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Paul Kukla
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Wednesday Hockey Thoughts
from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet,
- Injuries aren’t just a factor for teams, they are also affecting the officials. Three linesmen who retired last season (Scott Driscoll, Darren Gibbs, Brian Murphy) were not replaced. Four others — Derek Amell, Greg Devorski, Brian Mach and Steve Miller — have been out most of the year. As a result, the NHL’s needed to use minor-league referees as linesmen on a few occasions.
The league is also down two referees: Tim Peel (suspended) and Chris Rooney (injured). This doesn’t include short-term injuries, which pop up from time to time. It’s been a struggle.
- Get well soon, Carey Price. The Canadiens’ netminder was injured Monday night in the first period of their 4–1 loss to Edmonton and will miss at least a week in concussion protocol. Cayden Primeau is up on an emergency basis, and could face Calgary this week.
The secondary concern is the roster headaches this creates for Montreal. If they activate Cole Caufield, it will be their last available post-deadline recall. (You get four, and the previous were used up by Paul Byron, Xavier Ouellet and Alexander Romanov.) Adding Caufield would put someone on the taxi squad (Byron?) who cannot be recalled. It’s an extremely delicate dance, and I wouldn’t want to depend knowing only an injury could make someone like Byron eligible again.
-. Spencer Knight made his NHL debut Tuesday night, as the Panthers beat Columbus 5-1. He might have played sooner, but had to get his equipment modified to NHL standards. His chest protector, pads and pants all had to adjusted. (It’s possible he wears one of Sergei Bobrovsky’s old chest protectors.)
- Chris Johnston reported last week that the NHL sent a note to all teams warning of increased scrutiny on long-term injury usage, specifically when it came to cap manipulation. I don’t get riled up about this issue, since I try to manipulate the rules of every pool I’m in. But it drives some teams absolutely crazy.
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