No juice so who replaces the vitamin C?

Puck-rakers is reporting that Huselius has been ruled out tonight and indefinitely and that he'll be replaced by....drum roll please... Andrew Murray.

So let me get this straight. A top line forward goes down and instead of replacing him with a rookie with top 6 skill he get's replaced by a 4th line plumber?

I love Murray...but I love him when there is a spot in the bottom 6.

I'm not saying Filatov should see Juice type minutes but some spot duty plus PP time I don't think it too far off the mark. Hell I'd like him as an option just to use in the shootout.

I know he's a rook and Hitch would like someone with "heavier" play but we could use his skill. Maybe it's Hitch's call or maybe they don't want to burn that year off his rookie contract.

Either way it would be nice if the org came clean (even though they have no obligation to do so) on this kid b/c one thing I do know is that what the have told us is not the entire story. No way.... it just doesn't add up.

Lindsay Kramer over on the Crunch blog has heard some interesting rumblings on Filatov's situation.

But there was one Filatov in the barn on Saturday, Nikita's very personable mom, Yelena. To be technical, Jelena's last name is Filatova, but you get the point.

Anyways, I asked Yelena if her son was considering returning to Russia if he was not recalled on April 1, a tidbit I keep hearing. She said no, kind of.

"I think Columbus has their reasons to call him up. We shouldn't analyze all this complicated structure,'' she said. "It's funny to think that the only reason to call up a player is a player's feelings. It's much more complicated. If they need him, we should not search for other motivation.''

I asked her if Nikita was happy in Syracuse.

"Of course he was,'' she said. "But the dream is to be an NHL player. All his interest is to be an NHL player. I think it's none of my business to discuss Columbus' decision. He's very happy to be with an NHL team, to feel part of the team.''

Contract status doesn't matter right? Filatov is just here to soak up the atmosphere right?

Yeah right.

Some good news this afternoon in that Detroit finally did us a favor this afternoon by knocking off the Minnesota Wild in regulation by a final score of 3-2.

Strapping on my Captain Obvious hat but a win tonight against the 'hawks makes us a virtual lock for the playoffs.

Let's get it done boys!

GO JACKETS!

-LTL