AROUND THE NHL News and notes

Tootoo to stay: Jordin Tootoo will be able to enjoy the successes of the Nashville Predators for at least a little longer. The 20-year-old rookie, who is the first person of Inuit descent to play in the NHL, has seen his ice time cut significantly recently. He was scratched from the lineup four times in seven games before playing in Thursday's loss to Los Angeles. Talk surfaced that the hard-hitting Tootoo might be headed to Milwaukee of the AHL. "It's been discussed and I've talked to Jordin about it and making sure that he's still progressing," Predators coach Barry Trotz said. "We've always been about developing players, and we don't want Jordin to regress. He's fine. He's not going anywhere now, or right now anyway. And he brings a real dynamic element to our hockey club." Tootoo's ice time hovered in the four-to-seven minute range, before he played just under 11 minutes in the loss to the Kings. That was Nashville's second consecutive defeat following a team-record six-game winning streak. If the lineup gets back to full health and it appears Tootoo won't get necessary playing time, then a trip to the minors might be the next move. "We've been going pretty good and he's lost a little bit of ice time because Scott Walker has come back and now we have Andreas Johansson close to coming back," Trotz said. In 23 games, Tootoo had a goal, an assist, 38 penalty minutes and a big hit on Radek Martinek that left the New York Islanders defenseman with a concussion. Johansson has been out since Oct. 25 due to a concussion, and Walker missed six games in which the Predators went 4-2. Nashville entered the weekend 14-12-1, nine points behind Central Division-leading Detroit. "I was a little bit concerned that we would not get off to the start we needed. But our players really pulled through and it feels good," Trotz said.
Lights out: Tampa Bay forwards Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis also had to give back some ice time during a recent road trip. St. Louis has averaged about 19 1/2 minutes this season, while Lecavalier has recorded about a minute less. But in consecutive road games against Buffalo and the New York Rangers, the high-scoring duo barely reached 15 minutes. "Some other people have been doing the job also," Lightning coach John Tortorella said in explaining the decision. "Marty's a big part of the core of this club. We need to try to win every night. Some other guys have taken their ice time." Their ice time was back up for the final two games of the trip. Lecavalier and St. Louis each played more than 20 minutes in both losses.
Broken wings: The Detroit Red Wings were down 10 players when they entered a back-to-back set at Buffalo and Chicago. Five were knocked out in Monday's win over Los Angeles, and those who were able to dress later in the week helped Detroit beat the Sabres on Wednesday and gut out an overtime loss to the Blackhawks on Thursday. Detroit was already missing defenseman Derian Hatcher (knee), and forwards Henrik Zetterberg (leg), Tomas Holmstrom and Darren McCarty (back). Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman was scratched Monday because of a groin injury, and before the night was out forward Ray Whitney and goalie Dominik Hasek aggravated their groin injuries. Backup goalie Manny Legace sprained his right knee while stepping on a puck in pregame warmups, and defenseman Chris Chelios and forward Steve Thomas both injured knees against Los Angeles. "I don't think I've seen anything like it before," Red Wings coach Dave Lewis said. "It's a bit odd to have so many guys injured. It's a good challenge." Chelios will be out three to four weeks, and Thomas is expected to miss five to six weeks. Whitney, Hasek, Yzerman and Legace should be back by next week. Zetterberg's return was delayed by the flu. "We've had a lot of injuries for early in the season, but we'll be that much better late in the year when everybody comes back," defenseman Mathieu Schneider said. The bright spot from the costly Kings game: The Red Wings won in overtime on a goal from Brett Hull, who moved past Marcel Dionne and into third place on the NHL career list. Hull entered the weekend with 732 goals, trailing only Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe.
-- Associated Press