Barberio, who was placed on waivers by the Montreal Canadiens this week, was claimed by the Colorado Avalanche Thursday, meaning the skilled defenceman won’t be reporting to the IceCaps, who begin a six-game road trip tonight in northeastern Pennsylvania against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
St. John’s (20-18-6), which is coming off a less-than-shining home stand and has lost five of its last six games, has been bolstered this week by the assignments of winger Daniel Carr and defenceman Zach Redmond from the Canadiens. But you can forgive the IceCaps for being a little greedy in hoping that Barberio, a former winner of the American Hockey League’s top defenceman award, would somehow slip through waivers unclaimed.
He didn’t, and not surprisingly, the claimants were the Avalanche, who have the worst record in the NHL after losing nine straight games and 19 of their last 21. Colorado is looking for help at all positions, but particularly on defence.
Barberio was pushed off Montreal’s roster by the return of Andrei Markov and Greg Pateryn from injuries and the acquisition of Nikita Nesterov in a trade, but had performed well with the Canadiens, with four assists as bottom-pairing rearguard. And he should get a chance for a bigger role with the Avalanche.
Barberio had cleared waivers and been assigned to St. John’s once before this season, but that was at the beginning, when teams are healthy and mainly worry-free. He had 18 points in 20 games with the IceCaps and had been particularly effective on the power-play, with three goals and 12 assists in man-advantage situations.
Perhaps Redmond and Carr can supply it, but St. John’s could certainly use a Barberio-like boost to the power-play, which produced just one goal in 11 games last month. Then again, the other half of the special teams needs repairing, too — the IceCaps’ penalty-killing stands at third worst in the AHL, a problem compounded by the fact St. John’s is the league’s third-most penalized team.
Still, the IceCaps sit in a playoff position, in third place in the AHL’s North Division, and while they face the toughest of tests tonight — the Penguins (33-9-3) have the league’s best record — they have had decent success on the road this season. In fact, St. John’s away record (10-8-4) is slightly better than at home (10-8-2).
The IceCaps last played Saturday in a home-ice loss to the Toronto Marlies and because of the league-mandated four-day AHL All-Star break and a travel day Thursday, the team hasn’t practised since.
Head coach Sylvain Lefebvre said he didn’t like the timing of the break in that it denied his team the ability to work on its shortcomings, however many of the players — some of whom headed south during the hiatus — suggested that some time away from the rink might prove to be beneficial.
We’ll find out this weekend as St. John’s plays three games in three days, including matchups with the Hershey Bears Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.
