Silver Nuggets

Silver Nuggets: Canada vs. Slovakia, Senators shuffling defence

Who else is stoked for tonight's game? "Canada is back," and--at least according to the New York Times--are the "clear favourites" for the gold medal. (Then again, they also said that Daniel Alfredsson plays centre... ) (NYTimes)
Jarkko Ruutu: The last Senator standing. He and his Finnish teammates take on Team USA at 3:00 p.m. EST this afternoon. (Senators)
Coach Cory Clouston is happy that at least four of the Senators' Olympians are returning from their Vancouver experience in fine health; hopefully Ruutu makes it through the tournament fine, too. (Senators)
Ottawa recalled Brian Lee from Binghamton on Thursday, he's practicing with the team in their post-Olympic 'mini-camp'. (Senators)
Lee might be a quick fix, though; GM Bryan Murray is still hoping some of the work he did over the Olympic break pays off in terms of defensive help for the squad. (Sun)
And a very quick and cheap defensive upgrade will be when Erik Karlsson returns right after the break; the kid was playing his best hockey ever leading up to the shoulder injury. He's expected to return Tuesday against the Rangers. (Citizen)/

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Although Brian Elliott's going to return from the break as the de facto number one goaltender, Pascal Leclaire has to be ready to take over if Ells falters at all--Clouston said so. (Citizen)
Jason Spezza said he gets more caught up in the Olympics for more than hockey--notably for figure skating. Leafs fans will likely laugh and circulate Alfie's tutu photo, but I got pretty caught up in the Joannie Rochette story, too. (TSN)
Former Sens backup Alex Auld has been placed on waivers. He's the odd-man out in Dallas after the Stars picked up Kari Lehtonen to duke it out with Marty Turco. I'm hoping he finds a good spot, he's worth the money. (Puck Daddy)
The B-Sens breathed a sigh of relief when they found out that leading goal scorer Ryan Keller dodged a serious injury. (Sharp)
Along with Keller, Jonathan Cheechoo is back with the B-Sens. (Sharp)
Sharp on the Sens is now on Twitter, sweet! Find him at @SharpOnTheSens/