar 21)

Jeremy may not have had the Player of the Week or the Mover & Shaker awards this past week, but he did come away with a bigger lead and one of his goalies go out to protect that lead tonight, as Al Montoya gets the call for the Panthers, as they visit Henrik Lundqvist (Derek & Dan) and the Rangers.  The Panthers are in good shape for their playoff spot at the moment, while the Rangers aren't struggling, so it should be a good game tonight.

Speaking of the Player of the Week, Jonathan Quick will get another start for the Kings and our 2nd place team, belonging to Brenda & Seward, as they are visitors as well tonight, checking into Nashville, where they will be greeted by Pekka Rinne (Ryan) and the Predators.

Those are our only two money teams with something going on Monday night, so what else is going on?

Let's see, we have Steve Mason (Derek W.) taking on Thomas Greiss (Eric) in Brooklyn tonight.  These two teams are only separated by a few spots in the standings, but there are 20 points between them, Eric being the leader of the two.

And then, in the only other game, the Saskiw kids will have their goalies going head-to-head tonight, as Jonas Hiller (Grant) and the Flames are in Toronto to take on Jonathan Bernier (Cindy) and the Leafs.  Cindy's team ended up being the better of the two this season, now up 33 points, heading into Week Twenty-Five.

Race to the Sin Bin (Mar 21)

Last week, Wes' team relinquished the PIM pool lead and were left in the dust of Derek & Dan's group of hooligans. Does Wes' team have anything left in the tank to make this interesting?

On Monday night, Wes' toughest goon will be James Neal of the Predators, who tops out at 63 PIM, so far this year.  Okay, it's a quiet night, there are not very many goons going, period, but still, it has to start somewhere.  The Predators will get to deal with the Kings, but I don't think Neal will match-up too often against Milan Lucic (Eric) for fisticuffs.

If Wes' goon is going to do something, now is the time to do it, as Derek & Dan top out with Mark Giordano and his 46 PIM tonight, as they're in Toronto.  There isn't a lot there to mix it up with, so it could be a quiet night, all the way around the top of the PIM pool table.

A top five hopeful, Dale C., has the biggest ruffian going tonight, as Wayne Simmonds and the Flyers are playing the Islanders, who are best represented by Kyle Okposo (John S.).  Dale's team is only 4 minutes out of the top five and a misconduct could really help his cause quite a bit.  Also going for the Flyers, another top five hopeful, John R.'s Ryan White, who has 89 PIM this season.  If it isn't Simmonds heading to the bin, it's definitely White.  John's team still has some work to do in these last three weeks, trying to make up 40 minutes to hit the top five.  It's possible, but getting tougher and tougher.

Canucks Also Shut Down Vrbata

The regular season is now complete for Canucks forward Radim Vrbata, as the team announced that he, along with non-surprises Brandon Sutter & Alexander Edler, will be done for the remainder of the year. Vrbata has been dealing with a lower-body injury for much of the second half of the season

The 34-year old forward was not able to replicate the great season he had in 2015 with the Canucks, ending his 2016 campaign with only 13 goals and 27 points in 63 games.  In 2015, Vrbata finished 54th in pool scoring and on Monday afternoon, at the time of his injury announcement, he currently ranked 278th.

This injury is significant to the 3rd place race, as this now strikes all of Vrbata's remaining games from John P.'s roster, which now stands at about 129 games, compared to Brian, who sits in 3rd place, and has 137 games to be played from his players yet.  The difference of 5 points is now much harder to make up, when you're down eight games on the schedule.

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

Week Twenty-Four Newsletter

The Los Angeles Kings officially clinched their playoff spot on the weekend, as they are getting hot at the right time, it would seem.  They have moved 4 points clear of the Anaheim Ducks in the Pacific Division standings and that is thanks, in large part, to their number one goalie, Jonathan Quick, who was hot, hot, hot... in Week Twenty-Four.

In three games last week, Quick posted a 3-0-0 record with 1 shutout, the only player in the pool this week to pick up 8 points, the clear winner of the nod.  This is his first nod of the year and his first nod since the 2012 season, back when Brenda had him on his team then too.

Quick posted a shutout against the Blackhawks on Monday and wins against the visiting Rangers on Thursday and Bruins on Saturday.  That's a very good week, considering any Stanley Cup hopes this season would likely have to go through two of these three teams in the Spring.

In the overall numbers, Quick's 8 points has now lifted his overall rank to 4th, now with 37 wins and 84 points, only 8 points off the overall lead, held by Patrick Kane of the Blackhawks.

As for the pool, Brenda & Seward, all of a sudden, have a pretty good bargain pick in the 1st round, since they took the Los Angeles keeper with the 12th overall pick.  He isn't the best pick in the round, bargain-wise, but to improve upon their draft ranking is a very good return.

