I watched him live today and I have no idea what’s going on here. Granted Oshawa was lost unless Senecke created the play himself, but Barlow looked so uninvolved compared to in his draft year; barely recognized him.
Dale DeGray needed to hear it from Colby Barlow. "I had heard from everyone else, the only person I hadn't heard from was Colby, and I needed to hear from him what he wanted," DeGray said.
www.owensoundsuntimes.com
This kid just has zero motivation left. As fans we may not like to see this but Barlow is only 19 and he's not the first (or the last) to lose motivation playing junior hockey. There are examples every season, especially among kids like Barlow who are too good too early in their junior career. Once you feel like you outplayed the league all you really care about is winning and getting ready for pro hockey.
When Owen Sound made the coaching change and when it became clear they weren't gonna go for it, Barlow lost interest rather quickly. He wants to win. Which is why he didn't report to Owen Sound. Now he's with the Generals, the 2nd last team in OHL standings, 2 points behind Owen Sound. Probably not what he was hoping for when "requesting" a trade. That's basically the the story.
Also, Barlow is a goal scorer, not a two way forward or playmaker. Even if he did have some kind of motivation, I doubt he'd be able to save the Generals on his own. They were outshot 17-50 by Windsor yesterday and that's basically the standard for Oshawa this season. I really feel like they need Ritchie back ASAP to save this season.