travel_dude

They are passing off instead of getting pucks on net.

Well, you could say that CGY is watching a lot and not engaging.

Wake up Flames, Johnny's dad will get mad at you.

Goal on 4th line and 3rd pair.

I agree, get selfish Johnny. Passing to Backlund?

Zaddy looking decent out there. He was hooked before he could get a decent shot. Ras is all world again. Johnny a little quiet, but other than the deflection, Tkachuk looks bad. Lindy is flying. Lucic needs a day off.

Ricky's burgers look good.....

Must still be some lagging injury/sickness. Stone and Mackey in. I know Kyl is ready, they probably just giving him another practice.

It's a classic. Approved by FN in USA.

Weird, they got the goal scorer wrong. It was Tkachuk. Hanifin starting another game strog. Well except for the lousy giveaways earlier. There you go, Conundrumed, Hanifin gets you a point.

Stage 1 complete. Begin Stage 2.

Big opportunity for Johnny Hockey in front of Mom and Pop Hockey. Whole Fam damily should be there tonight. I am sure Guy will be pacing back and forth in the stands....

Sutter philosophy regarding resting or playing roster players: If you ain't injured or sick, you play. Only exception would be a B2B with travel. Might sub out a guy to give him a break if he's gassed.

Well, it depends on Dallas. Can't really peg that team at all. Could be out, with LA or Vegas in the WC2 spot. Or the Oilers could plummet and take the WC1 or WC2 spot. A LA-VGK series would be fun. Prefer to let COL beat up on EDM in round 1. We then only face the LA-VGK winner. I think we can hang with Vegas, even with the reinforcements. Too far ahead of course. Want to see teams beat each other up over the remaining games.

I think the issue with Zaddy, Guddy and Jarny was conditioning after some illness run. With the extras, I think you need to manage their games almost as much as the 3 or 4 regulars. Get them up to speed, but Stone is a fill in and should only be when you need a new look or a guy on RD is out. Playoffs that is. He's good when he comes in last minute. Mackey is not one of the 7 best players, so just get him up to speed and use to the games again. Ritchie should only play against the teams that are big and tough (Dallas and perhaps Vegas). Kylington was flying yesterday and (according to reports) looks 100%. You can manage his games, but he is key to securing the Pacific. Fine line there. Starting lines not set, but the indication is that only Kylington sits for Mackey. The other three all in. If that's the case, then we need a perfect performance from Mackey, as we next play a Patches/Martinez/Lehner/Stone-laden team on Thursday.

If it's doctors reviewing doctors evaluation, there is zero chance the injury comes to light. As it is, the NHL knows the injury status of every player on LTIR. They don't repeat it. You can't just tell the NHL he has a booboo. I think you are bang on with the insurance companies review. As much as I hate the idea of the vultures review, it's the only way to be sure, as it's an insurable injury. They probably had to sign off on the Eichel surgery as it is. Back to the present. I can't imagine that other NHL teams will see the moves as good faith. And onto the Oilers. They seem to be salivating at the guaranteed playoffs and the chance to run over an undermanned LA squad. The Oilers magic number is 6.0, but the team plays 6 of 9 against playoff or bubble teams. They are likely a lock to get another 6 points on the 3 non-playoff teams. They have 5 home games left and 3 are against playoff or bubble teams. LA has relatively easy schedules. LA only plays one game against a playoff team, but it's on the 2nd of a B2B. VGK plays 4 non-playoff teams. It used to be that the East was tight, but this season, there is nobody battling for a WC spot there. Not sure who I have hoping to fail more, EDM or Vegas. EDM has as many 1st round wins as we do in the last decade. And they didn't even win their play-in series. Getting past anyone in the first round with the same two goalies as last year seems unlikely. Vegas doesn't really deserve to get in, and the cap circumvention thing is real. Magically, all of Smith, Brossoit, Carrier and Stone will be healthy.

It's GDB's. Time to get closer to clinching the playoffs and reaching a milestone for one player. Kylington is raring to go, but needs to be cleared to play. Jarnkrok is probably game time decision, as would Guddy be. But, it seemed Guddy was practicing in his usual spot. Nothing against Mackey, but we want to have the old Shilly back. We can stand to have them sit out another game tonight, but would rather they get up to speed before Vegas. Sounds like Matty Beniers might play tonight, but it's not a great game to start your NHL career. We tend to leave players injured in our wake.

Do they not already do that? I mean review the reports from team docs and question anything suspicious.

I'm not sure but I think the deadline for a roster move is 3pm. Here's a question, if you lose one of the mentioned players from the 21, do you even qualify for an emergency call up? I think not, unless you have the cap. All of this smacks of cap manipulation. And while some of it may be smart management of LTIR dollars available (maximizing it), it sounds a bit shady. BTW, Miromanov is already in the AHL. Leschyshyn is an emergency loan along with Randbjerg.

Birthday for both Kerins (20) and Beck (19) today. Both doing well in their respective teams. Kerins will likely be a regular in Stokton, since there is little for him to do in CHL.

With TBL, at least they had a reasonable excuse with Kuch. Given the cap dump TDL botched trade by Vegas, I'm not sure there is any reasonable excuse. With the playoffs, it's reasonable to have a Black Aces group not count against a cap. If you are cap compliant on the last day of the regular season, then how can you not be on Day 1 of the playoffs. It's a joke. I don't see any way Vegas can activate Stone right now. They need him now. If he's practiced, then the NHL needs to monitor Vegas' cap situation and not reward them as the Bettman Darlings. Tonight is an important night in the grand scheme of post season seeding. Vegas plays VAN, we play SEA, EDM plays Minny, LA plays CHI.

Gaudreau's family in town for the next game at least. Will be cheering him on to hit 100.

Thing is to have guys making enough coin that you can get the docs to sign off on. Just long enough to get to end of April. It's a little tricky in the wording, as one part says maximum 14 consecutive days if consented, while another part say a plyer from LTRI can be loaned for a max of 6 days or 3 games. If the former is allowed, they could send Stone down (if he agrees) to a conditioning stint for up to 14 days. They would need to wait until Saturday to send him down. It doesn't help them get into the playoffs but would be a gutsy move to ensure he coud play in round 1. I can't see any other thing that both helps them make the playoff and gets them the cap to start Sone earlier. Sending down Lehner doesn't help them win. Sending down Patches doesn't help them win. I just don't see it without some fishy business.

An update from Steinberg (thanks BOSN) Cgy can clinch as early as Wednesday with a Flames win Tuesday and LA losses in regulation on Tuesday or Wednesday. So, that's 2.5.