There looks to be a bit of a revolving door for the Thrashers line-up at the moment, with a few players going in and out of the line-up on a regular basis. Jim Slater was a part of that merry-go-round on Wednesday night, when the Thrashers took on the Rangers. The Box 23 forward only has 1 goal in the first five games of the season, so the scratch was likely to motivate his game.
The Columbus Blue Jackets welcomed Kris Russell back into their line-up on Thursday night, which meant someone had to come out of the line-up as a scratch. Box 13 defenseman Jan Hejda drew the short straw and was up in the press box for the game against Edmonton. Hejda only has 1 goal in the first eight games of the season and made for a likely candidate.
Failing to meet expectations is definitely a solid reason as to why some players get scratched from the line-up some nights and Michael Frolik was a victim of some high expectations on Thursday night, as he sat for the game against the Ottawa Senators. Frolik only has 2 assists in the first seven games of the year and he is expected to be more of a goal scorer. I would expect him to be in the line-up for the team's next game to see how the benching affects his game.
The 9-game tryout for Nino Niederreiter on Long Island didn't go as swimmingly as one may have hoped, so the team decided to save a year on his entry-level contract and send him back down to Portland of the Western Hockey League on Thursday. The Box 25 forward did pick up a couple points, including his first NHL goal, but the Islanders weren't getting the kind of production that was leading to more wins, so saving a year on the talented forward is a wise decision. Unfortunately, that leaves another vacancy in Box 25.
On Wednesday night, Michal Rozsival suffered a knee injury and was forced to leave the game against the Thrashers. The tests on his knee were positive on Thursday, saying that the Box 29 defenseman suffered a minor hyper-extension of his knee and could very well play on the weekend for the Rangers. The Rangers should be glad he's okay, he does have 6 points in the first eight games this year.
On Tuesday, the Pittsburgh Penguins decided to send their Box 25 contributor down to the minors as well. Eric Tangradi was not finding the right chemistry playing with some of the league's top playmakers and eventually found his way to being the odd-man out for the Penguins. In nine games with the club, Tangradi had only picked up 1 goal and 1 assist, but he could very well earn his way back onto the team with a good stint in the minors and/or something happening to another roster player.
Last weekend, Blues defenseman Roman Polak fell victim to a skate blade catching his wrist and doing some pretty severe damage. The Box 12 defenseman underwent surgery on Thursday to repair some tendon damage that was suffered in the incident and now Polak will be out of the Blues line-up indefinitely. The Czech defender has 1 goal in seven games with the Blues this season, but it will be his defensive efforts that will be missed more.Link to the Injury/News Page
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