On the Beat: Ilya Kovalchuk demoted to fourth line?
What team beat writers are saying this afternoon:
- Teemu Selanne says the Ducks need to get off to faster starts. It has worked lately.
- Ilya Kovalchuk has been demoted to the fourth line in Atlanta. He hasn’t been good enough this season and John Anderson is clearly using this as a wake-up call.
- Marco Sturm (concussion) was skating at practice today. Looks like he’s almost ready to play.
- Ales Kotalik (hamstring) will return to the Sabres line-up tonight and will take the place of Patrick Kaleta (head/neck). Also of note, Afinogenov looks like he’ll be a healthy scratch.
- A recap of the injury statuses of what is seemingly half the Devils’ roster from Tom Gulitti. Things seem to getting better in Newark.
- Kim Johnsson will be the Wild captain in the month of December. Lemaire loves the rotating captains.
- Here is the Capitals’ injury report from Tarik El-Bashir. No significant changes.