Hamilton Spectator (Garry McKay):
It’s possible that Kyle Chipchura may have played his final game this year with the Bulldogs. He suffered a shoulder injury on the weekend. The prognosis is that he’ll be out 7-10 days but with only two weeks left in the club’s season, it seems likely that they will shut him down to make sure he’s ready to be called up to Montreal to be a black ace with the Habs when the NHL playoffs begin.
Habster:
Smart move by Bulldogs GM Julien Brisebois and Bob Gainey to sit Kyle Chipchura for the rest of the AHL season. Pavel Valentenko re-aggravated his shoulder injury a few days ago and is listed as day to day so I would hope they rest him as well in case the Canadiens bring him up for the playoff run as well.
I know that Bob Gainey and Julien Brisebois met in Ottawa the other day to probably discuss potential players who could be recalled to Montreal for the playoff drive. It would be a good insurance policy in case of further injury problems and would allow these players to experience being in an NHL playoff atmosphere (even if they didn’t play). Let’s face it, the Bulldogs are basically out of the AHL playoff picture this season.