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Quick Strikes: Tyler Johnson injured, but spends day with kids anyway

Posted on by Hardev

The Bolts

At this point, all smart general managers should be calling Peter Chiarelli non-stop. In honour of that, Alan discusses the possibility of trading J.T. Miller for an extraordinary return. [Raw Charge]

Peter Chiarelli is a bad General Manager. Very bad, in fact. So bad that even when gifted with the best player in the world and several other high end players, he can’t construct a consistent playoff team. Instead, he has made the team progressively worse through trades and free agency to the point where he’s rumored to be making the team’s first round pick and/or a young prospect like Jesse Puljujarvi available in a panicked effort to make the playoffs and save his job.

Tyler Johnson has a day-to-day injury from the Maple Leafs game. Ernest Hooper has that story and more from Friday practice ahead of Saturday’s date with the San Jose Sharks. [Tampa Bay Times]

The Lightning brought an intensity to the practice and to Thursday’s game as it finds itself with an interesting two-game home swing before it enters its bye week and the all-star break. Both the Maple Leafs and Saturday’s opponent, San Jose, are among the league’s best. Lalonde said the players geared up for the game.

Despite his injury, Johnny took time out of his day to have fun with the Lightning Made kids. It’s all very extremely cute.

Speaking of the Leafs game, our very loud friend up north made a video on the game! I’m sure you’ve heard of him. [His latest video was…an experience]

Marc-Eduoard Vlasic is practicing with his teammates in Tampa Bay for the first time. His return to the lineup is currently a “game-time decision.” The odds aren’t good, but there’s a chance MEV plays for the first time in eight games. [NBC Sports]

Vlasic has been sidelined since the beginning of the month when he sustained an upper-body injury against the Colorado Avalanche. He participated in the Sharks’ practice in Tampa Bay on Friday ahead of the game against the Lightning – the first time he has been a full participant in team practice since sustaining the injury.

And finally, a really funny article. It looks like our cousin SB Nation site The Daily Stampede has offered to become the new managing editor of Raw Charge! [Raw Charge]

The one thing that gets all of us talking is the Lightning. We’re all watching the games together on TV or in the arena, and yesterday we spent a solid hour talking about the Seattle expansion draft and how big a contract Brayden Point should get. Then we had a crazy idea: Hey, Raw Charge is looking for a site manager… why don’t we run that site, too?

The Prospects

The Syracuse Crunch are healthily in a playoff spot, carrying a top-notch roster, and with the trade deadline approaching. Does GM Julien BriseBois make a move to improve his AHL team? [Raw Charge]

Like all teams, they could use a little help in a couple of areas. There has never been a general manager in the history of organized hockey that looked at their roster and said, “This is perfect! I think I’ll have some tea and go to bed.” They are relentless tinkerers, even if it’s just setting up for the future. The good news for the Crunch is that the solutions may already be in the organization and GM Julien BriseBois just has to wait for them to get healthy.

Eddie Pasquale won his 250th game played for the Crunch, a 5-3 victory over the Belleville Senators. The game recap can be found below! [Raw Charge]

It was a big win for the Crunch. After playing well but getting no pay off for the last few games, they finally were rewarded for their hard work. While they didn’t quite play a perfect game, they did play a resilient one. Keeping their calm after Belleville clawed back from three goals down shows that this team doesn’t panic easily. They hounded the Senators up and down the ice for most of the night and had one of their stronger forechecking games in a long time.

Oh, and lastly, the time for today’s game (Saturday) against the Binghamton Devils has been moved as a result of the snow storm. Stay safe out there, New York-itarians!

The Game

MORE HOCKEY DOGGOS!

Hockey Wilderness should get a hockey dog. They seem very very sad (I don’t exactly blame them). [Hockey Wilderness]

I know I wasn’t sure who the heck the Swiss forward was when the Wild acquired him. I just knew I liked to say his name. It kind of rolled off the tongue in a fun way, and was more fun to spell. I try and take pride in knowing how to say and spell hockey player names. The languages from which they come, the crazy pronunciations, and sometimes way too many consonants together in one word. Nino Niederreiter became one of my personal favorite players of this modern Wild era. I hate that Nino is gone. I absolutely hate it.

Do you think the Sharks will loan them theirs?

Bold strategy, KHL goalie, let’s see if it pays off.

Patrik Berglund is back in Europe and has spoken with Swedish journalist Uffe Bodin to help him tell his story. And apologize. [Hockey Plus]

And a thread of the story.

Lastly, congratulations to Henrik Lundqvist for hitting career win #445. I’m sure it means he passed someone, but I’m too lazy to check. Anyway, congrats!

Highlight of the Night: Buffa-high-to-low!

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Talking Points