Jaroslav Halak

St. Louis Blues goaltender Jaroslav Halak has been activated from the injured reserve list today.

Halak has been suffering from a broken hand and has been on the IR since Feb. 17.

The move signals the return of Ben Bishop to Peoria, since Ty Conklin has been placed on waivers and will spend the rest of the season with the Blues.

There have been a lot of high-profile injuries this year in the NHL. Teams are hoping to get their best players back as they go down the playoff stretch.

Some teams have received good news regarding their players—they'll be back soon.

Other teams unfortunately have yet to hear good news.

Here are the latest injury updates from around the league.

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There is no doubt that the Western Conference reigns supreme over the Eastern Conference in the NHL. The Western Conference has better teams, tighter divisions, and greater playoff races.

Following the top eight teams, there are five teams in the Western Conference that are eyeing one of the final spots to play in the postseason. One of the five teams cannot only make a serious playoff push, but can make the playoffs and potentially go very far.

Coming into the 2010-2011 NHL season, Jaroslav Halak seemed to have taken control of the starting goaltender position for the Montreal Canadiens with his Patrick Roy-like performance in the playoffs.

Halak stole the show for the eighth-seeded Canadiens, putting the team on his back and carrying them to the Eastern Conference Finals. The future looked to be bright in Montreal, and Halak was set to be the main attraction.

Before each season people like to make predictions.  Which team will win the cup?  Who will step up and win their division?  What teams will miss the playoffs?   Underlying most of these questions is whether or not a team has the kind of goaltending needed to make a splash.

Unfortunately for some netminders, the season hasn't gone as planned.  Some have lost playing time to a backup.  Others are backups that haven't managed to perform as expected.

The St. Louis Blues look to avoid their third five-game losing streak of the season when they host the Edmonton Oilers.  The game also marks the return of Andy McDonald, who has been out 24 games with a concussion suffered against the Oilers on December 4.

The trade heard around the NHL—or at least in the city of  Montreal—this past summer was a "surprise" move by Pierre Gauthier,  sending playoff hero Jaroslav Halak to the St. Louis Blues in exchange  for Lars Eller and Ian Schultz.

The trade was only surprising because fans had fallen in love with the soft-spoken Slovak goaltender during the spring of 2010. As such, most were up in arms that Gauthier dare trade Halak in favour of Carey Price.

The St. Louis Blues currently hold the third longest streak in the National Hockey League for consecutive postseason appearances with 25, a streak that saw the Blues punch their tickets annually from 1979 through 2004. Since being eliminated by the San Jose Sharks in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals in 2004, the franchise has made the playoffs once and was eliminated quickly by the Canucks in 2009, a series that saw Vancouver goalie Roberto Luongo stand on his head en route to a sweep over the Blues.

There have been many great entry drafts in the history of the NHL, but none stands out quite like the 2003 draft, which was held in Nashville Tennessee.

Of the 292 players selected on the weekend of June 21 and 22, a whopping 126 players have appeared in at least one NHL game.

The St.Louis Blues (19-12-5 with 43 points) have been finding ways to win despite a banged up squad.