Ok, so, what is the rule of thumb on "Game time decision"? Doesnt that usually mean the guy isnt playing?
There are plenty of times top players
have played when they were a game time decision, but I share your scepticism on this one. Trotz and Reirdon did a lot of 'we expect to have him back shortly, he's a game time decision, we'll see if he practices tomorrow' kind of stuff when Orpik and then Carlson went out a couple of years ago, which proved to be lengthy injuries. Unless the guy is definitely out for the playoffs or for several weeks, there's no advantage to forecasting to your opponents that a top guy is out.
If he's a GTD that suggests he's still ailing, in which case it makes no sense whatsoever for him to play in a relatively meaningless game in which he might further injure himself.
What will be interesting is to see the pairs if Carly is out – given Kempny and Jensen are both ahead of Siegs and Gudas in the depth charts, and Fehervary didn't even crack the exhibition game top-7, I wouldn't be surprised by something like:
Dillon-Orlov
Kempny-Jensen
Siegenthaler-Gudas