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The Blues are heading to Florida to face the Panthers this evening with another potential chance to lock down third place in the Central if the Predators can’t find a way to win in Dallas tonight.
Recent days have seen Curtis McKenzie take a stick to the eye under his shield and Michael Neuvirth collapse in his net, just to name a few. Last night, reports surfaced that Buffalo Sabres' Kyle Okposo has been hospitalized in the neurological intensive care unit.
Okposo has been out sick for a while but it appears substantially more serious than any of us imagined. His former team put out a statement that included that they “hope” that he gets better. I hope that was just a poor word choice and that his circumstances are not that dire. Regardless, our thoughts and well wishes are with Okposo, his family, friends and teammates.
In odd news surrounding the Blues, beat writer Jeremy Rutherford reports that he expects Vladimir Sobotka to join the Blues this season after potentially signing a contract extension. From my review of the CBA included on the NHLPA’s website, this situation doesn’t appear to be explicitly covered.
The CBA does state that “during the period following 3:00 p.m. EST of the fortieth (40th) day immediately preceding the final day of the regular season, and continuing through and including the last day of the regular season, no player may be recalled from loan to a club of any league affiliated with the NHL, except that players may be recalled upon completion of the regular season and playoff schedule of the club to which they were loaned.”
It also states in section 13.23 that “in the event a professional or former professional Player plays in a league outside North America after the start of the NHL Regular Season, other than on Loan from his Club, he may thereafter play in the NHL during that Playing Season (including Playoffs) only if he has first either cleared or been obtained via Waivers…..
This section shall not apply to a Player on the Reserve List or Restricted Free Agent List of an NHL Club with whom the Player is signing an NHL SPC or is party to an existing SPC with such NHL Club.” Assuming Sobotka was suspended and not loaned and that suspension would seem to meet the definition of “other than on loan from his club”, it would seem that Sobotka would need to clear waivers.
The reality is that the CBA doesn’t really talk to suspensions like those of Sobotka. They talk about penalty infraction suspensions, drug violation suspensions and criminal type suspensions. Given that the CBA doesn’t specifically address this situation, my guess is the NHL will make its own ruling on the situation so I doubt he would actually need waivers.
As I posted in the prior blog comments, I wouldn’t bring Sobotka back and risk impacting the chemistry building since March 1st unless 1) I was very concerned about the injury front, 2) I saw him as very limited use and insurance perhaps replacing Brodziak who appears may still be fighting a nagging injury, or 3) I had something in place that helped with future years (think expansion draft, very friendly extension, etc). Remember, bringing him back likely means sending Barbashev or Sanford back down. Paajarvi would get claimed at this point so don’t expect him to get sent down.
Moving back to tonight’s game. The Panthers have lost five games in a row but have won three of their last five home games, including winning by a touchdown over the Blackhawks. They will be without Aaron Ekblad, Aleksander Barkov and Roberto Luongo. James Reimer is also questionable.
The Panthers seem to be at extremes. They have the 6th worst power play but the league’s best penalty kill which likely won’t help a Blues power play end its struggles (1 of their last 20). They shoot the 3rd most of any team in the league but are tied for giving up the 8th most shots per game. Their shooting percentage is poor as the 3rd most shots has translated into only the 23rd most goals per game.
The Blues will have some lineup changes with Carl Gunnarsson getting back in and the forward lines in the blender. My best guess at the lineup looks like this:
Schwartz – Barbashev – Tarasenko (no BLT line – Barbashev, Lehtera, Tarasenko)
Steen – Berglund - Perron
Paajarvi – Lehtera - Jaskin
Upshall – Brodziak – Reaves
Bouwmeester – Pietrangelo
Edmundson - Parayko
Lindbohm – Gunnarsson
Allen
It’s a great day for hockey.
Fellow Hockeybuzz bloggers
Nashville Predator's Paul McCann,
Winnipeg Jet's Peter Tessier and
Minnesota Wild's Dan Wallace have generously agreed to a friendly charity wager. We were hoping to do the whole division but don't have it fully represented yet. The blogger whose team finishes the highest the standings at the end of the year gets to pick a charity to whom the others donate in their name.
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