Josh Cooper confirms what was hinted at yesterday after Paul Gaustad left the game at Colorado yesterday afternoon, that Goose will not play tonight against Detroit. As for the timeline of when Gaustad might be ready to play again, that sounds like an open question:

When asked if he knew how long Gaustad would be out, coach Barry Trotz said he would have a better idea "in the next day or so."

Among centers with a significant number of faceoffs, Gaustad stands 2nd in the league with a 62.6% winning percentage, a hair behind Boston's Patrice Bergeron at 62.8%. Nobody performs on the dot at nearly the level that Goose does, so it will be interesting to see how the centers are deployed tonight.

Not only does Gaustad take plenty of faceoffs, but he sees a tremendous number of shifts which start out in the defensive zone. To whatever extent guys like Mike Fisher and David Legwand have to pick up that slack, it could impact their offensive effectiveness.

Paul Gaustad

#28 / Center / Nashville Predators

Height: 6-5

Weight: 212

Born: Feb 03, 1982