So now that real football is happening now (I don't watch regular season unless I feel compelled to watch or a relative has it on their TV), how everyone's team doing? Yes, I know this is a hockey blog but I figured I'd chime in and ask you guys. Anyhoo, some thoughts...
Goalie Switcheroos
This may just be entirely my viewpoint but I've noticed some extremely last minute changes happening with who's the starting goaltender in games. It's infrequent but when it happens, everyone takes notice. All the analysts on Twitter explode with news about the change like it's a national news event. In any case, there's a pretty good reason why it happens once it's announced most of the time. Like this past Saturday when Kari Lehtonen was suppose to start and yet Richard Bachmann started the game in the last minute. The reason? Lehtonen was dealing with the flu. But between the time that Bachmann was announced to start and the reason Lehtonen did not start, people speculated that he hurt his groin again. Fortunately, that was not the case. But notice I said most of the time earlier. I also noticed that out of the blue, the Sabres elected to switch Ryan Miller for Jhonas Enroth at the last minute earlier this year but no reason was given as to why the sudden change was made. Just this past Saturday, the same exact thing happened with no explanation as to why the change happened. This is curious to me. Granted, some teams don't like to be exact when a player is injured and keep it in general terms like a torn groin muscle is a lower-body injury and is reported that way. I guess this can be applied to here. Perhaps Miller wasn't feeling good that day and the Sabres didn't want to send that out that way. But it still is rather odd that a team changes like that with no discernible reason. Just my viewpoint. Feel free to chime in on what you think in the comments section.
The injury report after the jump...
UPDATE Jeff Carter, Blue Jackets - He was also injured in tonight's game against the Ducks and reports are coming out that he has a separated shoulder and at best is that he will be out for a few weeks and at worst, for the rest of the season. Keep your ear out for more info. UPDATE END
Jonas Hiller, Ducks - He injured himself in tonight's game against the Blue Jackets. No word on the injury but thanks to Dan Ellis' injury, Iiro Tarkki is bound to get some starts and see what he's got if Hiller's injury is pretty bad.
Patrick Sharp, Blackhawks - He suffered an upper-body injury and did not return to tonight's game. Keep your ear out for what ailed him in this game.
Derek Roy, Sabres - He injured his shoulder or arm or both on Friday's game. Sounds like he'll be out on a borderlined day-to-day or week-to-week basis.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Oilers - He will be out three to four weeks thanks to a shoulder injury he suffered last week. Some have speculated that he has a separated shoulder but this still stinks for fantasy owners out there.
Jordan Eberle, Oilers - Yet another talented player on the injured list. He injured his knee on Saturday's game but it is not known how severe the injury is. I feel bad for the Oilers because so many key injuries is dragging down a pretty talented team.
Jordan Staal, Penguins - He will be out four to six weeks due to a knee-on-knee injury on Friday. This and...
James Neal, Penguins - His loss will really hamper this talented team. He suffered a broken foot after taking a shot late in Saturday's game. No timeline has been released but it's assumed he'll be out a number of weeks. Ouch.
Mike Green, Capitals - He suffered yet another groin injury but it sounds like this was more precautionary than the result of an actual injury. We'll see if he'll be ok here soon...
Nicklas Backstrom, Capitals - He got elbowed in the head pretty hard and the concerns were that he suffered a concussion but it doesn't sound like that is the case. Still, the Caps are being cautious with him so don't be surprised if he's out this week.