A new name to the Mover & Shaker list in the 2016 season, as Mike's team finally woke up from its season-long slumber and dazzled the standings, from Monday to Sunday, picking up 33 points and doing what it should have been from day one, if you were to ask Mike (I assume).  His team has been cursed with much bad luck this year, spending the better portion of the season in the bottom-third, but at least there is one bright spot to his season.

Mike's team was led by Sidney Crosby of the Penguins, who finished the week with 7 points, as his hot streak continues.  Crosby is now up to 7th overall in pool scoring, still below of his 2nd overall pick in the draft this year, but from where he was coming from in the rankings, his season has recovered well.

Also having good weeks were Joe Colborne of the Flames and Joonas Donskoi of the Sharks, finishing up with 5 points a piece.  Three more players finished with 3 points each, while three more had a pair of points and then one single rounded out his scoring for the week, leading the way at 33 points.

At the end of Week Seventeen, Mike's team was stewing in injury, finishing in 25th spot, a good place for the Week Eighteen Waiver Draft and since then, his team has improved, step-by-step, up to 20th place in the standings, moving up from 22nd the week before.

His team has still be wrought with injuries, now without Dennis Wideman for the rest of the season and seemingly no return timetable given for Benoit Pouliot, so he's making due with what he's got and that's okay.

Historically, this is Mike's 4th Mover & Shaker nod all-time, having three mentions in the 2014 season, when he finished 10th overall in the standings.

Despite having some horrible, horrible luck in the injury department this season, Week Twenty-Four saw Troy drop into the Basement Dweller position for the first time.

Troy's team was ranked 24th in skater games played with 30 and 24th in goalie minutes played with 2 starts, but only managed 9 points total in the week, which was a very poor scoring rate, across the board.  With the poor week, his team dropped from 18th to 21st, but thankfully, his team is 34 points clear from the bottom and only has three weeks left in the year.

Out of the 9 points his team picked up, Joseph Blandisi of the Devils, Gustav Nyquist of the Red Wings and Sergei Bobrovsky of the Blue Jackets each had 2 points, making up 6 points of his total.  Three of his players were knocked out of the weekly lineup to major injury and then there was another key injury suffered in the week, which also set his team back badly.

Troy's team is certainly better than this, especially since Washington's Nicklas Backstrom is on it, yet was a surprising zero last week.  Unless the unforeseen happens this week, his team should be able to stay away from these mentions for the last few weeks.

Up at the top of the standings, Jeremy's team found a couple more points in between themselves and Brenda & Seward's team, as the lead now stretches to 6 points.  These two teams are left to battle it out for their name on the trophy and the big pay day at the end of the year.

In 3rd place, Brian's team solidified their spot, increasing their lead by a couple points on John P.'s team, which now sits at 5 points.  Neil is now 10 points back, Scott is 13 points back, while Kristy & Don are still hanging on at 19 points back.  It's an even greater long shot that Ryan still stays in the race at 26 points back, but all his team needs is one huge week.

Two races at the end of the year should make for some good pool watching in these last three weeks.

The injuries finally caught up to Wes, while Derek & Dan's goon team had the week that they have been paid for in Week Twenty-Four, as we've had a changing of the guard this week.

There is no doubt that the injuries that Wes' team has suffered has done him in, because they have been many and major, as it were, so his goons were not able to perform this week, only sitting in the bin for a total of 6 minutes.  The pool's third duo had a little bit more good fortune, as their team found new and exciting ways to make it to the box this week.

Now entering Week Twenty-Five, Derek & Dan have all the momentum and they'll be tough to stop.

If it is really necessary to talk about, which it really isn't, Ryan's rookies had another 10 points in Week Twenty-Four, increasing their lead significantly and really setting the bar high for rookie scoring, ever, in this pool.  His team now sits at 144 points from his freshmen and I'm surprised I'm still writing this portion of the Newsletter.

This may not show up again until the year-end.  Just a heads up.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

The busiest week of the NHL season did not drum up any more points in the hockey pool this week, as 52 NHL games only spawned 584 points among our 27-team hockey pool, an average of 11.2 points per game.  Our top scoring week this season was 679 points in Week Nineteen, done with 50 NHL games, and with all the players now going down for the remainder of the season, I fear that we'll not see those numbers in the last three weeks of the season, despite them also being fairly busy.

Skater participation has been declining slowly, while goalie minutes have been up and down in the last month to six weeks.  The pool just isn't covering the gamut as much anymore, it would appear.

As for penalties, the pool isn't doing too badly there, still collecting about 10 minutes per game, 10.2 PIM, to be exact.  It isn't the 12.3 PIM we saw in Week Nineteen, as that last Waiver Draft really gave the pool a kick in the ass.

