SAN JOSE, Calif. – There is still a big decision for Jared Bednar to make for tonight’s Avs-Sharks game here in overcast Silicon Valley:

Will Mark Barberio be in the lineup or not? Coach Bednar said he is still mulling that possibility over. He’ll be a game-time decision, in other words.

Question is: Should Mark Barberio be playing in such a game tonight?

I know what I think: Play the game.

Sure, I know he hasn’t played in more than two months. Sure, I know he’ll probably be rusty and not quite up to the pace of the game right off the hop. I still play him, because I think the Avs really need a bigger, more physical body in the defensive lineup right now. The Avs have two finesse puck movers in Sam Girard and Tyson Barrie. David Warsofsky gives them a third.

On a team with three other big bangers, that would be OK maybe. But Nikita Zadorov, Patrik Nemeth and Mark Alt are your other three big “bangers” right now. Barberio isn’t a bonecrusher of a player, but he leans on puck carriers with more force than an Alt or a Warsofsky. In the battles behind the net, Barberio can hold his own physically better than Warsofsky or Alt, especially the former.

Barberio’s puck management can, just like most other Avs D-men, be spotty sometimes. But I think a bigger, heavier guy back there for these next two critical games is more preferable, rust and all, than the current alternatives.

Bednar said he still wants to talk with Barberio, which was kind of weird. Didn’t they already do that yesterday? Was one morning skate going to be the determining factor in suiting up?

Whatever, the game starts at 8:30 Denver time, folks, and I know a lot of you will be staying up. No matter what, te Avs will go into Friday still in a Wild Card spot, thanks to that Blues loss to Chicago in regulation last night.

The scenarios too many many and complicated to list all here, but obviously that loss for the Blues last night helped the Avs out a lot. Even if the Avs lose in regulation tonight and the Blues win tomorrow in Chicago, the Avs would still have the chance to make the playoffs with a REGULATION victory Saturday in Denver. If they finish tied in points, the Blues and Avs? There are lots and lots of tiebreakers that could favor either team, based on how these next two games for either team play out.

A win tonight for the Avs and a regulation loss by St. Louis in Chicago tomorrow is still the only way Saturday’s game WON’T matter. I still think it’s gonna come down to that final game, win or lose, for either team. As it probably should.

NOTEBOOK

• Avs signed 20-year-old center Josh Dickinson, who just completed his freshman season at Clarkson. He will report to San Antonio. Dickinson signed a three-year, entry-level contract. Don’t know much about him, but he scored 15 goals and 11 assists in 40 games for Clarkson.
• Jonathan Bernier did not take part in the morning skate, but will start. Do I think that hand of his is 100 percent? Nope. But I think it’s good enough to play.
• Here’s your projected lineup: 92  Gabriel Landeskog – 29 Nathan MacKinnon – 96 Mikko Rantanen
  10 Sven Andrighetto – 17 Tyson Jost – 13 Alexander Kerfoot
  83 Matt Nieto – 34 Carl Soderberg – 14 Blake Comeau
  57 Gabriel Bourque – 37 J.T. Compher – 22 Colin Wilson

  Defensemen

  16 Nikita Zadorov – 4 Tyson Barrie
  12 Patrik Nemeth – 49 Samuel Girard
  5 David Warsofsky OR 7 Mark Alt OR 44 Mark Barberio

  Goaltenders

  45 Jonathan Bernier
  35 Andrew Hammond