Coming up as an extra body — at least for now, with Martin Marincin likely drawing in for the Minnesota game — is big left-handed defenseman Kevin Gravel. Gravel played a simple but reasonably steady game in preseason and has killed penalties in the NHL before, including last year in Edmonton. With a back-to-back coming up this week, Gravel may enter the lineup for one of the two games vs. the Wild or Capitals.
Possibly noteworthy as well: Gravel has dropped the gloves a handful of times in the league and is a large body; Babcock mentioned today that he didn’t care much for Sandin taking a high hit from Justin Abdelkader in Saturday’s game.