Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Oct 29)

The goaltending situation for the Ottawa Senators is starting to mimic the Boston Bruins, as they lost the services of their number two guy, Andrew Hammond, and they will now have to move forward with their third and fourth keepers right away.  Hammond did not come out for the 2nd period of the Senators' loss to the Flames on Friday night, as the team cited a lower-body injury for the reason, which gave the reins to Chris Driedger for the final two periods.  The Senators are in Edmonton for a game on Sunday and they have already called up Matt O'Connor to fill a role, which indicates Hammond could be out for a bit.

Bad news for Clayton, who wasn't able to get his chance for a win in the survivor pool on Friday night, thanks to the injury and his team has not fared well this week, dropping down to 14th in the standings after Friday night.

Goalie Announcements (Oct 28)

Yesterday was a busy day and there was no time for much blogging, which was why there was no goalie post, but no one new qualified last night, so that's okay in my books... didn't really waste my time writing for all 11 games yesterday.

So, as it stands after Wednesday and Thursday night, only eight teams have qualified for Week Four and eight more are still looking for their first and necessary win this week to move on.  Will Friday night hold the key for any of these teams?  Let's find out...

Already qualified versus eliminated... that's the survivor situation in Carolina tonight, when Henrik Lundqvist and the Rangers take on Cam Ward and the Hurricanes tonight.  Lundqvist will go for Grant, while Ward will go for Brian tonight.  This will be the first of two starts for Grant tonight, while Brian could use a big game from his Carolina keeper, to help give him a boost in the standings.

In New Jersey, it's another game without implications on the survivor pool, as Marcin will have Corey Crawford going against the non-pool goalie of Keith Kinkaid, as the Blackhawks take on the Devils.  Marcin's team is another one of those teams tied at 53 points going into Friday night's action and a win would go a long ways for his long-term success.  For the Devils, this is the first start for Kinkaid, as Cory Schneider finally gets a rest.

With Craig Anderson away on family business, Andrew Hammond will get the call for the Ottawa Senators tonight, giving Clayton a start to try and continue on to Week Four in the survivor pool.  For a pool team to not take their first goalie in the 10th round, how is he still in the survivor pool?  At the other end, Brian Elliott is expected to get the call again for the Flames, giving Derek B. a start tonight, as his 1st round pick is starting to heat up in Calgary.

This is the last chance for Kristy & Don to qualify for Week Four tonight, as their only healthy goalie, Semyon Varlamov of the Avalanche, will be playing host to Michael Hutchinson and the Winnipeg Jets, as Calvin Pickard is already tabbed to play Saturday night against the Coyotes.  Kristy & Don lasted for the better part of last season, but the injury problems and schedule are working against them this week and it will be a tough match-up to stay in, but worth it if they get it.

In Vancouver tonight, it will be the Oilers and the Canucks, meeting for the first time tonight.  Cam Talbot will be going for the Oilers and for Marcie at the visitors end, while it will be Ryan Miller for the Canucks and Brenda & Seward at the home end.  Both teams have already qualified for Week Four and are looking for more points in the standings tonight.

Finally, we know that John Gibson will be the Anaheim net tonight for their game against the Blue Jackets, giving Dale B. another crack at 2 points in the standings.  Signs are pointing towards Curtis McElhinney finally getting his first start of the season, but we just can't be sure with those darn Blue Jackets.  If McElhinney does get the start, that will make this a moot game in the survivor pool.

Pastrnak Given Two Games

The Boston Bruins will be without forward David Pastrnak for their next two games, thanks to a suspension levied to the young forward by the Department of Player Safety on Friday.

Pastrnak was given the suspension for his high hit on the Rangers' Dan Girardi on Wednesday night, to which the decision is laid out well once again in a video, embedded below.

The 20-year old forward will miss Saturday's game in Detroit and Tuesday night's game in Florida and it will be a pretty sizable loss for the Bruins, given that he already has 5 goals and 8 points in the first seven games this season.  This ranks him 20th in pool scoring on Friday morning and that's some scoring that is hard to replace.

For Ryan, this is his top scorer, so far this season, but this isn't the time to lose a big player, as his team is still down in the standings, ranking 16th after Thursday night, heading into Friday's action.  This week, he'll only lose one game on his 23 projected games, so the impact won't be too big.

Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Oct 28)

With the signing of Hampus Lindholm on Thursday, the shuffle on the Anaheim blueline began with the demotion of Shea Theodore to the AHL. Theodore had come up for a short stint of three games, where he picked up an assist.  But thanks to some pressing salary cap ceiling problems, Theodore wasn't destined to stay with the big club, rather he'll have to wait for something significant to pop up again, before he can make the move back to the big club.

