Aaron Portzline released the newest sets of lines that will be used this week in practice:
F1 = Nash, Fedorov, Vyborny
F2 = Chimera, Novotny, Zherdev
F3 = Modin, Peca, Brule
F4 = Fritsche, Malhotra, Boll
Definitely a big shakeup here. The most obvious of course is Fedorov getting moved back to the #1 center.
From there Hitch is looking for balance throughout his lineup and Portzline says the other 3 lines will all be used equally depending how they are playing.
He also notes that Pascal Leclaire has been named the started on opening night with Fredrik Norrena getting the start Saturday in Minnesota.
I'm not sure what to think of these lines at this point. I definitely need some time to let them soak in. I do like the idea of balanced scoring but I don't see a lot of toughness in that group outside of Boll and Chimera. Then again, where Hitch gives up having a guy like Shelley to drop the gloves he gains more options in terms of flexibility in his lineup and the ability to roll 4 lines fairly equally.
Speaking of Shelley, he Beech and Glencross with be the 5th line this week in camp.
-LTL
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Wow, definitely some interesting this going on here. Initial Thoughts:
F1 - With Fedorov (FA) as the top line center, does this open the door for Brassard as our top line center next year? Or, do we go out and spend for top FA center?
F2 - Are Chimera and Novotny really top-6 forwards? (is Zherdev?) I hope the answer is yes in regards to Chimera who look great this summer.
F3 - Does Modin stay on this line, or is he here b/c he's not yet healthy enough to play top-6 forward minutes? This could be a great third line if Brule can take a big step forward and Peca and Modin can stay healthy.
F4 - Fritsche and Boll with Manny in the middle. I'm not knocking it until I see if in action.
Hard to bench Norrena after what he did last year, and his great performance over the weekend.
Did Leclaire get the nod b/c, for once, he wasn't the goalie injured?
Great Blog, by the way...
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