Sunday, October 10, 2010

Morris Misses Premiere Games

The Coyotes opened up some early action on Sunday morning (in North America) against the Bruins and they are still without defenseman Derek Morris in their line-up. The veteran defenseman has missed both NHL Premiere games in Prague with a lower-body injury.  The extend of the injury is not quite known, so for now I'm considering him out day-to-day.  The Coyotes will have some time off in between their games, getting acclimatized to the Western time zones again, so Morris should have plenty of time to rest up.

Now, just because Kyle Turris has reportedly made the roster for the Coyotes, doesn't necessarily mean he is going to play.  Turris has been a healthy scratch for the Coyotes in both NHL Premiere games and now I'm starting to believe that he may be sent down to the minors when the team returns to North America, just to get under the 23-man roster.  Since Turris is still on his entry-level contract, he won't have to pass through waivers, whereas Paul Bissonette, the other healthy scratch for the team, likely would have to pass through waivers and they'll want to keep him around for depth purposes.

ImplicationsIn the draft, Morris belongs to Dale C., who is currently sitting in 15th, 3 points out of the top 10 going into Sunday morning's action. Morris was Dale's last pick in the draft, 267th overall in the 14th round, so there is less onus on him to get a lot of points, but you don't want to see any of your draft picks sit out for any reason.

Both Morris and Turris are on the selection sheet this year, Morris being one of the middle defensemen for the Coyotes and Turris is in the young players box again in Box 9.  If you're still to make your decision on sheet players, you may want to avoid Turris, if I'm correct about sending him down to San Antonio and Morris may not be the best player in his box, period.

Link to the Injury/News Page

No comments: