Silver Nuggets: Today's Practice Lines, Kuba Still Out

Here's your collection of Senators-related stories for today:

• Here are the lines at practice today:
       Kovalev - Fisher - Alfredsson
       Michalek - Spezza - Cheechoo 
       Foligno - Shannon / Regin - Neil
       Ruutu - Kelly - Donovan / Winchester
  Yes, Peter Regin was back on the ice, and so was Jesse Winchester. Looks like Clouston is really set on those top two lines at the moment, even with Regin's return. (Twitter)
• Filip Kuba did not practice, although he skated on Monday. Don't expect him in the line-up tomorrow against the Lightning. (Twitter)
• Jason Spezza feels that Milan Michalek is making him a better player, by forcing him to keep skating and be defensively aware. Now, if only Milan would help Spezza get some goals, we'd be in business. (Faceoff)
• I'm not the only one who has seen Erik Karlsson struggling. A number of media outlets have put up stories about how Karlsson now has to fight to stay on the team,  and that the odds of him getting sent down soon keep getting higher. (National Post)
• UPDATE: And with the doubt surrounding Karlsson, defenceman Alex Picard may have played himself onto the team. He's not only outplayed Karlsson, but he's also looked better than Chris Campoli. (Sun)
• Shean Donovan doesn't just look like a character out of the movie FUBAR - he also talks like one: "You've just got to try and stay loud on the bench and stay into the game. Just know that any time you could be thrown out there. It sounds simple, but just work hard. Give 'er." (Observer)
• The most recent SB Nation Power Rankings are out, and the Senators are the biggest climbers in the Eastern Conference, jumping up to 6th in the East. (SB Nation)

A few more after the jump...

• UPDATE: Dany Heatley's father Murray spoke out about the "toxic" environment the Canadian media built around his son. He also wondered why the Senators can sign-and-trade someone like Marian Hossa, but Heatley can't demand a trade when he's unhappy. (Mercury News)
• UPDATE: Greg Mauldin, last year's MVP on the Binghamton Senators, came back to haunt his former team--he scored two, including the OT winner, as Bridgeport beat Bingo 3-2 on the weekend. The B-Sens' ecord is now 2-1-1. (Press & Sun Bulletin)
• UPDATE: If you missed out live chat on CBCSports.ca yesterday, you can check out the replay of it on the CBC site. (CBC Sports)
• UPDATE: Jarkko Ruutu's predicted a lot of success in the future for his former team, the Pittsburgh Penguins. Then again, just about anyone could predict that. Just for clarification though, Jarkko, you do mean aside from when they're playing Ottawa, right? (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)