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Sami Vatanen's defensive play Saturday in Minnesota was awful. He finished the game at -4. Numbers aside, the eyes don't lie. Vatanen was caught out of position at a time when the Ducks needed to play tight. It lead to a Wild goal and a Ducks collapse.

The defenseman's bad game didn't sit well with his coach. Randy Carlyle made Vatanen a healthy scratch for Monday night's game against Winnipeg. Hopefully, a demotion will spark the young Finnish blueliner. Back in March of 2015, Cam Fowler received a similar punishment from then Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau. Fowler learned from his experience and greatly improved his play.

Headache

Jacob Silfverberg will not play again tonight due to a head injury. He took a hard hit from Nikita Zadarov last Thursday and went head first into the boards. The Ducks haven't come out and said Silfverberg has a concussion, but they are being conservative about his activity. The good news is he skated on his own yesterday. With the All-Star break after tonight, Silfverberg will have another week to recover.

Transactions

* Nate Thompson, out since training camp, was sent to San Diego on a rehab assignment.

* Stefan Noesen was waived by the team yesterday. Unfortunately, he didn't clear waivers and was claimed by New Jersey.

*The Ducks called up talented winger Kalle Kossila from San Diego this morning.

Edmonton @ Ducks

The upstart Edmonton Oilers are in town for a Pacific Division showdown. It is an important contest as the top three teams in the division, San Jose, Anaheim, and Edmonton are separated by four points. The Sharks and Oilers have a game in hand on the Ducks.

It hasn't been decided if John Gibson will return to defend the Ducks' goal tonight; he is a game time decision. Carlyle said he'll make the decision after he hears from Gibson himself. Jonathan Bernier filled in capably as the winning goalie Monday. There was no morning skate, so the best guess lineup is:

Forwards
Rakell-Getzlaf-Perry
Cogliano-Kesler-Kossila
Ritchie-Vermette-Kase
Cramarosa-Shaw-Boll

Defensemen
Fowler-Vatanen
Lindholm-Manson
Theodore-Bieksa

Goalies
Gibson or Bernier

Preview

I'm working on a Ducks centered expansion draft blog for the break. “Stay Tuned”

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