Definitely disappointing for Tony, who was starting to see some action from an early season disappointment, just as his team was starting to find some traction.  Tony's team finished Thursday night in 21st, already 32 points out of 1st place.

Already having a slow start to the season, due to an extra stint in rehab for an off-season knee surgery, Arizona defenseman Michael Stone suffered an upper-body injury on Thursday night and had to leave the game against the Flyers.  The reports after the game were suggesting that the injury was not serious and he'll be on the list as out day-to-day for right now.  The Coyotes are returning home after their long road trip to start the season and Stone will be questionable for their home opener, Saturday night against the Avalanche.

Grant made the best of his availability though, 3 assists in four games is a good start to the season.  His team has slightly fallen off the pace, dropping down to 4th place, but only 2 points out of 2nd and 13 points out of 1st.  A quick return would go a long ways for Grant, one would think.

After a fantastic start to the season for Thomas Vanek, a groin/hip problem has surfaced and he was unable to play in Thursday night's game against the Blues, but he's currently listed as out day-to-day.  In the first seven games this season, Vanek has already posted 4 goals and 4 assists and really has been giving Detroit some much-needed offense.  The Wings still won the game last night, without their top scorer, but it is questionable as to how long that would last, if this was a long-term injury.

Vanek has also been the best player for Kristy & Don to start the year, but injuries have already cost them big, as they sit down in 15th, 22 points out of 1st place.  On the plus side, 1 point would move them into 11th place, as it is pretty tight in the middle of the standings.

The three goalie system in Brooklyn is running amok on the blog site, as Jaroslav Halak got another start for the Islanders, after sitting for two, and then Thomas Greiss was given the night off, when they took on the Penguins on Thursday night.  J-F Berube is getting a lot of work on the bench, watching the games he's not starting in.  It really seems weird that a team would employ the three goalie system these days, but there must be some kind of method behind the madness.

This isn't a concern for Dale B., as this isn't considered to be a missed start for Greiss.  Dale is in the mix this year, finishing Thursday night in 6th place, 5 points behind 2nd place and 16 points out of 1st.

Ottawa Senators number one goalie Craig Anderson was granted a leave of absence, as he attends to a family matter at home.  Of course, we shouldn't be a privy to any sort of details, that's not our business, but he is considered day-to-day for right now, but there was no real timetable for his return to the team.  Chris Driedger was recalled from the AHL and he will be backing up Andrew Hammond, starting tonight in Calgary.

This isn't good news for Wilton, losing one of his key players, but at least he isn't injured and when he's ready to return to the team, he can come right back to his spot in the crease, no questions asked.  Wilton's team currently sits in 19th and will miss his best player to start the season, as Anderson is already up to 10 points.

Finally, the Tampa Bay Lightning took a big hit on on Thursday night, as forward Nikita Kucherov had to leave the game against the Canadiens with an undisclosed injury and did not return.  The Lightning coaching staff put concussion fears to rest after the game, saying that his injury was not related to the head injury.  We'll have to await word on the details and given the player, we'll be keeping a close eye on it.

Brian could be legitimately holding his breath on this one, as this is one of his best forwards going down to injury, already his best player this week, with 4 points in the first four nights.  Brian's team is one of five teams tied at 53 points, but now is losing one of his top players, so his team could fall the wrong way out of this tie.

Ducks & Lindholm Reach Agreement

The Anaheim Ducks are a .500 team after the first eight games of the season and they will be looking for some more immediate improvement, now that they have finally locked up restricted free agent defenseman Hampus Lindholm to a new deal.

The 22-year old Swede signed a new 6-year, $5.25 million deal on Thursday morning and he will now be starting to make his way back to the Anaheim lineup.

Lindholm has hovered in the 30-to-35 point range in his short NHL career and has some good offensive upside to his game, establishing himself as one of the key blueliners for the Ducks.  The long-term deal will concrete his spot on the team for the foreseeable future.

This is good news for Mike, as he has been patiently waiting for this deal to get done, so he can add another healthy body to this pool team's lineup.  The only trick is, there's no word as to when he will be returning to the lineup, so he'll be listed as a non-roster healthy scratch until he is ready to go.  One might assume that he will need a practice or two before jumping in, but he has had some play already, joining Sweden in the World Cup.

Goalie Announcements (Oct 26)

Cam hopped up into the lead for goaltending wins in the pool on Tuesday night and his team was one of six teams to qualify for Week Four.  Wilton, Dale C., John, Stuart and Brenda & Seward all knocked a win off their to-do list for the week, leaving 10 teams to duke it out before Sunday night's cut-off.

In Brooklyn, it will be Al Montoya versus Thomas Greiss in net, when the Canadiens start back-to-back nights against the Islanders on Wednesday night.  Greiss is the only one of the two that is in the pool, belonging to Dale B., but his team did not make it out of Week One in the survivor pool, so this game is all about points tonight.

