Thursday, February 23, 2017

Morning Player Notes in the Draft (Feb 23)

The Anaheim Ducks made a quick recall, just before their game against the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night, as Jhonas Enroth was called up to take the spot of John Gibson, who is currently dealing with a lower-body injury, which was the reason he was unable to start.  There wasn't much for details, but with the abundance of work of late, it could very well be a fabricated injury issue, just to offer up some extra rest down the stretch for the young number one.  We'll see, he's day-to-day right now.

This is something Dale B. doesn't want to see, as his number one goalie and his best player this season can't make a start due to "injury."  Dale's team lost their 2-point lead on Wednesday night, as Brian leveled up the standings at 490 points, but also has the tie-breakers, re-taking 1st place.

Edmonton Oilers defenseman Andrej Sekera blocked a shot early in the 2nd period against the Florida Panthers and was forced from the game, not before trying a couple shifts with the injury, but in the end was shut down for the rest of the night.  The team was going to do some more tests today to see if it is any more than a soft tissue injury, but the Oilers would certainly be shopping for another defenseman, if Sekera will be down for any significant amount of time.  He'll be day-to-day, until otherwise noted.

There's not much left for Dale C.'s team this season, other than possibly moving into the top 20 for pride purposes, but that doesn't get you much these days, since we're back to randomly selecting the draft order year after year.  His team is 6 points out of 20th place, just trailing Kristy & Don for the spot.

It appears that Michael Del Zotto was a healthy scratch on Wednesday night for the game against Washington and there are speculations out in the interwebs that Del Zotto maybe a target for the trade deadline, as the 26-year old is on the final year of his current contract and he will be able to go to unrestricted free agency in July, once that deal expires.  The Flyers are 3 points out of a wild card spot, but have been rotating defensemen like crazy, so they might be able to get something for a guy who might spend more nights in the press box moving forward.

Wes' team is only 9 points out of the top half of the standings and a move for Del Zotto has some potential to be very positive for his team, as the defender is known to be somewhat gifted offensively and a team that has some punch could be mutually beneficial with him in it.  Something to definitely keep an eye on.

Washington Capitals defenseman Matt Niskanen left the game against the Flyers with a lower-body injury after colliding with Radko Gudas in the 2nd period.  Niskanen reportedly took the brunt of the collision in the leg/knee area and immediately left the ice, not to return.  There hasn't been much word on the injury on Thursday morning, but we should see something before their next game, tomorrow night, at home to Edmonton.  If the injury is more significant than day-to-day, we'll post an update for sure.

Niskanen was by no means a goon this season, but he has contributed 26 minutes in penalties to Kristy & Don's cause, which is slowly falling away from the PIM pool consideration, thanks to injuries across the board.  Their team is now 53 minutes behind the lead and only 10 minutes of Eric's team, which may not last very long.

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