Gudas is doubtful to play vs. the Sabres tonight which would be the second straight game that he will have missed after suffering a lower-body injury on Sunday vs. the Avalanche.
Gudas was injured on Sunday against Colorado and appears he will not play tonight vs. the Blues. With Gudas out, the Lightning will likely return to six defenseman as Mike Kostka moves onto a regular D-pairing.
Gudas left Sunday's loss to the Avalanche favouring his leg after a second period hit. He is expected to be re-evaluated in the next few days, but will likely miss at least Tuesday's contest.
The Islanders faithful had been waiting on Strome's recall for a long time, but he was unable to light up the scoresheet during his first recall. While centring the third line he had just one goal and three assists in his first 15 NHL games, but now with John Tavares out for the season, the door is open for Strome to earn valuable playing time. He has 49 points (13G / 36A) in 37 games with Bridgeport, so now the Islanders will look for him to take the next step and produce at the NHL level.
Mrazek has been good when called upon this season. The 21-year-old is 1-3-0 with a 1.64 GAA and .924 SV% with the Red Wings this season. His demotion tells us that Jimmy Howard is ready to return on Tuesday in Philadelphia.
Strome has no been the offensive splash he was expected to make, he recorded four points (1G / 3A) in 15 games with the Islanders. This could be a temporary move until Travis Hamonic is ready to return, but regardless Strome won't be in the lineup on Thursday.
Mrazek stopped all three shots he faced after replacing Jimmy Howard in the third period on Thursday. In his last start he gave up three goals on 19 shots in a 3-0 loss to the Islanders on December 23. Overall he is 1-2-0 with a 1.74 GAA and .914 SV% in three starts and five appearances. He draws a tough assignment tonight against the NHL's best Anaheim Ducks (34-8-5).
Gudas was injured on Thursday, but it appears that he won't miss any time with the injury and will line up next to Matt Carle today vs. the Flyers.
The Red Wings are taking the safe route by keeping Gutavsson out. They can not afford to lose another goalie with Jimmy Howard (knee) already sidelined.
Granlund has missed 11 straight games and 13 of the past 14. In those 14 games, the Wild has scored 22 goals. It is not easy returning immediately from a concussion. "We'll be realistic with our expectations, but I think there's no better way of getting right back in there than to throw him back into the fire," Yeo said.
Granlund, who has been skating on his own, is skating with extra forwards Justin Fontaine and Mike Rupp, which also indicated that Mike Yeo will return with the same lineup as the Colorado win on Tuesday against the red-hot Vancouver Canucks. Including the Phoenix game that Granlund skated 29 seconds in, the Wild is 5-6-1 without Granlund with 18 goals scored (1.5 goals per game). I'd still be surprised if Granlund plays in any of the next few games just because of his history of concussions, but at the very least, maybe he'll now come on the upcoming road trip to practice.
In Mrazek's only NHL start this season, he stopped al 14 shots that he faced in a 5-0 shutout win over the Oilers. He has been stellar in the AHL going 10-2-1 with a 2.09 GAA and .927 SV% in 13 starts. The 21-year-old will face a Lightning team who just beat the Red Wings in a shootout on Thursday, but are coming off of a 3-0 defeat last night.
Strome was recalled earlier in the week but has not got into the lineup. He was the fifth overall pick in 2011 and has tore up the AHL this season. Strome scored 174 points in 111 games in his final two seasons in the OHL and had nine goals and 33 points in 23 games with Bridgeport this season. The Islanders offence is in need of a jump-start, so they are hoping Strome can bring the spark that they need. It appears he will start tonight's game centring the third line with Brock Nelson and Cal Clutterbuck on his wings.
Strome who was officially recalled on Wednesday will not play tonight because the Islanders want him to practice with the team before he makes his NHL debut. Look for him to play on Saturday vs. the Canadiens.
Mrazek will serve as Jonas Gustavsson's backup tomorrow in Tampa Bay after Jimmy Howard was injured in practice this morning. Mrzaek posted a 14-save shutout in his only NHL start this season. He is 10-2-1 with 2.09 GAA and .927 SV% in the AHL.
There was some weather trouble for Strome's flight so he will now just meet the Isles in Phoenix tomorrow because the team did not want him to fly all-day today and then play tonight. He has been recalled because he has been torching the AHL and the Islanders have some serious issues when it comes to generating offence. Strome is expected to make his NHL debut on Thursday after posting nine goals and 24 assists in the first 23 games of the AHL season. The Islanders are not recalling Sidney Crosby, but Strome has some serious offensive talent and is worth a look in all leagues, but most of his value lies in keeper leagues at this point.
Gudas is a rugged defenseman posting 88 hits and 68 PIMs in 23 games. He has added a small amount of offense as well with six points (1G / 5A), but is not a great option in leagues without hits and PIMs.
It sounds like Granlund must have had symptoms working out or after he got on the ice on his own Monday. "We’re going to keep him off right now," coach Mike Yeo said. "He skated the other day and we’re at the point now where lets just take some time off here and make sure we get this right. ... I just know that we’re not making progress, and so what we’re doing right now, we have to take a different approach."
Granlund has been hit hard recently - courtesy of Nazem Kadri, Marc Methot, and Connor Murphy. Hopefully the time to recover will allow Granlund to get his game back. Brodziak may get more opportunity because of the Granlund injury but you can find better options on the waiver wire.
Granlund missed the last two games with an upper-body injury but should be back in the lineup tonight and skate with Nino Niederreiter and Jason Pominville. Granlund has two goals and 10 assists as he continues to progress his game in the NHL. The Finnish phenom has more value in keeper leagues, but is still relevant in deep one-year leagues.
