Avalanche At Blues Morning Open Thread: Backes May Be Back

Such a shame that Paul Stastny won't be able to face off against his old teammates, the Colorado Avalanche. Despite the fact that he has been skating with the team, his shoulder injury still hasn't healed up enough for him to be counted on for game day. As much as not having him on the ice is frustrating, his presence could break up the red-hot line of Alexander Steen, Jori Lehtera, and Vladimir Tarasenko. Let's face it - the Blues have played pretty well without Stastny. While having him back would be a shot in the arm, it's best to just wait and bide our time.

David Backes, though, does not believe in waiting. He practiced with the team on Friday, and he may actually play tonight. Says coach Ken "CDC" Hitchcock (from STLBlues.com):

"We'll evaluate it in the morning," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said of Backes. "He got through [Friday], so we'll see how he feels [Saturday] morning and make the decision. It's a fluid situation with him. Oshie's not going to play, obviously Stastny's not going to play and two or three guys that went down [Thursday], we'll get you a better evaluation [Saturday] morning on the way they feel [from the bacterial infection]."

So, basically, the line-up's fluid again. It's something we're all used to, so let's just sit back, relax, and see how they do tonight.

This is your morning open thread. Check back later for part two of Rick's camp story in Memorabilia Memories, a preview, a few other goodies, and your GDT at a little before seven. It's Saturday night, it's not a holiday anymore, so get your butts down to Scottrade. Before you go, head over to our friends at Mile High Hockey and see how they're coping with the Avs' slow start. Better than Roy, I assume.