Blues Healthy As They Head to Dallas

According to a quote from Ken Hitchcock, which can be read here. Ken Hitchcock said his entire team is healthy headed into Friday's game 1 showdown in Dallas.

"Other than Upshall, who needed one more maintenance day, we're 100 percent and good to go," - Ken Hitchcock

For those of you who follow twitter as closely as I do, you heard the news that Scottie Upshall, who had a great first series, did not skate. It is not uncommon for a player to get injured on the ice, continue to play, only to be shut down after. This, it seems, is not the case with Upshall. He is an older skater who needed an extra day.

While Scottie played a great series against Chicago, possibly the most important note is no mention of Carl Gunnarsson. Gunnarsson appeared injured in game 7 after being ripped to the ice. In the last few months, Carl has gone from whipping boy to solid defenseman. He has been paired frequently with youngster Joel Edmundson. Carl seems to play his best hockey next to Edmundson. While Bortuzzo filled in admirably at times, it is imperative the Blues get their best defensemen on the ice against the NHL's most dangerous scoring team.

As healthy as the Blue are, the Stars are not. Here is Coach Ruff's latest quote on when top center Tyler Seguin may start skating again.

"I really can't [say]," Ruff said. "I don't even have a guesstimate on it. I don't even think it'd be fair if I guessed and if I'm off, everybody else will be wondering, why did he guess that?"

This could very easily be a coach playing something close to the vest. Ruff had said previously that it could take 4-5 days after Seguin began skating before he saw game time. If Seguin begins skating tomorrow, and that time frame holds, he could possibly be on the ice for game 3 in Saint Louis.

I am asking you all to draw your own conclusions from this quote. It doesn't seem to me like Coach Ruff is very optimistic on Seguin's return. Even without their top scorer, the Stars are a very potent scoring team. Only time will tell if and when they become even more dangerous.