Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Jan 20)



It is a little bit of a big deal when Scott Hartnell is a healthy scratch for the Columbus Blue Jackets, as he is a well-paid forward that is supposed to help the team in multiple facets of the game, including scoring and keeping the other team in check.  When he doesn't get the respect from the coach, that generally means things aren't going very well and with a coach like John Tortorella, it doesn't take too much to be on his bad side.

For Dale B., his team is by no means out of either race, the overall money race or the PIM pool, so a game without Hartnell hurts his side, two-fold.  As of Wednesday morning, his team is 28 points out of 3rd place and 57 minutes out of the PIM pool lead.

It shouldn't come as a big surprise that Christian Ehrhoff continues to be a healthy scratch for the Kings, like he was on Tuesday night with the Dallas Stars in town.  Ehrhoff has been a regular scratch this season for the Kings and he hasn't been able to provide a boost to his own numbers when he is back in the lineup to stay in the lineup.

Ehrhoff could be a Waiver Draft drop candidate for Stuart, who sees his team only 2 points out of the money and he could use a boost to his defense, regardless.  Ehrhoff's 9 points this season is by far the worst among his four defenders this season.

It was a bout of the flu that kept Rangers forward Derick Brassard out of the lineup on Tuesday night, with the Canucks in town for a game.  Brassard was unable to take the skate in the morning and was given the night off as well, helping to try and get back to 100% before the end of the week.  The Rangers managed without him, with a 3-2 overtime win on the night.

Brenda & Seward were able to keep pace with Jeremy on the night, staying within 3 points of the lead, but their buffer to 3rd place has shrunk a little bit, down to 16 points from John P..  Brassard has been a solid performer for the duo and we shouldn't expect him to be out for very long.

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