Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Mar 30)

Minnesota Wild forward Zach Parise may get an extended rest of sorts, as he suffered an injury around one of his eyes on Tuesday night, after taking a high stick to the face against the Capitals.  There was some significant swelling around one of his eyes, but it doesn't appear there was any actual damage to his eye, which is definitely a positive.  Some reports are suggesting that Parise could miss upwards of three games, but that will likely be taken on a day by day basis.  What we know for sure is that he will be out for tonight's game, at home to the Senators.

Stuart's team is looking for a top 10 finish and losing Parise for three games could hurt his chances of catching Marcin, who is only 3 points up in 10th place.  Parise is set to be on the Playoff Pool sheet as well, but if he gets a few days off, he might be able to heal up a few other bumps and bruises, which couldn't be bad.

Goalie Announcements (Mar 29)

Well, it hasn't been Ryan's goalies, but his team has made a charge back up the standings with the pool lead in weekly scoring, now sitting at 18 points and now in 4th place, 6 points out of the money. He doesn't have any goalie potential tonight, but there is likely potential elsewhere.

In a quick review of the four games that are set to be played tonight, only one game features a goalie that has the possibility of being in the money race on Wednesday,

Corey Crawford (Marcin) versus Marc-Andre Fleury (Cam)
It's goalies going for 10th and 13th placed teams in Pittsburgh tonight, as Cam tries to close the gap on Marcin's team, which currently sits at 7 points, in what could also be thought to be a preview of a Stanley Cup Final possibility.  I don't think the plan would be to have Fleury taking the Penguins all the way back, but you just never know how the cookie crumbles some time.

Ben Bishop (Dale C.) versus Brian Elliott (Derek B.)
The Los Angeles Kings are working back-to-back nights on their chase to a playoff spot, which isn't really going all that well.  The Flames could clinch their spot with a win tonight against the lowly Kings and they'll send their number one to the crease to get that win.  In the pool, it's 22nd versus 19th and these two teams are separated by only 2 points, which could be a swing game in the standings, for what its worth.

Philipp Grubauer (Tony) versus Calvin Pickard (Derek B.)
Tony gets a rare start from his Capitals back-up goalie, while Derek gets another start from the current number one in Colorado.  I think we have to lean towards the Capitals being the favourites in this one, since the Avalanche are quite terrible this year.

Among the 48 goalies that have appeared in the league average of games played (23 games), Pickard ranks 44th in points collected per 60 minutes, averaging .77 points.  The former Colorado number one, Semyon Varlamov, ranks 48th at .668 points per 60 minutes.

Carter Hutton (Stuart) versus Louis Domingue (N/A)
This was the only game with money potential to it, but even that has fallen to the wayside, as the Coyotes are going to go with dropped goalie Louis Domingue tonight, instead of Marcie's goalie, Mike Smith.  With the Kings nearly dead and the Blues relatively safe in the wild card, they can afford to give a start to Hutton, taking on the lesser dogs.

Race to the Sin Bin (Mar 29)

Hold the presses! A 25-minute night from Nashville's Cody McLeod, 7 minutes from Ottawa's Mark Borowiecki, 7 minutes from Toronto's Matt Martin and a minor penalty from Washington's Dmitry Orlov and all of a sudden, Troy's team is only 47 minutes behind Marcie's team for the PIM pool lead. If his team didn't just pick up 41 minutes in one night, I would really question whether or not to actually write this post, but here we are. The race might just be back on!

We'll just concentrate on the match-up between Marcie and Troy's team in these posts, but it is interesting again and with little time to spare.  There are only four games on the schedule on Wednesday night, but only three of them feature players in this clearly defined race, so let's have a look at who's out for blood tonight.

The Calgary Flames feature three players in the race, two for Marcie and one for Troy.  Sam Bennett, the PIM leader going into the night, and Michael Frolik will go for the pool leader, while Troy's team will have Sean Monahan, who has only chipped in with 18 minutes this year, likely won't be chucking any knuckles tonight, unless Troy can make some phone calls.

Marcie and Troy each have one Capitals player each in the game in Denver tonight, as Marcie features T.J. Oshie, who has 34 minutes in penalties, while Troy has Orlov, who picked up 2 minutes last night and has 49 minutes on the season.  Neither are expected to pick up many minutes, if any, but like last night, Troy did pick up a couple, so there's always a chance.

Finally, the late game is in the desert tonight, where the Coyotes also feature a couple more players for Marcie, defenseman Alex Goligoski, who has 28 minutes to his name and also goaltender Mike Smith, who also has 14 minutes to his name, as he has chipped in once and a while this year.  Unfortunately for Marcie, Smith isn't going to get the start tonight, so he'll need to come into the game in relief to have any shot at penalty minutes, unless he chirps from the bench and earns a 10-minute misconduct.

Noon Player Notes in the Draft (Mar 29)

The Anaheim Ducks were taking some precautionary measures with their captain Ryan Getzlaf on Tuesday night, as they held him out of the game against the Canucks, due to some lower-body aches and pains that could use some resting. With the Ducks' win and the Kings' loss last night, the Ducks clinched their spot in the playoffs, so it was an alright night for the Ducks overall.

It doesn't sound like anything major here, but for Marcin, it's a little too late to be thinking about the money race or anything else now.  If you're looking at the Ducks to be a force in the playoffs, yes, Getzlaf does feature on the Playoff Pool sheet, which is coming... he'll be in Box 2.

Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Mar 29)

Fresh off of a return from a rib injury, Kyle Okposo had to sit out another game, due to a being under the weather.  He's currently day-to-day with the illness, which is a tough break on an already tough season for the rugged winger, but he has managed a decent season in numbers, despite the injuries and the illnesses, picking up 19 goals and 45 points in 65 games.

When Okposo was hot, Wes was moving up in the standings, but he cooled down, along with a good portion of the rest of Wes' team and his team currently sits in 18th, only 5 points up on 22nd and 5 points back of 17th.  There's still some movement left in his season, one would think.

It sounds as if the Los Angeles Kings are trying everything they can to get some life out of their lineup, since they don't have much room for error in the Western Conference playoff race. Marian Gaborik was a healthy scratch ahead of the game against the Oilers, but that wasn't the change that was needed, as they dropped the game, 2-1 in regulation, thus dropping their tragic number to 4, which means any combination of losses and wins, mostly by St. Louis, will eliminate them.

This is more of a note for whether or not the Kings actually made the playoffs, as Gaborik does feature on the Playoff Pool sheet, which should be officially live in the next day or so.  I don't think the Kings are going to make it, so this part of the post might be moot.

It was a return to the press box for Rangers forward Pavel Buchnevich, who wasn't asked to dress for the game in San Jose on Tuesday night.  Of course, this has been a regular occurrence and he comes off the list, when he returned to the lineup over the weekend and then he gets added to the list again, when he is scratched again.  Thankfully, this should only happen one more time on the blog, at the very most.

It's not exactly guaranteed, but it does look like Tony's team will finish 23rd this season and there isn't any trophy or adulation for the spot.  And since we're back to the randomness of the bingo balls to determine the drafting order, there's no guarantee that Tony will get a good pick next season either.

San Jose Sharks forward Logan Couture took a puck in the mouth over the weekend and the damage was fairly severe, losing a number of teeth and spending a lot of quality time with the team dentist on Monday. Couture was not able to dress on Tuesday night for the game against the Rangers and there is no actual timetable for his return, but he could probably use the rest ahead of the playoffs.

This is a tough break for Brenda & Seward, who didn't quite get the points they needed to keep the pace on Tuesday night, as their team only has 9 points this week and they now trail Eric's team by 10 points, with Ryan's team now in between them.  The duo could really use Couture back soon.

Goalie Announcements (Mar 28)

It's a busy Tuesday night, once again, and the race for 1st place is now getting hotter, as Eric's team is ramping up its game, now trailing Brian's team by 9 points and leaving 4th place in the dust, up by 12 points.  We won't count out 4th to 6th place just yet, there is still lots of hockey to be played, but already, it doesn't look great.

Let's look at the starts for the top six teams in the standings and maybe we'll throw in some extras, just for shits and giggles.

James Reimer (Eric) versus Curtis McElhinney (N/A)
The Florida/Toronto match-up had some real potential for being the highlight game of the night, but with Frederik Andersen suffering his upper-body injury over the weekend, James Reimer will have to face off against the back-up for the Leafs, making this into a 3rd place versus non-pool goalie game.  The Panthers are no screaming hell either, as Reimer was pulled from his start last night

Jimmy Howard (Benson) versus Cam Ward (Brian)
I think I had Cam Ward supposedly going last night, that wasn't the case, it was Eddie Lack who got the start. With Lack suffering a neck injury on the game-winning goal by the Red Wings last night, it pretty well guarantees that Ward will get the nod tonight, but the Hurricanes did drop the game, regardless, so do we have some extra expectations of how it will go tonight?  Obviously, Brian would love those 2 points from Ward.

Jonathan Bernier (Eric) versus Ryan Miller (Brenda & Seward)
In one of the late games tonight, this could end up being the real headliner game in the hockey pool, as Brenda & Seward really need a win here tonight from the Canucks to help track down Eric's team, which has gotten away from them some.  The Ducks, on the other hand, now have John Gibson healthy, but there is no reason why they won't start Jonathan Bernier, as he is running hot at the moment.

Brenda & Seward's team start the night 12 points back of Eric's team.

Jonathan Quick (Kristy & Don) versus Cam Talbot (Marcie)
The Los Angeles Kings are now the only Western Conference team, on the outside looking in on the playoffs, with a shot at a playoff spot and their hopes are quickly fading.  Tonight, they get Cam Talbot and the Oilers, making this into a good playoff race game, but also a money race game, as Talbot will go for Marcie's club tonight.

Marcie's team is 13 points back of the money, but already has a couple mini-games in the bag.

Anders Nilsson (Ryan) versus Sergei Bobrovsky (Mike)
The back-to-back games on the schedule have been quite good for back-up goalies this season, as they seemed to have picked up a little bit more work.  For Ryan, this has been a benefit with the Sabres, as he should be getting another start from Anders Nilsson in Columbus tonight.  A tough opponent, sure, but at least it's chance.

Craig Anderson (Wilton) versus Steve Mason (Brenda & Seward)
There's a second start for the pool's second duo, as the Flyers are pretty well playing out the rest of the regular season now, since they are all but out of the Eastern Conference playoff race.  Will that be enough for Steve Mason to pick up a win against a far-stronger Ottawa Senators team?

Braden Holtby (Jeremy) versus Devan Dubnyk (John S.)
And just because the Minnesota Wild are dressing up in their sharp third jerseys tonight, we have a bonus game on the post... I did up all these logos, so why not include them?  This is a good match-up tonight, if anything, it has some potential to be a Stanley Cup Finals match-up, if one really likes what these two have done this season, they certainly have two top-end goalkeepers going.