Sheet Player News (Feb. 17)

The first NHL call-up for Box 14 defenseman Tyson Barrie didn't go quite as well as he could have hoped, 0 points in four games played with the Avalanche. With the Avalanche still in semi-reasonable distance away from a playoff spot, with just over a week to go until the trade deadline, the team still has a chance to avoid being sellers. Saying that, Barrie wasn't the immediate fit that the team was hoping for, so on Thursday, he was demoted down to Lake Erie of the AHL, where he'll continue to progress along in his development.

After a rough early section of the season, Box 12 defenseman Alec Martinez finally had a really good stretch of games with the Kings, avoiding the press box quite well, but while he was on the ice, he didn't hit the scoresheet very much either. On Thursday night, for the Kings' game against the Coyotes, Martinez was made into a healthy scratch again, but with their loss, this might only be a 1-game stint in the press box.  This season, Martinez has 2 goals in 28 games for the Kings.

Things are not looking up for the Minnesota Wild, who lost again on Thursday night, 4-3 in the shootout to Winnipeg, which now puts them six points out of a playoff spot in the West and it may be high time that the Wild start to think that they are sellers for the trade deadline festivities.  Box 10 defenseman Marek Zidlicky continues to sit in the cross-hairs of many people, as he was a healthy scratch again for the Wild on Thursday night.  There was a report that Zidlicky had given the okay to be traded to New Jersey, ready to waive his no-trade clause, so we'll see.

The St. Louis Blues were without defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo on Thursday night against the Islanders, as he has been dealing with a wrist injury.  Colaiacovo suffered the injury at practice on Wednesday and was sent for X-rays, but it sounds like the results were negative and the oft-injured blueliner is dealing with a sprain.  In 43 games this season, Colaiacovo has 2 goals and 13 assists, which isn't too bad, but he hasn't been healthy all season, which has likely hurt his overall consistency, but that's one of the risks you run with him on your pool team.

There was a public statement given by the Tampa Bay Lightning about how they were going to sit Pavel Kubina, in order to protect their assets in a future deal.  The Box 29 defenseman is an impending UFA in July and the team feels that they could get some valuable future assets in making a deal for him.  On Thursday night, he sat out against the San Jose Sharks, as the team awaited for his modified no-trade clause list of teams that he would approve a trade to.  It looks like this deal is just around the corner, so we'll see where he ends up.

I have sort of dropped the ball with this one, but it really isn't that big of a deal, since no one in the sheet pool really went after Eric Fehr as a worthy forward in Box 23 of the selection sheet.  The Jets forward has been a healthy scratch for a solid number of games lately.  Fehr, the Homecoming King of the season for the Jets, has had a pretty rocky season, which started late due to injury and his overall effect on the team has been minimal, at best.  In 31 games played, Fehr has 1 goal and 1 assist.