Still, our teams are going to have to do more with less, it would seem.  The top two teams will have to fight it out amongst themselves, while 3rd place will be a race for four or five teams, depending on what next week brings.

NEWS AND NOTES

Technically, it is an undisclosed reason, as to why Alexander Wennberg was held out of the Columbus lineup on Sunday for the Blue Jackets, so for now, he'll be listed as a healthy scratch.  He's day-to-day for right now, but that's all we can say at the moment.

Scott has had some real good success with Wennberg since the Week Eighteen Waiver Draft, having 13 points since activation.  He has certainly helped the jump up in the standings, moving from 9th to 6th, since these players became live.

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

Flyers' Playoff Hopes Lose Neuvirth

The Philadelphia Flyers have done a hell of a job staying in the playoff hunt in the Eastern Conference, but they still sit 3 points out of a wild card spot.  A lot of their good fortune has come from having two goalies that can take over for one another, when the other one gets cold.

Unfortunately, on Sunday morning, that luxury was trounced, as the team announced that Michal Neuvirth will miss the next four weeks with a lower-body injury and since the regular season only has three weeks left, that pretty much counts him out for the remainder.  This leaves Steve Mason the job of making up those 3 points in the standings, with a few back-to-back situations left in the schedule.

Neuvirth's season ended up being a pretty good one, finishing with 17 wins and 41 points on the year, leaving action on Sunday, ranked 141st in overall pool scoring.  That's not a bad year at all.

For Neil, Neuvirth was one of his best picks of the season, another one of those impressive steals from the 13th round, which was alluded to in the Morning Notes below.  Neil took Neuvirth with the 332nd pick and really was enjoying what he got out of him from time to time.  So much so, his team is still very much in the money hunt, 10 points out of 3rd place, but now down to one goalie for the last three weeks.

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

Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Mar 20)

The Buffalo Sabres were without their franchise player on Saturday evening against the Maple Leafs, as Jack Eichel was a scratch, due to the flu.  The flu has certainly been making the rounds again this year, but it hasn't seem to be nearly as bad as years previous.  Still, it's a day-to-day issue and since the Sabres don't play again until Tuesday, I would feel safe in speculating that Eichel should be good to go for that game.

Cindy's team has managed to climb into the top 20 in recent weeks, which could be a decent result, given how unlucky her team was to start the year.  I'm sure, if this was a keeper pool, she would be locking down Eichel for next season, no question!

Before Saturday's game against the Hurricanes, the Minnesota Wild called up Stephen Michalek to take the back-up spot for Darcy Kuemper, who is dealing with an upper-body injury. Kuemper was hurt sometime near the end of the week and because of that injury, he won't be able to go at all this weekend, including Sunday's game, which is back-to-back days for the Wild.

This is disappointing news for Tony, especially since his red-hot team is ready to move up into the top half of the standings, currently sitting in 16th and only 3 points behind 13th, 14th and 15th.  The Wild are in Chicago on Sunday, so there was no guarantee of points, regardless.

Making the playoffs or not, you really begin to wonder if Thomas Vanek is going to be sticking around with the Wild after this season or not, as he was made into a healthy scratch for the second time this season, under the new coaching staff. Vanek missed Saturday's game and with the Wild going on Sunday as well, his return could be questionable, given the fact they won without him.

Allan has one of the teams that Tony is chasing down from 16th, in actual fact, he holds the 13th position in the standings, so he's tops in that mucky tied up mess.  Without Vanek, he could offer up a shot at that spot in the standings, to any one of the three teams below him.

The New Jersey Devils are still scratching and clawing to stay in the Eastern Conference playoff race, but a loss to the Blue Jackets last night was a good kick in the pants. They were without defenseman David Schlemko last night, so that could have been a part of their troubles last evening. The well-traveled defender was out with an upper-body injury and is currently listed as day-to-day right now. That's about all we know about this right now.

For Dale C., he's found a comfortable little spot in 11th place, after Saturday night's action, 8 points behind 10th and 10 points up on 12th.  Schlemko was a Week Nineteen Waiver Draft pick-up for Dale, having picked up 4 assists in 18 games since activation.

World Cup shortlist defender for Canada, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, was held out of the Sharks' game against the Rangers, because of an undisclosed injury, suffered against Arizona on Thursday, thanks to a crushing hit from Shane Doan.  There doesn't appear to be much of an update on the veteran blueliner, which doesn't reflect well on his status going forward, but we're in wait-and-see mode here.

Vlasic has been one of the bigger steals in the 13th round, which was actually chalk full of steals, including the player that hit him to injure him, Doan.  Clayton did well with this late round defenseman pick, as he's having a career year in San Jose offensively.  This injury, however, won't help him get out of that muck of a tie, mentioned above.  His team is 15th.

