Carlo Colaiacovo

After four productive seasons with the Blues, Colaiacovo suffered a shoulder injury that limited his ability to play up until last season. He had a small renaissance after reaching a deal with the Flyers, appearing in 33 games and scoring eight points. Signed to a one-year, $900,000 deal by Buffalo this summer, Colaiacovo brings plenty of experience to a young team and will likely end up on the team's bottom pairing, playing the role of the savvy veteran mentor. He can still provide some scoring, but only in spurts and not on a consistent basis. Injuries are also a concern.

Signed by the Blues in November last season, Colaiacovo saw more time in the press box than on the ice, appearing in only 25 games. While he didn’t embarrass himself when called upon, his four points in 15:09 worth of ice time per game weren’t anything special. The Blues decided to proceed with other options for defensive depth for the upcoming season, likely forcing Colaiacovo to settle for an AHL deal or a stint in Europe if he wants to keep his career going.

Colaiacovo dealt with several injuries and never established any momentum last season. It was the second straight year under 70 games played. Despite the missed time, Colaiacovo does have some offensive touch and has been used regularly on the Blues power play the last two seasons. In a full season, Colaiacovo will finish among the top-50 defenseman in points.

The Lee Stempniak trade has paid dividends for the Blues as both Colaiacovo and Alex Steen have been productive and re-signed with the team in the offseason. Colaiacovo has revived his career in St. Louis, re-casting himself as a defender capable of offensive support. He registered 32 points in 67 games including four goals on the power play, and has scored 61 points in his two seasons with the Blues. Along with Erik Johnson, Colaiacovo gives the Blues a couple of two-way defensemen. He'll be one of the team's top four defensemen while seeing action on the second power play unit.

Colaiacovo, whose 29 points led all Blues defensemen in scoring last year, will likely land in the top two pairings this year. After an injury-plagued five-plus years in Toronto, Colaiacovo remained healthy all year and was a plus-2 over 63 games for the Blues. He showed some offensive capabilities we weren't aware of, and is looking to build off the modest success he had in 2009-10.

Colaiacovo is the poster child for band aids, splints and sedatives -- if anyone is going to get injured, he will. Cripes, we think he gets injured watching the popcorn guy trip up the stairs. He has offensive skills but likes to be physical, too. It's the latter that causes problems. He enters camp as the Buds' seventh defender. Unless he really impresses, he could be out of town in a trade. He's way too much risk, though, no matter where he plays.

Colaiacovo is the poster boy for bandages and slings; but under the band-aids lies a talented puck mover. After sitting out the first two months of last season with concussion-like symptoms, Carlo had a break-out second half, averaging almost 18 minutes of ice time a night. He still leaves his body in pretty vulnerable positions but he is getting better. And his combination of skating, shot, acceleration and physicality make him a potential star. But like you, we're holding our breath through training camp -- after all, he only got about 20 minutes in last season before getting the "woozies". He's a true risk/reward guy; what's your pain threshold?

Talented young defenseman has his '05-'06 season cut short by post-concussion syndrome. If he's healthy he should easily improve on last year's seven points in 21 games, but he probably won't receive the PP time to get big fantasy numbers.