OK, I’m back. Following an afternoon and evening filled with all kids and no wife, I’m back. The boys are all sound asleep (I think), the dinner plates are all in the dishwasher, the morning coffee travel mugs are washed and the toddler’s clothes are in the washing machine. (The wife is now in the shower cleansing away the day that was filled with a state audit/review at school, stressful times!!!)

So I figured this was a nice quiet time (there are so few) to give you some updates from earlier today after practice:

First, Ryan Craig suffered a groin strain and is expected to miss at least a couple of days, but groin issues can be so nagging and judging from the way Craig was walking around the locker room after practice was over, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that it’s going to be more than just a couple of days away from the ice. We’ll see where things stand on Thursday.

Second, Lukas Krajicek is indeed held up due to immigration issues, work visa problems that has prevented him from coming to Tampa. Guess he’s still in Vancouver awaiting word, and according to Brian Lawton, he is confident Krajicek will be ready to play on Saturday “but check in with me [Thursday] and maybe that will change’‘. Not sure he’s as confident as he tried to express to me that Krajicek will be here. Immigration issues don’t just magically disappear. If you remember correctly, Marc Denis nearly missed the season opener in 2006 because of immigration issues and that process to clear it up began shortly after the team acquired him in July. Now, Denis’ issue was an expired visa which complicates matters, but that took nearly three months to resolve. We’ll have to see what transpires with Krajicek.

Also, spoke to Lawton in regards to prospect Mitch Fadden, who remains in Norfolk with the Admirals right now with their season opener set to take place on Friday. Lawton said there’s a good chance they sign Fadden, who has had a good camp with the Admirals. By the way, Norfolk announced its roster today, which you can find here

Finally, in regards to the switching of line combinations, coach Barry Melrose said he wants to tweak the top lines hoping to find some magic there. He said they need to be a harder team to play against and mentioned that, at least in Sunday’s game, it just seemed like the Rangers won every puck battle. Can’t argue with that.