The injury Jere Lehtinen sustained against Calgary is going to keep him out of the lineup tonight in Phoenix, as the Stars play their final game before the Olympic break. Before anyone says anything about Lehtinen's body breaking down once again, the injury is actually a badly cut knee suffered from when he blocked a shot midway through Thursday night's game. He's skated on it, but it's uncertain whether he'll miss a game with Team Finland once men's hockey starts up next week.
This means that with Steve Ott on injured reserve, new addition Brandon Segal will get the start tonight. No official word, but it appears he could play right wing on Mike Modano's line.
Segal was placed on waivers by the Los Angeles Kings so they could make room on the roster for one of their top prospects, and the Stars nabbed a player they had apparently had an eye on for most of the season. He appeared in 25 games with the Kings this season, getting just a goal and an assist in limited minutes.
Talking with some Kings bloggers, they had good things to say about Segal. He has scoring ability, doesn't make many mistakes and is a big, energetic winger. He should be able to help the Stars force a strong forecheck on the Coyotes, and more importantly he's a right-handed shot.
What's unclear at this point is who steps up to right wing on Jamie Benn's line, or if Mike Ribeiro gets more time, or if Marc Crawford decides to shift the lines around completely. With the Stars building momentum and chemistry lately, and playing a very big game tonight, hopefully he's change things as little as possible.