Tuesday's Bytes

With the return of Rostislav Klesla to the Blue Jackets' line-up, there had to be a move to make some room on the blueline. Opening up that spot on Tuesday night was Christian Backman, a Box 12 defender, but it wasn't enough, as the Blue Jackets lost to the Kings 3-0. This season, Backman only has 4 points in 31 games from the blueline, which doesn't make him a good candidate for your Sheet team.

The Colorado Avalanche didn't dress Box 12 defender, Ruslan Salei, on Tuesday night because of an upper body injury. It's been an extremely rough year for the Avalanche and their injuries and Salei is no different. Salei has missed 3 games now this season and could be out a little bit longer with this injury. In 32 games this year, Salei has 8 assists.

It looks like Box 8 forward, Joel Lundqvist, is having troubles staying healthy this year. His shoulder injury that he has been suffering from for a few weeks now has flared up again and it's now put him back on the shelf. The Stars will want to make sure that he is 100% before he returns to the line-up, as it doesn't seem to be working otherwise. In other news, Mark Parrish, a Waiver Draft pick of Larry's, was scratched from the Stars' line-up on Tuesday night, as he hasn't been able to keep up the pace that he arrived in Dallas with. As a scratch, he shouldn't be out of the line-up for too long.

The Islanders were without one of their top forwards on Tuesday, as Doug Weight sat out of their contest against the Thrashers with a groin injury. Weight, a Waiver Draft pick of Dennis', has had a bit of a revitalizing season with the Islanders, having 29 points in 33 games in New York. Since joining Dennis' pool team, he has 7 points in 9 games.

It was a rough night for the Senators blueline on Tuesday night against the Flyers. The Senators were already without Filip Kuba before the game started, but the Draft pick of Chris' was already diagnosed with a lower body injury and didn't dress for the team. In his spot went Christoph Schubert, who has been a healthy scratch a few times of late. Once the puck was dropped, it didn't take long for Box 29 defenseman, Anton Volchenkov, to fall heavily into the boards, leaving the game with an upper body injury. The Sens ended up losing the game, 6-4, to Philly, which leaves an awful taste in one's mouth.

There were two scratches in Phoenix's game against Colorado on Tuesday night, as the coaching staff haven't been afraid to bench some of their young players after some sub-par performances this season. Getting scratched on Tuesday were Box 7 forward, Daniel Carcillo, and Jeremy Draft pick, Keith Yandle. Both players have had reasonable seasons, but may have been a little displeasing to the coach's eye of late. The scratching plus the holiday break will hopefully spark the team for their next game.

It doesn't look like Olaf Kolzig was quite ready to return to the Lightning's line-up last weekend. Kolzig was dressed to back-up Mike Smith after his injury, but has since been sat back down on Tuesday, as Kari Ramo has been called up for back-up duty. It's been a pretty tough year for Kolzig in Tampa Bay, who hasn't seen many starts or appearances this season. Certainly not expected by Dale B., who has him in the Draft.

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