Monday Practice and Injury Update

First, from Mike Heika comes word that Tom Wandell will be in the starting lineup tomorrow against the Canucks. Initially, the plan was to just have him practice with the team until the end of the year.

But like a lot of plans the Stars had this season, injuries created a bit of an adjustment.

As for that injury situation, Mark Stepneski reports that Brad Richards is seeing a specialist today to determine the course of action they'll take regarding his broken left hand.

He also reported Brian Sutherby is technically day-to-day. According to Heika, he'll need to practice before he's a player for any games. But Steve Begin should make it back into the lineup tomorrow after missing two games.

The other big news?

Brenden Morrow skated lightly before practice. It's certainly a big step in his recovery from blowing out his knee. But Heika still warns that Morrow is several weeks away from even being considered for game action.

Lines for practice were:

Ott-Ribeiro-Eriksson
Neal-Modano-Lehtinen
Morrison-Begin-Conner
Barch-Wandell-Brunnstrom

Update: Jeff Miller from InsideCorner notes that Morrison was used on the point for the power drills today and that Tippett might continue that utilization for tomorrow night's game.

Morrison played the point on Vancouver’s power play unit for years, though not recently before his trade to Dallas. He said he has played it in one game since coming to the Stars.

“It’s not unfamiliar,” Morrison said. “Our power play is not clicking the way we need it right now. At this point in the year, you need special teams to win games, and it’s not.”

Tippett said he might try Morrison-Robidas in Tuesday night’s home game against Vancouver, the first of three at AAC this week.

“We’ll continue to tinker around,” Tippett said. “He’s got some experience back there. We’ve had Modano there a little bit. Had Ribeiro there a little bit.”

Tippett and Morrison both used the phrase “not bad” in describing this morning’s drill. Robidas gave it a higher mark. “Pretty good,” he said. “He’s a good skill player. He’s a smart guy. He can play it all.”