1:47 PM: Gerard Gallant spoke on Wednesday and said about the roster (NYR):
- Is Sammy Blais cleared to play, “He’s day to day, coming on the trip. I’m not saying he’s playing tomorrow or he’s not playing tomorrow, but he skated today and he’s coming on the trip, but he’s cleared to play yet. That could change in the morning, but I don’t know.”
- Blais is closer than Kravtsov, “Yep. Kravy isn’t coming on the trip.”
- Next week is possible for Kravtsov, “It’s definitely possible, but I haven’t got an update yet. I was just told he wasn’t coming on the trip, but it’s day-to-day after that.”
- Is there a concern that moving Lafreniere to the second line will impact Chytil’s line, “No concern at all. You do the best you can with what you got and you fill your roster. I was thinking about putting Laffy up there quite a bit of training camp, to be honest with you. It doesn’t affect nothing. Now, if you ask Fil, maybe he says ‘yea,’ but I don’t. When I put Vesey up there with Goodrow and Fil I thought they played great, I really did. It was early in the game and we lose Kravtsov and you gotta adjust and everybody adjusted real well. I’m not concerned moving guys around the lineup, we did that a lot last year and it doesn’t bother me one bit and I don’t think it bothers the players because I do it a lot.”
- You are comfortable putting Hunt in, “Yea, he’s in there tomorrow. I got no issues, I like Hunt, he does his job, works hard and one of those guys that goes everywhere in the lineup.”
12:03 PM: Vitali Kravtsov will not skate today and will not make the trip to Minnesota and Winnipeg this week. (Brooks)
Kravtsov is “possible” to return next week for the Rangers. (Brooks)
Sammy Blais is skating today. (Brooks)