Sheet Player News (Feb. 3)

It appears that the Chicago Blackhawks made Box 7 forward Michal Frolik into a healthy scratch on Thursday night, for their game against the Oilers. There has been no mention of injury or illness, so it is fair to assume that it was a coaching decision to have him scratched.  Frolik only has 13 points in 48 games this season, so he hasn't been a tangible asset to a hockey pool team and he hasn't had much of anything to show for in his last five games played, so it could be somewhat of a production issue that kept him in the press box in the evening.  I would expect him back in on Friday night in Calgary.

A couple of scratches to sheet pool players in the Nashville line-up on Thursday night, as Box 8 forward Brandon Yip and Box 12 defenseman Jack Hillen were both held out of the game against the Flyers. Yip, acquired from Colorado earlier in the year, hasn't fit in quite as nicely as some may have hoped he would, while Hillen hasn't made his presence felt in his limited minutes on the blueline, which would lead to some disdain from the coaching staff.     The Predators have been rolling quite well this season and they have done some line-up juggling to ensure it keeps going, so I would almost expect these two back in the line-up on the weekend.

The San Jose Sharks welcomed Ryane Clowe back to the line-up, as he sat out with some discomfort in his face after suffering some facial fractures before the All-Star break, which meant there was a line-up spot that needed to be vacated and the duty was give to Box 9 forward Benn Ferriero, to sit up in the press box as a healthy scratch. Ferriero has only seen 22 games this season for the Sharks, spending some time in the minors as well, scoring 6 goals with the big club, but that hasn't been enough to be a mainstay in the line-up.  I would expect a demotion, if he can't figure into the line-up soon.

With the Tampa Bay Lightning starting to struggle mightily, the minutes were getting thin for top prospect Brett Connolly and on Thursday night, the coaching staff decided against having him in the line-up at all against the Jets.  There is some belief that Connolly could still be sent back to Juniors for the remainder of the regular season, giving him some valuable minutes to help his development along and likely give him some playoff hockey, which could certainly help out his leadership skills.