By Sean Gallagher
Welcome to the St. Louis version of a Civil War field hospital: Your 2008-2009 Blues!
As reported by Jeremy Rutherford over at the P-D's blog, not only will Paul Kariya not be available to play this weekend, but rookie Patrik Berglund is also on the shelf after pulling his groin too hard at practice today.
To recap, the Blues' injured list now includes Erik Johnson (season), DJ King (season), TJ Oshie (indefinite), Andy McDonald (indefinite), Dan Hinote (indefinite), Paul Kariya (indefinite) and Patrik Berglund (questionable).
Fan-fucking-tastic.
You can all do the math on the lines, but what it comes down to is a very 2005 era lineup with Tkachuk and Boyes playing the roles of "must do everything for the team to win," followed by the line of Perron, Backes and Stempniak who must step up big time and then two full lines of AHLers/fighters.
And yes, you read Rutherford's report right, defenseman Steve "Dr. Hook" Wagner practiced at left wing today in preparation for the game. While he probably could play there tomorrow, it seems more likely that we're instead going to be treated to the offensive stylings of Brad Winchester instead.
On the plus side, the Blues cast off bleeder David Koci to Tampa Bay via waivers today. Wonder how many "Koci 33" jerseys the Authentics shop got stuck with on that one...