Busy day in Blues land. No time to chat, let's go with the bullets.

• We first learned that Ian Cole had been recalled. The "college kid," and former first-round pick, had a great camp with the Blues and is in Boston with the team.
• Cole will be taking the place of Barret Jackman. Last night against San Jose, Jackman missed a few shifts with a knee injury. Looks like he's going to be out a few weeks. That means that Tyson Strachan, the Blues' No. 7 d-man on opening night, is now No. 4. Roman Polak, Carlo Colaiacovo and now Jackman—that's half the top-6 out with injuries.
• Nikita Nikitin might be ready to play this weekend. That's good news for the defense, for once.

Payne did say today that there's a "strong possibility" that defenseman Nikita Nikitin will play on the road trip. Nikitin suffered a broken wrist in early October, but the team said this week that he was close to playing.

 

• Last but not least, Joe Thornton will miss two games for trying to brain David Perron. The Sharks are not happy.

But hey, 7-1-2.

Feel free to use this space to talk about all the news.