Wade Redden will be returning to the team after spending Sunday with his family in Saskatchewan mourning the death of his mother Pat. Redden back in the line-up means Christoph Schubert, who I didn't think was a factor one way or the other, sits again.
I hope Redden's prompt returns does two things:
1) Silences those who are still convinced this is all a big coverup by the organization to hide some embarassing drug addiction problem for Redden. If you still believe this, you're a retard.
2) Silences those who got on their high horses and yelled "REDDEN MUST RETURN!" as soon as the news that he would miss game 2 was announced. He's back. You won. But if the guy's game isn't up to where you demand it to be, it's probably because his head isn't fully in the game. Yes, he's paid millions of dollars and ideally he should be able to focus on nothing but hockey, but Wade Redden is still a human being. I know we sometimes forget that our athletes are such. So if Redden's play isn't up to his normal standard, he should be forgiven by those of you who were so stern in your demand that he come back. His committment to this organization and his teammates should never have been questioned in the first place, but I sure hope it won't be now.
Redden's return should stabilize a defence that was very mediocre Sunday night. His absence saw guys like Zdeno Chara, Anton Volchenkov, and Andrej Meszaros get increased minutes and all three dropped the ball. Redden's outlet pass skills and ability to carry the puck aren't possessed by any other Sens d-man to a comparable degree, so not having him in there left a gaping hole in their gameplan that the others could not fill. They just don't possess those talents.
Chris Kelly's status is up in the air with an "upper body injury" suffered on the (what I thought was a dirty) hit from Cory Sarich. If Kelly can't play, expect Tyler Arnason to get his first look in this year's playoffs. It probably also means Bryan Murray shuffles the lines, though it shouldn't take an injury for him to see that it's necessary.
In a non-Sens related bit, apparently Kevin Weekes is getting the start in game 2 of tonight's Devils-Rangers game, not rookie sensation Henrik Lundqvist. They must really be panicking in that room if they're already changing goalies. I would've thought Lundqvist did enough this year for them to stick with him through one bad game, but shows what I know.
I hope Redden's prompt returns does two things:
1) Silences those who are still convinced this is all a big coverup by the organization to hide some embarassing drug addiction problem for Redden. If you still believe this, you're a retard.
2) Silences those who got on their high horses and yelled "REDDEN MUST RETURN!" as soon as the news that he would miss game 2 was announced. He's back. You won. But if the guy's game isn't up to where you demand it to be, it's probably because his head isn't fully in the game. Yes, he's paid millions of dollars and ideally he should be able to focus on nothing but hockey, but Wade Redden is still a human being. I know we sometimes forget that our athletes are such. So if Redden's play isn't up to his normal standard, he should be forgiven by those of you who were so stern in your demand that he come back. His committment to this organization and his teammates should never have been questioned in the first place, but I sure hope it won't be now.
Redden's return should stabilize a defence that was very mediocre Sunday night. His absence saw guys like Zdeno Chara, Anton Volchenkov, and Andrej Meszaros get increased minutes and all three dropped the ball. Redden's outlet pass skills and ability to carry the puck aren't possessed by any other Sens d-man to a comparable degree, so not having him in there left a gaping hole in their gameplan that the others could not fill. They just don't possess those talents.
Chris Kelly's status is up in the air with an "upper body injury" suffered on the (what I thought was a dirty) hit from Cory Sarich. If Kelly can't play, expect Tyler Arnason to get his first look in this year's playoffs. It probably also means Bryan Murray shuffles the lines, though it shouldn't take an injury for him to see that it's necessary.
In a non-Sens related bit, apparently Kevin Weekes is getting the start in game 2 of tonight's Devils-Rangers game, not rookie sensation Henrik Lundqvist. They must really be panicking in that room if they're already changing goalies. I would've thought Lundqvist did enough this year for them to stick with him through one bad game, but shows what I know.