The Boston Bruins goaltending situation isn't getting any better any time soon, so they will be sending Zane McIntyre out to face the Rangers, the night after coming in for relief of Malcolm Subban against the Wild.  At the other end, we have pool representation and Henrik Lundqvist still has Grant in the survivor pool and all things being equal, should qualify for Week Four with some ease... one would assume.  Be careful about that, right?

In Edmonton tonight, it will be a battle of two survivor goalies, with Braden Holtby going for Jeremy, playing against Cam Talbot, belonging to Marcie this season.  The goaltending match-up likely isn't the biggest story in this game on the surface, but it does have some merit here and that's what counts!  One of these goaltenders is really going to earn that ticket to next week, one way or another.

The late game takes forever to get confirmed, so we'll have a crack at it and leave it... we're expecting Pekka Rinne for the Nashville Predators tonight, taking on John Gibson, who had to come in relief last night as well for the Anaheim Ducks, which will be a tough situation to play in, but those are the breaks.  The injury to Jonathan Bernier doesn't help much.  Rinne would provide a start to Stacey M. tonight, who is still in the survivor pool and Gibson will give Dale B. both of his goalies in the crease, wishing that he was still vying for the survivor money.

Afternoon Player Notes in the Draft (Oct 26)

It was a tough game for the Anaheim Ducks in the health department, as they lost goalie Jonathan Bernier to a upper-body/muscle injury and forward Ryan Getzlaf to an upper-body injury as well.  Bernier was the starting goalie for the Ducks against the San Jose Sharks, but didn't come out for the 2nd period, leaving the net to John Gibson.  There was no immediate update on his condition, but the Ducks recalled Dustin Tokarski for their game against Nashville tonight.  As per the team, it was too early to tell what the status was of Getzlaf, moving forward and he's questionable, at best, for tonight's game.

Eric's participation in the survivor pool was already removed in Week One, but Bernier won't help his situation at the bottom of the standings either.  Getzlaf has been one of Marcin's best players to start the season, so any long absence will be sparking a drop in the standings.

In more Jets news today, Drew Stafford left last night's game against the Stars with a upper-body injury and he has already been ruled out of Thursday night's game, at home to those same Stars.  He'll be on the list as out day-to-day until more details emerge, but for now, we know he's not in the lineup tomorrow.

Our pool leader, Benson, takes a hit to his winning lineup with this injury, but Stafford hasn't really contributed much yet, only 1 point in six games to start the season.  I would expect his team to continue to roll for the time being.

Noon Player Notes in the Draft (Oct 26)

The Boston Bruins provided an update on the condition on their off-season acquisition, forward David Backes, as he underwent a procedure on his elbow to remove a olecranon bursa and he will be on the shelf for at least the next couple of games.  There is a suggestion out there that he could be on the shelf for a while longer than that and that a trip to the Injured Reserve is likely, but the team isn't offering up that right away.

This is a bit of a new one and for now he'll be day-to-day on the list for Brian's team, which is a bit of a disappointment, given that he was off to a pretty good start this season, 4 points in five games.  He may hit the IR and when he does, his projected games will come off the totals until he's activated.

The Calgary Flames are still shuffling their lineup, even after a win, and that meant that the blueline saw a shuffle or two.  Jyrki Jokipakka was a healthy scratch for Tuesday night's game in St. Louis, a game that the Flames had picked up a win, which would possibly put the Finnish defender's status in doubt moving forward.  The Flames have some depth at defense and I don't think anyone would want to be put in the position of possibly going up to the press box for any amount of time, especially in wins.

With 3 points in six games, so far, it isn't that Scott's defender hasn't been doing too badly and his team hasn't done badly either... 13 points through the first two nights of the week and moved up to 2nd place in the standings.

A lower-body injury was the cause of Jason Spezza's absence on Tuesday night, as the Stars and Jets played in Dallas, but there was no indication of the severity of the injury or how long he would possibly be out.  Spezza is just listed as out day-to-day right now and we're hoping to get more info here soon.

Grant is in the thick of the mix in the ranks in the standings and missing Spezza's early season production, 3 points in five games, certainly didn't help him creep any higher than 4th place on Tuesday night.  His team will open up Wednesday night 9 points out of 1st and his fingers crossed that Spezza can come back soon.

The Winnipeg Jets scratched forward Kyle Connor on Tuesday night in Dallas, as the rookie forward has been struggling to find his offense in the early part of the season.  With only 1 assist in the first five games, a trip up to the press box was decided upon, likely to help him find a bit of perspective on the game.  Connor is a kid that has been touted to have some quality upside to his game, but he has yet to find it this year.