The St. Louis Blues' goaltending situation is back to 100% with the return of Brian Elliott from his upper-body injury and the trade deadline acquisition of Anders Nilsson will now be relegated to the number three spot in the depth chart for the team. It's hard to say whether or not the Blues would actually demote Nilsson, which seems a bit unlikely, given that they probably want to give starts in the AHL to their kids, so he'll likely sit in the press box going forward, occasionally giving one of the two starters the night off from being back-up. That's my best guess.

Another hit to Cindy's bid to staying in the top 20, but Nilsson wasn't necessarily being a very productive member of her team, since being picked up in the Waiver Draft. Cindy has only collected 2 wins and 4 points in 502 minutes (8+ games) since being picked up, so the best hope for him is that he stays up, gets the occasional action in the last three weeks and those points will be a bonus.

The mysterious undisclosed injury has befallen Tampa Bay Lightning forward Ryan Callahan and it forced him to miss Saturday's game against the Coyotes. If we're trying to draw some kind of positive, he was thought to be a game-time decision before the game, so whatever is ailing him couldn't be too significant, if there was a chance he'd play. He's currently day-to-day and Tampa doesn't play again until Tuesday, home to Detroit, so there's lots of time for recovery now.

There's still a shot that Stacey C.'s team could finish in the top 20 this year, as his team has been going at an okay pace this week.  Going into Sunday's action, his team is 22nd, 2 points behind 21st (Mike) and 7 points behind 20th (Troy).  If Callahan can get back and get into playoff mode early, there's a real good shot for Stacey to move past his table-mates.

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

Goalie Announcements (Mar 19)

The Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers are already underway, at the time of this post, as those early starts really get things moving on a busy weekend.  In net for this game is Marc-Andre Fleury (John R.) and Steve Mason (Derek W.).  Neither pool team here are in the races, up at the top or for the Mover & Shaker, but they can certainly hope for a huge day, right?

In the next afternoon game, it will be the Carolina Hurricanes and the Minnesota Wild and we're expecting to see Derek W.'s other goalie in net for the Wild, Devan Dubnyk, as they chase down a playoff spot.  Dubnyk will have a money chase goalie at the other end, as Cam Ward (Neil) gets the call for the visitors.

The last afternoon game of the day will see the Rangers in San Jose to take on the Sharks.  New York is touring through some potential Cup Final opponents, so they're throwing Henrik Lundqvist (Derek & Dan) in most of these games, including today's, while the Sharks are expected to greet the East giant with their number one, Martin Jones (Scott).

The evening games start with Buffalo and Toronto, where it should be Chad Johnson (John P.) against Garret Sparks (Ryan), which has some meaning to it, as the money race rides on the Sabres' ability to play with these lesser teams in the lottery race.  Johnson hasn't been confirmed yet, but is expected, as Robin Lehner (Derek & Dan) is on the shelf with his ankle problems.

There's a non-pool game in Ottawa tonight, between the Habs and Sens, where it will be Ben Scrivens (Dropped) against Andrew Hammond (Dropped).  Both goalies had a spot once, but were dropped for someone better, in theory.

Kristy & Don are in both races this week, money and Mover & Shaker, and they have one of their goalies going today in Roberto Luongo, as the Panthers take on the Red Wings, who will be going with Jimmy Howard (Stacey M.), while Petr Mrazek (Tony) is still dealing with some issues.

It would have been an all-Troy match-up in Columbus, if Cory Schneider was healthy, but it will be Keith Kinkaid (non-pool) taking on Sergei Bobrovsky (Troy), when the Devils and Jackets go head-to-head.  Troy's bad luck continues, as his team falls in the standings.

Thomas Greiss (Eric) continues to try and prove that he's a number one goalie for the Islanders, helping Eric's team hold onto the Mover & Shaker lead in the week.  The Islanders are in Dallas tonight, taking on Kari Lehtonen (Dale C.) and the Stars, who are now reeling from all kinds of injuries these days.

Brian Elliott (Grant) has been activated by the St. Louis Blues and is expected to start against the Canucks tonight, in Vancouver, while on the other side, it will be Ryan Miller (Clayton), taking on a former team.  No real race participation to speak of here.

The Lightning are in Arizona, taking on the Coyotes, and the match-up here should be Ben Bishop (Allan) against Louis Domingue (Benson), which also doesn't have a great deal of value in any of the races here this week.

Finally, the Bruins will finish their California trip, as it should be Tuukka Rask (Dale C.) taking on Jonahtan Quick (Brenda & Seward) in the late game.  The pool duo is chasing down Jeremy, who doesn't have a start in this busy night, but there are lots of games, that the goalies shouldn't make that much of a difference.