Sunday, April 01, 2012

Sheet Player News (Apr. 1)

A lower-body injury, more specific, it sounds like a foot injury after blocking a shot, forced Box 14 defenseman John Moore to make the start against the Blues on Saturday night. Moore is currently listed as out day-to-day with the foot injury, but the team made good with the injury, calling up Cody Goloubef from Springfield of the AHL to make his NHL debut. He didn't get much ice-time, but he is one of the top prospects for the team going forward and a quick look is never a bad thing.  If Moore is good to go in the final week, Goloubef will immediately be sent back to the minors, since he's only up on an emergency basis.

The Minnesota Wild are likely just playing out the rest of the NHL schedule, trying to play a little bit of spoiler, but mostly trying to stay healthy down the stretch and avoid any long Summers for some players.  I don't know which category this fits into, but Marco Scandella was a healthy scratch for the team on Saturday night, with the Kings in town.  Scandella hasn't had the season that was expected of him in 2012, but it is only his second full season, which is generally a tough season to overcome for many young players.  It wouldn't be too surprising if he sat a little bit more down the stretch.

It looks to me that Box 7 forward Michal Handzus was a healthy scratch for the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night, since there has been no mention of injury anywhere on Sunday morning. Handzus hasn't been terribly productive this season for the Sharks, picking up 24 points in 66 games. One of the biggest concerns for the Sharks has been secondary scoring past their big players and Handzus was going to be relied upon for some of those numbers, but has failed in that endeavour. His scratch on Saturday may be a sign of things to come for him, especially since the team blanked the Stars, 4-0.

In an attempt to save the injury prone from injury down the stretch and with the return of Roman Polak to the Blues line-up, made it easy for the coaching staff to scratch Box 12 defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo on Saturday night.  Besides some injury problems in the year, Colaiacovo has been a productive member of the Blues, who have done really well this year, among the Western Conference elite.  Colaiacovo has 19 points in 62 games, which isn't a great scoring pace on the year, but his value stretches into the defensive role as well, which isn't measured for these hockey pools.

No comments: