Alex Goligoski’s contract extension was the big news for the Dallas Stars out in Frisco this morning but some other newsy items of the “on ice” variety cropped up as well – One of them vitally important to the team’s survival in the playoff race: Mike Ribeiro could possibly play tomorrow against the Anaheim Ducks.
Ribeiro practiced this morning with Loui Eriksson and Michael Ryder, and after practice Joe Nieuwendyk said that he would play in Tuesday’s game against the Ducks. Later it was reported by ESPN Dallas that Ribs would see how he feels after morning skate tomorrow (not to mention how he feels after his first full practice) and then make a determination on the game.
Brenden Morrow, it turns out, is the mystery injury that caused the call-up of Matt Fraser from Texas. Morrow will be out tomorrow and Gulutzan says it’s not a long term thing, so we’ll expect to see him back after the break, whatever it is. He added that Robias will also play, so the mere mention of it suggests his foot is still bothering him.
Update: Mike Heika says it’s Morrow’s neck that is an issue.
Lines from practice looked like this:
Eriksson-Ribeiro-Ryder
Ott-Wandell-Buish
Nystrom-fiddler-Dvorak
Fraser-Dowell-Vincour
It makes you wonder, though, why they’d call up Matt Fraser to play on the fourth line and not Francis Wathier or Colton Sceviour. Fraser is -12 on the year at the American League level and is primarily a guy who has a knack for finding the net. You wouldn’t generally want to see him out against the Getlzaf or Selanne lines tomorrow so moving him up the lineup doesn’t seem to make much sense either. What do you think?
Joe Nieuwendyk on Jamie Benn contract negotiations after the jump…
Finally, here’s a little more from Joe Nieuwendyk on Jamie Benn’s contract negotiation that I didn’t get in the earlier post…
“We’ve had discussions but they’re not going to.. there won’t be any more discussion, I don’t think. His is a different situation because he’s still entry level and doesn’t have rights that maybe Alex has. We’ll have further discussions with him at the end of the season.”
We’ve seen some crazy stuff on Twitter already, so perhaps it needs saying: Don’t worry about it. Jamie Benn is on his entry level deal. He’ll be an RFA, completely under the team’s control. He’ll not be going anywhere. End of story.
Joe Nieuwendyk said Jamie Benn is expected to make the trip to Ottawa this weekend and participate in All-Star game festivities.