Sunday, October 23, 2011

Sheet Player News (Oct. 23)

After being a healthy scratch on numerous occasions to start the regular season, the Boston Bruins moved Box 25 forward Jordan Caron to the minors, likely going to give him some proper ice-time and minutes to help him develop further.  Caron has played in four games for the Bruins, before this demotion, failing to register a point in his appearances.  Since he was the last to go down to the farm, I would imagine that he would be one of the first to come up, when needed.

There was a lot of speculation as to who might be the healthy scratch for the Edmonton Oilers with the return of Sam Gagner to the line-up, but those questions were put to rest when the line-up card was handed in and Linus Omark was the player that drew the short straw. Omark has not been able to hit the scoresheet yet for the Oilers and has been playing more bottom six minutes than top six, so he was one of the easier players to take out. With the team getting healthier again, there may be some tough decisions ahead for the OIlers and their personnel department.

Veteran presence in the Islanders line-up was in short supply on Saturday, as Brian Rolston took the day away from the team to be with his family and their new addition. Rolston, an off-season acquisition for the Islanders, has played well to start the year, having 2 assists in five games for the club and might be a bit more of a spark plug when he returns to the ice, after bringing a new baby into the world.  I do not believe he was very popular in Box 23 and I don't think he's really worth a trade at the moment.

More injury problems for the Penguins, as Box 28 defenseman Zbynek Michalek had to leave their game on Saturday evening with a hand injury, which he suffered blocking a shot against the Devils.  Michalek has been benefiting from a great start from the Penguins this season, having 1 goal and 2 assists in the first 10 games of the season, but the team will wait and see what the extent of the damage is to their blueliner, before announcing how long they expect to be without him.

The San Jose Sharks appear to have lost the services of forward Torrey Mitchell for the foreseeable future, as he is now day-to-day with an upper-body injury, which he suffered on Friday night. There have been no updates on his condition, but the team has already been calling up players for various reasons, including Box 9 forward Benn Ferriero, to help ease the burden.  Mitchell has 3 assists in five games already this year and the team will certainly miss him before too long.

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