NHL Hockey Player News

Nieto has played in 66 games this season, but hast not recorded a points in his last seven games. With Tomas Hertl returning tonight, Nieto will take a seat.

It looks like San Jose will give Vlasic a rest tonight. Vlasic has played in all 80 games this season as well as the Olmypics. He will get a much needed rest tonight after posting 24 points (5G / 19A) with a plus-31 rating in those 80 games.

Rattie is set to make his NHL debut on Friday. The Blues are dealing with a plethora of injuries, so they have recalled three players from Chicago, and they will all be in the lineup tonight. He has scored 29 goals with 17 assists (46 points) in 69 AHL games.

Anderson made 45 saves on 46 shots in a 4-1 win over the Islanders on Tuesday. It was a great performance from the 32-year-old, who has had a very inconsistent season. This could be his last start of the season and he enters play at 24-16-8 with a 3.06 GAA and .909 SV% on the year. This comes after he had a 1.69 GAA and .941 SV% last season.

Hutton stopped all 35 shots in a 3-0 win over the Sharks on March 5th. It was the first shutout of Hutton's NHL career and 19th win of the season. He gets the nod in the Predators final game of the season in Minnesota. Hutton has been solid, posting a 2.61 GAA and .910 SV% in 33 starts this season.

Rinne stopped all 29 shots that he faced in a 2-0 win over the Coyotes on Thursday. I wrote that Rinne had a chance to play spoiler, and that is exactly what he did with his second shutout of the season. Tonight, he will look to move to 3-0 over the Blackahwks, he has posted a 1.00 GAA and .968 SV% in the first two games.

Luongo stopped 27 of 29 shots in a 4-2 victory over the Maple Leafs on Thursday. He has made 62 saves on 66 shots (.939 SV%) in his last two starts. Tonight, he starts vs. a Blue Jackets team who are locked into a playoff spot in the East, but given Bobby Lu's recent play, he should make for a safe start.

Stalock stopped nine of 10 shots after replacing Antti Niemi in Wednesday's 5-2 loss to the Ducks. Tonight, Stalock will go head-to-head with Reto Berra. He is 11-5-2 on the season, but two of those regulation losses came vs. the Avs--has gone 0-2-0 with a 2.62 GAA and .862 SV% against Colorado. He enters play with a 3-1-1 record at SAP Center.

Hertl has not played since December 19, when he suffered the injury on a hit by the Kings’ Dustin Brown. In 35 games, Hertl has 15 goals and 10 assists for 25 points, playing primarily on the left wing of Joe Thornton and Brent Burns. Hertl was originally expected to miss the rest of the regular season, but he will be back for the final home game of the season and playoffs.

When the Blues take on the Stars tonight, they will be without six of their regular forwards. Sobotka suffered a lower-body injury on Thursday and is listed as day-to-day.

Roy suffered an upper-body injury in Thursday's loss to the Wild. The Blues will be without six regular forwards tonight. Consider Roy day-to-day.

Miller was pulled after allowing four goals on 13 shots in a loss to the Wild last night. He has struggled mightily in his last three outings. Miller has given up 12 goals on 64 shots (.813 SV%). Starting him again tonight is an attempt to get him back on track before the Blues enter the postseason. You don't want to head into the Western Conference first round with your number-1 goalie playing poorly.

This is no surprise after Oshie had to be helped off of the ice yesterday. There is no word on how Oshie is doing, the Blues could be keeping him out for precautionary reasons with the playoffs next week.

Toews skated in Chicago yesterday and coach Joel Quenneville said that everything went well. The Hawks are still hoping to have Toews back in the lineup for game 1 of the playoffs.

Cammalleri was cut by a high-stick on Wednesday and is not on the ice at this morning's gameday skate. Ben Hanowski is holding his spot on the Flames' top-line which suggests he may be in the lineup tonight vs. Winnipeg. Cammalleri has 13 goals and 11 assists (24 points) in his last 20 games.

Updating an earlier report: Kunitz was on the ice for the start of practice, but left early. It has been confirmed that it was prearranged and that he is fine. Pens' head coach Dan Bylsma hinted that he won't rest players on Saturday, so look for Kunitz to be in the lineup.

Johnson, 32, is in his first season with Bridgeport and the 6-foot-1, 200 pound forward has just five points (1G / 4A) but 183 penalty minutes in 48 games this season. The Anchorage, Alaska native could make his NHL debut tonight.

Sergei Bobrovsky has faced an average of 33.3 shots in his last six consecutive starts, so he will get a breather tonight in Tampa Bay. McElhinney stopped 25 of 27 shots in a win over the Hurricanes on March 29th. The Jackets are locked into the playoffs, so they have no problem resting Bob ahead of next weeks playoffs.

Crawford made 28 saves on 30 shots in a 3-2 overtime win over Montreal on Wednesday. He has won each of his last three starts while holding the opposition to two goals in each game with a .925 SV%. Tonight in Washington is expected to be his final start of the regular season. He holds a 32-15-10 record with a 2.22 GAA and .918 SV% on the year.

One of the knocks on Horton in recent years has been his inability to stay healthy. Including this season, he has missed 122 games over the last six seasons. To put that in perspective, he has missed 26.6% of regular season games played since 2008-09. In his first of seven years of a $37.1 million dollar contract with the Blue Jackets, Horton amassed four goals and 14 assists (18 points) in 35 games. Should Columbus advance to the Eastern Conference finals, Horton could be back in the lineup. If not… See you in 2014-15 Nathan.