Not quite all hands on deck this morning, though Jesse Joensuu took the full practice (and was, in fact, still out there with Matt Bertani and Mark Wotton as I typed this, like, 40 minutes before this posts). He’s a maybe for tomorrow, Jack Capuano said. Micheal Haley didn’t go, again, and remains out with whatever upper-body thing is actually ailing him.
Capuano said he’s “not sure yet” if the defenseman rotation will continue, but he’s not sure exactly what would replace it, either. I’d find it pretty hard to pick a straight Top 6 with these guys, too. You’ve got eight players who are talented enough to be here and were signed to be here or above, so probably dress the six who have shown it, game-to-game. (Which so far probably means Callahan and MacDonald don’t sit much.) If it stays the same for a while, it stays the same for a while.
If it became nine, that might be different. That question is above my pay grade*.
It still boggles my mind, to be honest, that this is even a question they have to deal with. Remember when it used to be, “how long can you just play five?”
Greatest “Rebound**” Moment Ever In A While: Pascal Morency’s the shooter. His stick breaks before he can shoot. Laughter ensues. Blake Comeau, to the left of Peter Mannino, hands his stick back to Morency. Mannino hands his stick to Comeau. Morency shoots, and, naturally, the rebound comes right to Comeau, who has to turn around the left-handed goalie stick to shoot righty. (Had Comeau scored: Greatest Rebound Moment Ever.)
Aucoin up, Mink back down in Hershey.
Knew I was forgetting something yesterday: Claude Lemieux isn’t the oldest AHLer anymore. Chris Chelios is reporting to Grand Rapids for a couple of conditioning games.
Might crunch some numbers later, for fun. I’m stuck downtown for a few hours, so will need something to do besides watch them change the building over. (Oh, and write the advance, too. Right. Work.)
*-Hey, it worked for the last guy.
**-A game they play after practice. There’s a shooter at the hash marks or just above; other players are to either side, making it look a bit like the setup for a basketball free-throw. If the goalie leaves a rebound, other players keep at it till it crosses the goal line (in or out) or hits the boards. Goal: shooter keeps shooting. No goal: rotate.