:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/45941644/usa-today-8387016.0.jpg)
Update: since Craig Berube likes to defy all logic, no defenseman will sit tonight!
#Flyers going with 7 D tonight. Lecavalier scratched. It's as much to do with Colaiacovo's strong play as anything.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) March 19, 2015
If MDZ needs a breather, why not just sit him another game? Not like this stuff matters at this point of the season.
* * *
Michael Del Zotto is checking back into the Flyers lineup tonight. Brandon Manning was sent back to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms this afternoon, but since Manning was a scratch for his entire time here these last two weeks, that still means that Del Zotto needs to replace somebody in the lineup tonight.
So who sits?
So Manning out means MDZ back in. Someone else out. Anyone else notice Schultz was getting the least ice time of all six d-men without MDZ?
— Kurt (@Kurt_BSH) March 19, 2015
5-on-5 TOI/game over the last five (via @war_on_ice): Carlo 16.6, Streit 16.4, Amac 16.4, LSchenn 16.0, Grossmann 15.9, Schultz 14.0.
— Kurt (@Kurt_BSH) March 19, 2015
Normally I'd think LSchenn sits, but with how CC's played alongside him they may not do that. Pretty much just leaves Schultz (or maybe 47).
— Kurt (@Kurt_BSH) March 19, 2015
Our friend Kurt is forgetting all about Nicklas Grossmann, but that's just because we're all resigned to the fact that Craig Berube will probably never sit Grossmann, even though it's the clearly obvious decision.
So if it's not Grossmann, the most likely candidate is certainly Nick Schultz, who's been used least frequently at five-on-five lately. The irony there is that when Schultz signed his two-year contract extension last month, we took wagers on how long it would take him to work back down to healthy scratch land.
One thing we do know: Carlo Colaiacovo should not sit. He was great on Tuesday night in Vancouver and there's no way he should be out of the lineup.