Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Tuesday Morning Hockey Thoughts

02/09/2016 at 11:22am EST

from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet,

- For months now, Blues GM Doug Armstrong’s been saying he wants to see his team when healthy, and they just can’t get there.

Blue-line anchor Alex Pietrangelo is out at least three weeks, which takes St. Louis right to the deadline — just as Jaden Schwartz closes in on a return. The good news is the team is loaded on the right side, as Robert Bortuzzo can now play regularly behind Colton Parayko and Kevin Shattenkirk.

The question will be coach Ken Hitchcock’s deployment. Shattenkirk is first and Parayko second in offensive-zone starts among the defence. Pietrangelo was sixth. Bortuzzo is the only one lower, but played 26 fewer games.

At practice Monday, Hitchcock had Bouwmeester (Pietrangelo’s regular partner) with Shattenkirk. So it looks like that’s the new top pairing. I’m a Shattenkirk fan, and last year when he was hurt, teammates said it was so much harder exiting the zone.

- Had a funny conversation after the morning skate that day with Carlo Colaiacovo and Ryan O’Reilly.

Colaiacovo talked about getting to know O’Reilly and how hard he works. Then, he added, “And he’s a vegetarian. I don’t know how you can get the energy necessary to play without meat or chicken.” (This was when the centre joined in.) Do you go out for a steak dinner with the rest of the team? “Yes,” he answered. What do you have? A salad? “Well, two salads,” O’Reilly laughed.

He said he’s done a lot of reading on the subject and became a vegetarian two summers ago when the Avalanche told him he was going back to centre. “I wanted to lose eight-to-10 pounds.” His influence is growing. Zach Bogosian went vegetarian too, “although I did it just to see if I could,” he said.

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About Kukla's Korner Hockey

Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

From breaking news to in-depth stories around the league, KK Hockey is updated with fresh stories all day long and will bring you the latest news as quickly as possible.

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