Time: 2:00 PM CST
Channel: TSN3
Radio: CJOB
After watching Hockey Night in Canada last night when the main game was the Ottawa Senators vs. the Philadelphia Flyers, it became even more apparent how fucked the NHL is with the Omicron variant of COVID. Of course, the Winnipeg Jets are playing the St. Louis Blues as planned today and will have a full capacity crowd to play in front of. They will not play on Tuesday as originally scheduled as the Nashville Predators have had multiple games postponed until after Christmas. So as it stands, this is the Jets last game before Christmas break.
The Jets will be playing at well below full strength thanks to injuries. They have placed Blake Wheeler on long-term injured reserve, allowing them to replace his salary for as long as he is out. I believe they can also bank this salary space for the future, but I am not certain about that. They lost David Gustafsson last game and will be without him tonight. In the interim they have called up CJ Seuss and Kristian Reichel to help fill the void with hopefully more than warm bodies.
The St. Louis Blues are in a very precarious injury position and just lost Oskar Sundqvist to COVID protocols as well. They have been starting Charlie Lindgren lately and he has been having success in goal. They will, like the Jets, have all hands on deck and hope for the best at this moment.
Winnipeg Jets Lineup
Forwards
Paul Stastny – Mark Scheifele – Nikolaj Ehlers
Kyle Connor – Pierre-Luc Dubois – Kristian Vesalainen
Andrew Copp – Adam Lowry – Dominic Toninato
Jansen Harkins – CJ Seuss – Kristian Reichel
Defence
Josh Morrissey – Nate Schmidt
Brenden Dillon – Neal Pionk
Logan Stanley – Dylan DeMelo
Goalies
Connor Hellebuyck (presumed starter)
Eric Comrie
St. Louis Blues Lineup
Forwards
Brandon Saad – Ryan O’Reilly – Logan Brown
Pavel Buchnevich – Ivan Barbarshev – Vladimir Tarasenko
Nate Walker – Tyler Bozak – ??????
Alexei Topopchenko – Dakota Joshua – Matthew Peca
Defence
Niko Mikkola – Colten Parayko
Torey Krug – Justin Faulk
Marco Scandella – Robert Bortuzzo
Goalies
Charlie Lindgren (presumed starter)
Jordan Binnington