Eric has taken a good number of gambles this season and they haven't been paying off... yet.  Eric's team is now situated at the bottom of the standings and has only found 2 points in the first two nights of the week and is now 33 points back of 1st place... his team only has 32 points in total.  They'll need to find some offense in a hurry or else he'll be looking to goon it up in Week Eight.

Goalie Announcements (Oct 25)

Brenda & Seward were not able to get their win on Monday night, so it's still a blank list for Week Four, but that will change, I'm sure, after tonight.  The 11-game schedule on Tuesday night is a busy one, which will give us lots of starts for our pool goalies.  Not all of them, but a good portion of them.

It looks like they will get another shot at a survivor pool win in one of the late games, as Ryan Miller should be returning to the Vancouver nets tonight with the Ottawa Senators in town.  It is an all-survivor pool match-up in this one, with Craig Anderson set to go for the visitors, giving Wilton his second goalie on the night, see below for his first one, since this is the late game.

The Winnipeg Jets didn't have to wait long to try and get back on the winning side of the ledger after the Heritage Classic, as they are in Dallas tonight for a date with the Stars. They'll send Grant's goalie, Michael Hutchinson, to take on Wilton's goalie, Antti Niemi, in a battle of goalies looking to move on to Week Four.  Having two teams vie for a spot, makes for some interesting hockey, does it not?

I still have the feeling that Marc-Andre Fleury is working on borrowed time, but Cam won't mind that, as he will get another start tonight, when the Pittsburgh Penguins host the Florida Panthers.  At the other end of the ice, it will be James Reimer getting the start, trying to help Eric get out of a deadlock for last place in the pool standings tonight.

It looks like Stuart will get two cracks at moving on in the survivor pool on Tuesday and his best bet may come from the Devils, as Cory Schneider will get the start at home against the Coyotes, who will go with non-pool goalie, Justin Peters.  Stuart is also in the mix for top spot in the standings, only 3 points back of his brother and Schneider should match-up quite well against these young Coyotes.

Stuart's second start will come from the Calgary/St. Louis game, as he will get a rare start from Carter Hutton of the Blues, with the Calgary Flames in town.  At the other end, it will be Brian Elliott making starts on back-to-back nights, just after beating Chicago in the shootout on Monday night, he'll get to play his former team for the first time this season.   Derek B. gets back-to-back starts, trying for back-to-back wins, with his team moving up to 12th last night.

John S. gets a chance for Week Four from Devan Dubnyk tonight, with the Minnesota Wild in Boston to take on the Bruins, who are in a spot of goalie trouble.  With both Tuukka Rask and Anton Khudobin now down with injuries, the start will go to Malcolm Subban tonight with Zane McIntyre as the back-up, neither were expected to be up this season, so of course, they're not in the pool.  Heck, Khudobin isn't even in the pool... so there you have it.  Could this be a slam dunk for John and the Wild?

It will be the season debut for Buffalo's Anders Nilsson tonight, when the Sabres go into Philadelphia and take on the Flyers.  It will be Ryan's first start for his second goalie and with the Flyers playing on back-to-back nights, it might work in his favour.  For the home side, it is expected that we'll see Michal Neuvirth, since Steve Mason played the night before.  Neuvirth belongs to Tony, who needs the 2 points, starting in 22nd tonight.

More help in the basement tonight, as Ben Bishop will be going for Dale C. and the Lightning tonight, as they are in Toronto to play the Maple Leafs.  Dale is still in the survivor pool, thanks to his Lightning keeper and his hopes of continuing are pinned on him as well.  The goaltending situation in Toronto has been a point of contention again this year and neither keeper has given the coaching staff much hope, but Frederik Andersen will get another start tonight, which is good for Brian's team tonight.

It's Bob versus Budaj in Los Angeles tonight, giving us one more goalie in the survivor pool in action tonight. The Columbus Blue Jackets will have Mike's number two, Sergei Bobrovsky, in net tonight, when they visit Peter Budaj and the Kings.  The Kings are adjusting to life without Jonathan Quick and they're still trying to figure out whether or not they can manage without him or go out and shop for a new keeper.  That's something we'll need to know for the Waiver Draft, I'm sure.

It's an all eliminated match-up tonight in Detroit, as the Hurricanes blow in to face the Red Wings tonight and it will be Brian's Cam Ward against Stacey C.'s Petr Mrazek tonight, both teams relying on their goalies to improve their overall standing now.  Brian's team opens in 16th, while Stacey's is in 9th this afternoon, with 6 points between their two sides.

It looks like this match-up between the Ducks and the Sharks is another game with paired up eliminated goalies in the survivor pool, as Dale B. will have John Gibson against Wes' Martin Jones.  Wes is in need of Jones to get better and get back to his playoff form, so his team can elevate from 23rd place, where he'll start Tuesday's action.  Dale B. will start in good shape tonight, up in 6th place.