"It isn’t like a normal year when he’d be a guy where you’d pencil in right now," Boudreau said to beat writers after the morning skate. "We’re playing pretty good. I think we’re pretty good defensively most nights. He’s not coming in to get anointed. He’s going to have earn a spot there as Mark Fistric earned a spot. Sat out 10 games in a row earlier on in the year, (now) he's earned his place."
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| Sbisa (right) returned to Ducks' lineup on Tuesday |
That must have been one heck of a morning skate for Sbisa.
When the puck dropped, Sbisa was on the ice with Francois Beauchemen in the Ducks' top defensive pairing and Fistric was nowhere to be seen.
Boudreau's tough words in regard to the talented Sbisa perhaps gave way to an internal need to showcase him to teams that may be seeking a young defenseman with tons of upside. Sbisa has talent, for which the team paid him handsomely for - but doesn't always play with effort.
The soon-to-be 24-year-old is coming off of a torn tendon in his hand suffered over two months ago - and Bordreau was forced to make a corresponding roster move, sending offensive minded defenseman Sami Vatenen back to AHL Norfolk - a move that the Ducks' bench boss seemed to be lamenting.
"The CBA allows you to send guys down that don’t have to clear waivers. He didn't have to clear waivers and he was the odd man out right now. He did a great job and I’m sure at some point he’ll be back."
Indeed he will, as the 22-year-old Vatenen scored six goals and had 14 points in the 39 games he played for the parent club, numbers that ranked 1st and 3rd, respectively, for the Ducks' blue liners.
Sbisa recorded just over 17 minutes of ice time in his return, taking two hooking penalties and earning a minus-one rating.
http://www.sportsinjuryalert.com/2014/01/despite-tough-words-from-bordreau-ducks.html
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