The first thing to note is traffic from the Valley is much better for morning practices than 2:45 starts. Ugh.

So Rob Blake wasn’t anywhere in the building during practice today. But, before you get too excited, Crawford said Blake was there working out in the morning. Crawford said Blake would be re-evaluated either tomorrow or over the weekend. “He’s not going to play this weekend, at least not the first part of it,” Crawford said. So it sounds like Blake is definitely out for Friday and likely out for Saturday. “He feels pretty good and I don’t imagine it’s going to be much longer,” Crawford said.

Nagy didn’t practice. Crawford said his improvement has been slower. Crawford said he has had two procedures on the neck, though he couldn’t elaborate, and that he wears a neck brace while driving.

Scott Thornton also is banged up and left practice early. He isn’t expected to be available tomorrow.

With none of those injured players returning, it makes one wonder why Moulson and Harrold were sent down.

“We want to make sure those guys are playing,” Crawford said. “So I think thats probably the reason they went down. We thought we had a few guys closer to being able to play. Willsie is able to play. Thornton, who had been injured, looked like he was ready to play but tried today and wasnt ready.”

Some veteran players were given the option to take practice off. Frolov and Cammalleri took Crawford up on the offer. So, if you’re wondering which players have multiple girls … I kid, I kid.

I’ll have interviews coming up with Cloutier and Boyle, along with Crawford’s full interview.