Andrew Ladd was not a healthy scratch for Carolina last night – I just found out he actually mildly sprained his ankle.

From Tarik El-Bashir's Blog : Alexander Semin (sprained ankle) skated on his own, but left the ice before his teammates came out. He was able to cut hard, but still looked a bit uncomfortable. So I would say he's at least a week away from returning, if not longer.

Carlo Colaiacovo left practice yesterday in obvious pain. There is no way he returns tonight, as indicated earlier this week. His knee is still not ready – do not expect him back for at least a week.

Ditto for Kyle Wellwood, who was also hoping to be back today – he's not even practicing! Still recovering from sports hernia surgery…I wouldn't even want him in my lineup if he was ready to go – too risky. Boyd Devereaux (back) also missed practice and so Simon Gamache will remain in the lineup. 

Steve Sullivan's back is improving…yet he is suffering from back spasms. This is bad news for Sully owners. Daily therapy is not helping. A mid-December return is starting to look doubtful. 'Hope' for a return by Christmas.

Mikael Tellqvist will get the start for Phoenix today.

Daneil Winnik, the surprise rookie forward in Phoenix, injured his foot on Thursday and will likely not play today. It will be interesting to see who they put on Hanzal's line in his place and whether this means more ice time for Mueller.

Trevor Linden was a healthy scratch last night.

Ladislav Nagy was back in the lineup last night, picking up an assist in 10:56 of ice time and 3:13 on the PP. He was also a plus-1

Jack Johnson scored his first career NHL goal and played over 25 minutes. That led all Kings in ice time, as Crawford is already slowly starting to hand JJ the reigns. Still no PP time though…

Don't look now but this could be Dustin Brown's breakout year. The 22-year-old has eight points in nine games this season, though some stat companies did not give him a goal last night (yet), he scored the empty netter.

Patrick O'Sullivan played 19:36 last night, including over five minutes on the penalty kill…not much on the PP. Right now the PP is owned by Kopitar, Cammalleri, Brown, Frolov, Nagy, Calder with Blake, Stuart,Visnovsky and Preissing. I can see Calder losing his spot to O'Sullivan by December.

The Sharks have decided not to sign Sandis Ozolinsh, but rather send him down to the minors. He'll play for Worcester and you won't see him in the NHL unless Carle or Ehrhoff get hurt.

Roenick has a sore knee and missed practice yesterday. He will likely miss tonight's contest.

Mike Commodore was back in the 'Canes lineup last night. He missed four games with a bruised leg.

The Oilers have sent Rob Schremp back to Springfield and have recalled JF Jacques. It will be interesting to see Schremp and Nilsson explode together in the AHL. They have yet to play together this year, and I think that has been a mistake. They should play together in the AHL and graduate together to the NHL.

Mikael Samuelsson will be back in the lineup today for Detroit, but Dallas Drake has been injured with a possible cheek fracture.

Petr Sejna has signed to play in Switzerland.

In a surprise move, Hitchcock favorite Dan Fritsche was a healthy scratch last night. 

Milan Hejduk left the Avs game last night when his back acted up again. It looks like it will be a problem for the next couple of weeks – longer if they don't let him rest it.

Scott Walker left last night's contest with a torso injury and was taken to hospital. It looked serious, as they brought out a stretcher…however he left on his feet with help.

Kari Lehtonen hurt his groin pretty badly on Thursday and the Thrashers have placed him on IR. He will be out for "a while", says GM Waddell. The team called up Ondrej Pavelec – who makes a fantastic pickup in roto leagues, as he will get a pile of starts over the next month since Hedberg has been subpar this year.