Michal Rozsival's left knee (MCL) sprain will keep him out of tonight's game against the Leafs, but coach Tom Renney expects him back Saturday in Tampa. He injured the knee in the second period against Boston and left the game. He was doing upper body work during practice.
As mentioned in today's story in the paper, Thomas Pock--a healthy scratch for the last two games--- will take his place.
The semi-surprise is that Colton Orr will dress, and although Renney did not specifically name him, Ryan Hollweg will sit. "There's a player who needs a rest," Renney said after preactice. Hollweg was the last skater out on the ice, long after the other players had left. But he indicated that Hollweg still had a major role with the team.
So, it appears Orr will play with Hall and Krog on the fourth line and provide some muscle against what promises to be a very physical effort from the Leafs, who hit everything in sight in a 4-1 defeat of Carolina last night.
The defense pairings:
Tyutin-Girardi
Ward-Malik
Rachunek-Pock
More later...
Comments (5)
I hate Colton Orr. He is 100% useless.
Toronto will shred those D-pairings. The upside is they played last night and may tire in the 3rd. Though i think the back-to-back factor is incredibly overstated in pro sports these days
Agreed Orr is useless, and a waste of ice time and a roster spot. I think the D-pairings will hold up though.
I would rather see Hossa sit than Hollweg if Toronto is going to come in throwing the body around, but for the amount of ice time Orr will get it doesn't really matter.
ESPN.com is reporting that the Rangers are interested in Tkachuk but the Blues would want some combination of Marc Staal, Brandon Dubinsky, Bobby Sanguinetti, Ryan Callahan and Petr Prucha. If that's the price, I say forget it.
Not for a rental player on the back end of his career. If they could talk JD down though, maybe get him for Hossa and Imomen Tkachuk would be a good compliment to Shanny on the 2nd line.
Other players the report says the team is interested in Smolinski (Chi) and Josef Vasicek (Nash)
Can someone please explain to me how Renney benches both Girardi and Pock for the final 10-12 minutes of the game, but Malik gets all the playing time he wants. Malik wasn't so bad last night, but at most times looks like he shouldn't even be playing peewee hockey. Good thing they are stunting Girardi and Pock's growth for him.