Under normal circumstances, a late season recall of the team’s best offensive forward from the American Hockey League wouldn’t really raise many eyebrows.
Stephen Halliday has had a strong year in Belleville and has certainly earned an opportunity with the big club. The 22-year old has 43 points in 59 games with the BSens this season and is often the most dangerous offensive forward down there.
It’s a fine time to see how that might translate at the NHL level. The more concerning part is, why now? No reason, apparently.
Halliday skated in Brady Tkachuk’s usual spot on the team’s top line with Tim Stützle and took regular turns on the power play, which led some to fear the worst.
Travis Green met with the media after practice though and explained that at this point, Brady Tkachuk is expected to play tomorrow night.
Meanwhile, Nick Jensen was a full participant in practice today. Jensen skated on the second pair with Thomas Chabot and Green says he “may” be able to go tomorrow. Travis Hamonic filled in as a placeholder for Artem Zub.
Halliday-Stützle-Zetterlund
Perron-Cozens-Batherson
Greig-Pinto-Giroux
Highmore-Gaudette-Amadio
Sanderson-Hamonic
Chabot-Jensen
Kleven-Matinpalo
We’ll see how things look tomorrow night in Buffalo.
