Wednesday, February 26, 2014

More Player Notes in the Draft (Feb 26)

An undisclosed injury will keep Buffalo Sabres forward Tyler Ennis from playing in the second half of back-to-back games on Wednesday night, as they host the Boston Bruins.  Ennis was reportedly hit hard into the boards in the 3rd period against the Carolina Hurricanes and it has proved to be enough to keep out the scoring forward for at least one game.  Unfortunately, details of the injury were not disclosed, so he'll be listed as out day-to-day for right now.

Bad news for Stuart, who jumped up to 20th place, thanks to a point last night from Ennis.  Doesn't look like it will be a repeat performance tonight.

News out of Calgary Flames practice on Wednesday morning, as Lee Stempniak was among those not on the ice, as he is away from the team for personal reasons. There was no suggestion of what they may be, nor is it any of our business.  It does leave the question, however, about whether or not he will be able to dress for the team on Thursday night with the Los Angeles Kings in town.  I have him on the list as questionable for the game, which leaves it wide open for dressing and playing.

If Leo is going to get out of last place, 5 points from 23rd, it will be all hands on deck for his team.  Leo's team can ill-afford to miss games here.  Leo's team is among three teams tied for last place in the third segment, with 51 points, already 37 points back of the lead, so he'll need something to aim for at the end of the year.

The Montreal Canadiens called up goaltender Dustin Tokarski on Wednesday morning to back-up Peter Budaj against the Red Wings in the game later that night.  The reports from the team are saying that Carey Price aggravated a lower-body injury while in Sochi and he had left practice in the morning, favouring one of his legs after stopping a shot.  Price isn't expected to dress in either of the next two games for Montreal.

No matter how you're going to cut it on Stacey's team, be it Price or Budaj, she's only going to get one start out of the team, but if they elect to go with Tokarski for a game, that would put a kink in her team's plans for some money.  Going into Wednesday night's action, Stacey's team sits 1 point out of 4th and 3 points out of 1st.

The Philadelphia Flyers do not start up again until tomorrow (Thursday) night against the San Jose Sharks at home, but the team has already announced that Finnish defenseman Kimmo Timonen will be in the press box, as he gets an extra day's break after playing at the Olympics in Sochi. Timonen is expected to return to the line-up on Saturday afternoon, home to the New York Rangers instead.

This means an extra game missed for Ryan V. as the season starts up.  Ryan currently sits in 5th in the third segment prize race, 8 points out of 1st place.  It would certainly be better for him to have everyone in the line-up to start the home stretch, but that isn't the case for him this week.

The Vancouver Canucks suffered an Olympic casualty of their own, as centre Ryan Kesler suffered a hand injury at the tournament in Sochi and after undergoing an MRI in Vancouver, he has now been listed as out day-to-day.  Kesler will miss Wednesday night's game against the St. Louis Blues and it is unclear as to how much more time he will miss.  Kesler was able to play through the pain after suffering the injury in the USA/Russia round robin game, but with some time before crunch time, the Canucks want to make sure he is 100% for that run.

Being out day-to-day won't hurt Allan's projected games to be played number, as he could return any time soon.  Allan's team sits atop of the standings, but for how long?  His team only holds a 1-point lead and is only 5 points up on 6th place.

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