09 Nov
What Now?
Posted by: Jordan M. Alpert
Now that Dubinsky is out up to 6 weeks and Drury may miss some time (he does have a history of head injuries/concussions), we need some new line combinations. And as Larry Brooks detailed in his article today, while we have some cap room, there isn’t much. So how about these proposed line combinations:
Lisin-Prospal-Gaborik
Kotalik-Anisimov-Callahan
Higgins-Avery-Grachev
Byers-Boyle-Brashear/Voros (depending on whether Brashear is still injured)
I would even considering flipping Anisimov and Avery. Avery and Callahan had some on-ice chemistry last year.
For a team that can’t seem to stay out of the penalty box, losing 2 of the better penalty killers is a death sentence. Particularly if it means tiring our top offensive pair (Gaborik and Prospal) on the Penalty Kill.
November 9th, 2009 at 2:31 pmExcellent point. We probably can kiss goodbye our #1 PK ranking if Drury also is out for a while. I’d like to see Avery spend more time on the penalty kill now. He’s fairly quick and seemed good on it last year when he played. Plus, it gets him involved in the game more if nothing else.
November 9th, 2009 at 3:36 pmI would comment but haven’t had a chance to watch any games cause of this stupid job. At least I’m growing my playoff/doc review beard; maybe it’ll be good luck for us this season. For now I would agree with the expert.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:26 pmWelcome to the injury bug, the Devils have handled it just fine, now lets see how you guys do.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:36 pmFair enough Pucks. I’m more upset about the nature of the Drury injury. Hits to the head happen. But intentional blindside hits to the head are inexcusable. What (if anything) was going through Glencross’ head when he lined Drury (by all accounts a good guy) up merely 49 seconds into the game??? Dubinsky’s is an injury that the new should learn to overcome. And if Lundqvist is injured badly, can we borrow Clemmensen?
November 9th, 2009 at 6:16 pm