Lehtera not on the ice for the morning skate.

#stlblues lines
Steen-Backes-Oshie
Schwartz-Stastny-Tarasenko
Jaskin-Goc-Berglund
Porter-Ott-Reaves

Uhhhhhh....interesting...

This does not bode well. I like Goc, but, aside from his strong showing against Chicago the last week of the season, he's been pretty much a non factor.

Apparently he was hit by a JBo shot late in the third.

I would prefer Jokinen in over Goc personally for a top 9 role. Maybe Goc is just a placeholder and they're expecting Lehtera to play tonight?

UMSLBlues12 wrote:Apparently he was hit by a JBo shot late in the third.

I would prefer Jokinen in over Goc personally for a top 9 role. Maybe Goc is just a placeholder and they're expecting Lehtera to play tonight?

I was thinking the same thing on Waffles.

That would be a big loss....hopefully he'll be good to go in 9 hours!

No Lehtera would be a huge loss tonight. Not so much because Lehtera is a difference maker. But that it makes the blues switch up the lines that were all clicking on Wednesday. I hope this is just a precaution. But the fact that Hitch switched up the lines for morning skate instead of just putting a placeholder in Lehtera's spot has me nervous.

MIZDSP wrote:No Lehtera would be a huge loss tonight. Not so much because Lehtera is a difference maker. But that it makes the blues switch up the lines that were all clicking on Wednesday. I hope this is just a precaution. But the fact that Hitch switched up the lines for morning skate instead of just putting a placeholder in Lehtera's spot has me nervous.

Maybe Lehtera is a game-time decision and they just wanted to practice with these lines just in case Lehtera can't go tonight. Hopefully.

MIZDSP wrote:No Lehtera would be a huge loss tonight. Not so much because Lehtera is a difference maker. But that it makes the blues switch up the lines that were all clicking on Wednesday. I hope this is just a precaution. But the fact that Hitch switched up the lines for morning skate instead of just putting a placeholder in Lehtera's spot has me nervous.

Agreed. If Lehtera was just getting the morning off and was likely to play tonight I would think that Goc would've been used as a placeholder on the Schwartz-Tarasenko line instead of switching Stastny to that line and putting Goc with Bergy-Jaskin.

Maybe we'll learn more later today but given the lines how they were this morning I'm counting Lehtera as being out tonight. Whatever the injury is, hopefully it's nothing too serious.

Maybe he's doing his own personal revolt

slap some dirt on it. its the playoffs.

JR list Lehtera as 50/50 tonight.

Hitch says he is 50/50 for tonight, but he's leaning towards him playing.
Timmerman article on pd site.

"He took the shot, everybody saw that," Hitchcock said. "We decided it's best for him to stay off ice. I'm thinking he's 50-50 to play, but we're leaning more toward playing him than not. We'll see how it goes."

If we would have played yesterday, he wouldn't have played, but he's looking pretty good right now so we're assuming he'll play."

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/hockey/p ... 6ea4c.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

barnburner wrote:Hitch says he is 50/50 for tonight, but he's leaning towards him playing.
Timmerman article on pd site.

Hitch's quote made me laugh. I'm glad math isn't a necessary skill for hockey coaches. If you're leaning towards playing him then he's not 50/50!

Regardless, hopefully he can play tonight but if not, they should still be ok. No excuses.

I would definitely move Bergy to center if Lehtera can't play. Put Rattie on the wing.

Edit: whoops.

If Lehtera sits, this team should be able to adapt. I suppose it's a particularly unpleasant thought because they played so well once they got their lines realigned, but really if the system is too volatile to withstand lineup adjustments, then they are doomed. You have to be able to roll with the punches to go far.

If he's out and they shit the bed, I won't consider his injury to be a legitimate excuse.

Also, I agree with the suggestion the Jokenin is the most logical plug-in.

STL fan in IA wrote:

barnburner wrote:Hitch says he is 50/50 for tonight, but he's leaning towards him playing.
Timmerman article on pd site.

Hitch's quote made me laugh. I'm glad math isn't a necessary skill for hockey coaches. If you're leaning towards playing him then he's not 50/50!

Regardless, hopefully he can play tonight but if not, they should still be ok. No excuses.

I spoke with Hitch this morning and he told me Lehtera was 50.3/49.7, so I'm thinking that by calling it 50/50 he was just using round numbers.

insideout wrote:

STL fan in IA wrote:

barnburner wrote:Hitch says he is 50/50 for tonight, but he's leaning towards him playing.
Timmerman article on pd site.

Hitch's quote made me laugh. I'm glad math isn't a necessary skill for hockey coaches. If you're leaning towards playing him then he's not 50/50!

Regardless, hopefully he can play tonight but if not, they should still be ok. No excuses.

I spoke with Hitch this morning and he told me Lehtera was 50.3/49.7, so I'm thinking that by calling it 50/50 he was just using round numbers.

If Lehtera can't go I'd like to see Jokinen in between Schwartz and Tarasenko. and leave the other lines alone.

I think he'll go tonight.

STL fan in IA wrote:

barnburner wrote:Hitch says he is 50/50 for tonight, but he's leaning towards him playing.
Timmerman article on pd site.

Hitch's quote made me laugh. I'm glad math isn't a necessary skill for hockey coaches. If you're leaning towards playing him then he's not 50/50!

Regardless, hopefully he can play tonight but if not, they should still be ok. No excuses.

Hhahaha, good catch.

BluesSK wrote:If Lehtera can't go I'd like to see Jokinen in between Schwartz and Tarasenko. and leave the other lines alone.

I think he'll go tonight.

In the event Lehtera can't play, I'm fine with Goc playing over Jokinen. Goc brings good faceoff and defensive skills.

Regardless, I would guess that we'll see the lines we saw this morning if Lehtera can't go.