Thursday, January 24, 2013
Redden's potential impact
By Victoria Matiash/Luke Lapinski
UPDATE: As anticipated, Wade Redden will suit up for the St. Louis Blues for Thursday's contest with the Nashville Predators.
Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch confirms Redden will pair young Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo.
"He has experience, a veteran presence, a calming effect in the dressing room," Pietrangelo said. "He's a guy who's been through everything in this league. It's going to be good to have him in here. You can never have too many veteran guys that have a presence on the ice as well."
***
After spending the last two and a half years in hockey purgatory, Wade Redden is ready to return to the NHL. The 35-year old signed with the St. Louis Blues late last week, passed his physical with the club and is closing in on his first NHL action since April of 2010.
So when can we expect to see him suiting up for Ken Hitchcock's squad? According to Andy Strickland of 590 the Fan in St. Louis, not until Thursday at the earliest. The general line of thinking is that the Blues want him to get some practice reps in with his new teammates before sending him out there in a meaningful game. If that holds true, he'll miss the game in Nashville tonight, as well as the matchup in Chicago tomorrow. He could then see action at home against the Predators in their meeting on Thursday.
Once Redden does play, there will be a domino effect on the roster that could very well result in Jeff Woywitka heading to the AHL. Ian Cole could also be impacted, as there's been speculation he'd be bumped off the top defensive pairing alongside Alex Pietrangelo so Redden could slide into that role.
