Tuesday's Scratches

Plenty of scratches in the first games back from the All-Star Break. Instead of an individual post for each team, I thought I would wrap them all up in one post and get it all over and done with.

The Sabres sat defender Nathan Paetsch (Box 23) in their game against the Lightning. Paetsch only has 7 points this season in 46 games, so he was the odd man out last night. Since the Sabres won on Tuesday night, you may not see Paetsch until there's an injury or a loss.

Adam Foote (Box 10) was surprisingly not in the line-up for the Blue Jackets on Tuesday versus the Coyotes. Foote missed his first game of the year for an undisclosed reason, so he'll be listed as a scratch for the time being. He has 13 points (1G, 12A) in 51 games this year.

Two players sat on Long Island for the Islanders against the Senators on Tuesday. Both Ruslan Fedotenko (Box 21) and Andy Sutton (Box 22) missed the game from the press box, more than likely due to a lack of production. Fedotenko has stalled in his scoring, only having 2 assists in his last 7 games, while Sutton only has 1 assist in his last 13 games.

Looks like Fredrik Sjostrom (Box 8) earned his way back to the press box again on Tuesday night. Sjostrom hadn't scratched since November 28th, amassing 14 points (6G, 8A) in that span, but that didn't seem to be enough for him to play after the break. He was the odd man out for the league's PIM leader, Daniel Carcillo (non-pool).

Christian Backman (Box 10) returned to the press box on Tuesday night against the Leafs. Backman has sat 4 of the last 8 games for the Blues and when he is playing, his ice-time has seemingly gone down from the earlier part of the season. This could be a sign that the Blues defender may be on the trading block.

Finally, Roberto Luongo (John B.) stayed an extra day in Florida with his wife and will meet the team down the road from his Miami home in Tampa Bay for their next game against the Lightning. He skipped the All-Star Game to be with his pregnant wife and obviously it didn't make sense for him to fly all the way to Vancouver and then all the way back to Florida for one game. He'll now get the bulk of the starts down the stretch for the Canucks.

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