Predators' Cullen questionable against Ducks

Saturday, 02.08.2014 / 2:50 PM

By John Manasso - NHL.com Correspondent / 2013-2014 At the Rink Blog

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NASHVILLE – Depending on the condition of forward Matt Cullen, the Nashville Predators are mulling using 11 forwards and seven defensemen Saturday as they take on the Anaheim Ducks at Bridgestone Arena.

Cullen was a late participant to the Predators' morning skate on Saturday and then left early. In the event that Cullen can't play, coach Barry Trotz also said the franchise had some players with the Milwaukee Admirals of the American Hockey League "on alert" for a possible last-minute call-up.

Cullen sat out four straight games with an upper-body injury between Jan. 26 and Feb. 1 then returned Thursday against the Minnesota Wild but logged only 7:36 of time on ice. The Predators only have 12 forwards on the active roster with Nick Spaling on injured reserve because of a lower-body injury.

For Anaheim, the Ducks will play without left wing Teemu Selanne and his 682 career goals. The Ducks did not take the Finn on the trip so that he could rest for the upcoming 2014 Sochi Olympics.

"Well, he's 43 and just the fact that he's got to go cross-country or cross-continent, he's got to be the face of the Finnish team, he's going to be doing all the interviews, he's going to be the busy guy," Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. "We wanted to make sure that a) he's healthy over there and b) that he gets a little more rest. That's all."

Ducks center Nick Bonino, who remains on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, "is very close to playing," Boudreau said, and could play Saturday, although Boudreau would not reveal if he would. Bonino has missed three games. Boudreau said the Ducks had to answer the question "is it worth for it for one game or is not worth it for one game?"

Here are the projected lineups:

PREDATORS

Gabriel Bourque – David Legwand – Craig Smith

Eric Nystrom – Mike Fisher – Patric Hornqvist

Simon Moser – Colin Wilson – Viktor Stalberg

Paul Gaustad – Rich Clune

Roman Josi – Shea Weber

Michael Del Zotto – Seth Jones

Victor Bartley – Ryan Ellis

Mattias Ekholm

Carter Hutton

Devan Dubnyk