Jason Spezza pulled his groin in practice over the break, and is highly doubtful for Thursday's game. So we'll see the CASH line broken up for the first time this season.One question that comes to mind: If not for the terrible scheduling from the NHL, would Spezza's injury still have occured? If the team were playing more games Spezza would be in better game-shape, but the fact of the matter is that Spezza has been riddled with minor injuries throughout his career. He's missed games from hip, chest, knee, and now back injuries since 2005.
Most people remember what happened last year when Spezza missed 14 games in January; Dany Heatley and Daniel Alfredsson picked up and moved on, and the Senators turned a corner on the season and started winning games consistently. People were questioning the worth or necessity of keeping Spezza if the team was doing better without him, but he caught on quickly and was a contributing member of the team when he came back.
Spezza is day-to-day and likely won't miss much action, but what will happen on the top line? Randy Robitaille practiced with Heatley and Alfredsson, but it's not for sure he'll be there come game time. As you can see in the game tracker (unless I've changed it), I think Antoine Vermette would look good up there, but his play with Chris Kelly makes it difficult to split those two up. Dean McAmmond, who will play his first game of the season returning from his concussion/shoulder/head injury, would look good on the top line except he's probably not totally ready for it yet.
I guess we'll see who plays there, but Atlanta played well against Montreal on Tuesday so the Sens have to expect a much different Thrasher team than their 4-8 record shows.
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