Thursday, February 12, 2009

Thursday Mid-Morning Catch-Up

The Blackhawks tried to motivate a couple of their young players on Wednesday night, as they sat both Dustin Byfuglien and James Wisniewski against the Thrashers, a truly lesser opponent. I suppose if you were going to sit some potentially offensive defensemen, you could afford to do it against a team like Atlanta. Byfuglien and Wisniewski will likely figure back into the line-up on Friday night against the Blues. Figuring into the line-up on Wednesday was Craig Adams, but you should expect him to be back in the press box on Friday.

Thought to be one of the more offensive prospects, if not the most offensive prospect, T.J. Hensick has somewhat come up short. Hensick only has 17 points in 41 games this year, but he has been relied to get some good minutes, thanks to all those major injuries in Colorado. Hensick, a Box 9 forward, hasn't lived up to those expectations, so he was in the press box on Wednesday night for their game against the Wild. I don't expect him to be up there for too long.

Things are getting pretty terrible in Montreal these days. They are not winning, the goaltending is shaky, the defense is pretty awful and no one is scoring. On Wednesday night, the press box was occupied by Sergei Kostitsyn, a Box 24 forward. The younger Kostitsyn has only 23 points in 50 games now for the Habs, far from the expectations laid out in front of him thanks to a good playoff run last season.

Box 19 forward, Trent Hunter, was out of the Islanders' line-up on Wednesday night, thanks to a hip injury. Hunter was certainly in the running to join the Draft pool this year, thanks to a season of 31 points in 48 games, but his ratio has fallen off a fair bit, which led to his decline to Sheet pool obscurity. But like the team he plays for, he's easily forgotten amongst the rest of the league.

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