Pre-Game Buzz

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The Reaves acquisition has not panned out, despite Jim Rutherford publicly defending Reaves impact at any moment when speaking with local reporters during various points this season.

Reaves game is more suited for the Western Conference and this is not a knock on Reaves, but no deterrent factor exists in the NHL, unless you got a guy like a Rick Tocchet from back in the day who can play with all-world talent on a first or second line.

Dustin Brown crushing Justin Schultz from behind is going to happen whether Ryan Reaves is in the lineup or not.

With Reaves likely coming out of the lineup, is this the start of things to come and a bigger question might be how Reaves handles it?

This is a guy who believes he can play and was getting 12-13 minutes a night with the Blues over the final 1/4 [hide] of last season.

“We’ve got a fairly deep roster and that can make decisions difficult,” Sullivan said this morning. “That’s a good problem to have,” the coach added.

Playing Reaves every once in a while isn’t the worst thing in the world but it’s been for months he should haven’t been a constant lock to dress. This is the first step in that no longer happening and we’ll see where it goes and what it leads to.

MORE BUZZ

— Casey DeSmith with a .954 save percentage in his last two games, will make his third straight start.

“We’re going to ride him a little bit,” Sullivan said of DeSmith. “He’s been very, very good.”

— Mike Sullivan said the Penguins want Daniel Sprong playing on a regular basis which is a reason for him being sent down to the minors on Monday.

PROJECTED LINEUP VS HURRICANES

FORWARDS
Simon – Crosby – Sheary
Hagelin – Malkin – Hornqvist
Guentzel – Sheahan – Kessel
Kuhnhackl – Dea – Rust

DEFENSEMEN
Dumoulin – Letang
Maatta – Schultz
Hunwick – Oleksiak

Goaltender
Casey DeSmith[/hide]