Huselius is going to be healthy scratch tonight (probably)!
The capricious death stare of Iron Mike was bound to land on Juice sooner or later. The Eye has turned it's withering gaze on a number of Flames this year (Primeau, Nilson, Moss, Warrener, Eriksson and recently, Hale and Moss). Some due to obvious incompetence, others...for reasons as of yet unexplained.
Marcus Nilson, one of those I would suggest unfairly maligned by Keenan this year, has worked his way back into the line-up and will probably see some spot duty on the Iggy unit tonight thanks to the Huselius scratching. What's Nilson done to get back in the Iron Man's good graces? Scored 1 goal, 3 points and a +1 rating in the 13 games since his "unbenching". In short, nothing he wasn't doing before he was cast into the press box for an extended period of time. By comparison, the admittedly struggling Huselius has 3 goals, 9 points and +2 rating his last 13 games.
I can only guess that it was the loss against Columbus that set-off this downward spiral: Huselius was ineffective and a -2 in that contest. Since then, he's averaged about 6 minutes of ice, culminating in tonight's alleged outright benching. Of course, the 20-some game scoreless drought probably didn't help anything, but he's hardly the only player who's gone through an extended bout of missing nets and hitting posts this year (Lombardi, Langkow, Jarome). Even with his relatively lackluster play after the all-star break, Huselius is still 2nd on the team in points and 3rd on the team in goals.
I guess Im wondering what Keenan hopes to gain by beating up on Juice down the stretch here. Unless this is some kind of motivational ploy that works to shake Huselius from his doldrums, I can't see Calgary profiting much by this feud, particularly considering the complete lack of scoring beneath Kristian on the depth chart. Again, I don't know if Keenan is playing some kind of game with Huselius to get him going again (very possible) or this benching signals some fundamental shift in strategy going forward (a return to the grinding glory days of 03-04 perhaps). Either way, I suggest there's a chance of it blowing up in Mike's face.
On a completely presumptive note, if Huselius' benching continues indefinitely (as has happened to other players that have found themselves on the outside looking in this season), color me annoyed that Juice wasn't moved at the deadline for some kind of asset - even a relatively nominal one like a 2nd round draft pick. That would be preferable to Juice sitting on the sidelines and then bolting for free agency in the off-season (which is a guarantee now, if it wasn't before). Asset management at it's not-so-finest. Again, that's only if Huselius doesn't find his way back onto the active roster, of course.
The team Huselius probably wont be facing tonight is the ever-pusillanimous Vancouver Canucks. Vancouver sits 2 points back with a game in hand on the Flames, crammed into the uncomfortably small space between 3rd and 9th currently occupied by all the NW division teams. Word is, Luongo might miss the game to be with his imminent-to-deliver wife, so that's some actual good news I suppose (possibly).
The bad news is, the Flames now teeter on that fine edge between 3rd and annihilation by Red Wing thanks to the 2-0 loss to the Avs last night (which I didn't watch). A loss to the nemesistic Vancouver clods (they've kicked our asses since the latter half of last season) tonight throws them into a tie for 8th with Colorado and only 3 points up on the suddenly and inexplicably invulnerable Edmonton Oilers (whom they play twice more). Hardly an ideal situation. Course, a win thrusts them back on top temporarily with the Wild, where they would be able to proclaim their transitory superiority for a night or two before again being usurped in short order. The NW division is as similar to King of the Castle as it is to hockey these days.
Anyways, enough bombast and wailing (for now).
Prediction - Flames 2, Canucks 1. Iggy (2) for Calgary, Stan Smyl for Vancouver.
Go Flames.
