The New Jersey Devils are in the playoffs and they are taking no chances today against the Capitals. The healthy scratches tonight will include Taylor Hall, Kyle Palmieri and Sami Vatanen, in terms of hockey pool players. The Devils do have a shot at 3rd place in the Metropolitan Division, but I think they are just happy to be at the dance for the first time in six seasons. They'll take whichever opponent falls their way.In order, this is Stuart, Chris and Jeremy losing man-games with this news. Chris opens the day 14 points out of the money and needed a miracle to jump into 3rd place, but miracles can take big kicks to the nether regions with healthy scratches like this.
Later on in the morning, the Columbus Blue Jackets were similarly following suit, not taking many chances, ahead of their game against the Nashville Predators. Among those sitting tonight will be Artemi Panarin, Seth Jones and Zach Werenski, which means that the Jackets will be running a skeleton crew on the blueline, at the very least. The preparation for the playoffs, which start next week, begins with keeping some of their key players healthy.Derek B. loses a couple of players, while Wes loses a defenseman in these roster moves. Derek's hope for 13th place, down by 4 points today, takes a bit of a hit without Panarin or Jones. That's disappointing, I'm sure.
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