Brett Connolly has been used sparingly since returning from the 2012 World Junior Championship. He has played over 10 minutes just once in his last 10 games and he logged a season-low 5:08 of ice time on Tuesday against Washington. NHL teams have until the Feb. 27 trade deadline to return players that are eligible to junior, but GM Steve Yzerman appears to be leaning towards keeping Connolly around at this time. "He has to keep working away to earn his ice time," Yzerman said. "Is he better off (in junior)? We made a decision at the beginning of the year that he's better off here."