Turns out the oblique-muscle strain Mike Fisher sustained in the Sens' 7-3 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers is serious enough to keep Fish the Dish out of the lineup for at least a few games. According to the Ottawa Sun, he's not going to travel with the team through Boston and Atlanta and thus won't be back in the lineup for at least a week. At least he'll have time to recover from the dental work he's having to repair the chiclets he lost after Scott Walker's headbutt on Dec. 12.The Sens, as we all know, are already missing Patrick Eaves and Anton Volchenkov, and I remember reading that Brian McGrattan is questionable if not doubtful for Tuesday's game against Boston.
If McGrattan is able to play, it makes it easy for John Paddock; he'll likely keep Cody Bass up with the big team (and maybe move him up, because JP seemed to be pleased with the work of BassMaster) and play Grats on the fourth line. If not, count on another call-up from Binghamton.
Prior to deciding on Bass, Paddock mentioned that his other options were Niko Dimitrakos, Ilya Zubov, or Alexander Nikulin. If the trend we've seen continues, someone other than Sputnik will likely get the chance. Zubov has a better offensive upside, but Dimitrakos likely plays a more defensively responsible style. While I'd like to see Zubov get a chance, I would lean towards NiDi getting the call and subsequent limo drive. Since the B-Sens game scheduled for Hershey tonight has been postponed until later in the week, whoever is called up will probably come straight from Bridgeport to Ottawa tomorrow, once the roads clear a bit.
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