Stop me if you’ve heard this one before… Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza may be trying out another linemate.
The Sens don’t play until Friday, meaning nothing is set in stone, but the Ottawa Citizen reports that coach Craig Hartsburg is thinking about giving Nick Foligno the next shot at playing alongside the big boys with Daniel Alfredsson recovering from his minor knee surgery.
“Nick has been a really good player for us through camp, and when he has been on the wing,” Hartsburg said. “To me, the games he played on left wing at the end of camp, he was our best player. So we want to give him a chance to play there. But it could change tomorrow.
“I guess maybe it’s just me, but, at whatever level I’ve coached, I’m not opposed to changing on a daily basis because I think it’s important that you try things.
“If everybody’s just stuck — ‘I have to play with this guy or I can’t play’ — you don’t end up having a lot of success.”
The Foligno move means Jesse Winchester skated with Mike Fisher (now that he’s recovered from that groin injury) and Antoine Vermette, while Jarko Ruutu was with Chris Kelly and Chris Neil.
“I’d like to see (Fisher and Vermette) together,” Hartsburg said. “Both of them have great speed, and they both can play two-way games, so we’ll see how it goes.”
How much Foligno could benefit you will depend on your options at wing, but let’s see how he fares vs. the Coyotes Friday. Alfie will be back sooner rather than later anyway, so it’s really likely a moot point.
CALGARY LINES
Courtesey of Sportsnet.ca, the Flames are expected to roll lines of Bertuzzi-Langkow-Iginla/ Camalleri-Lombardi-Bourque/ Glencross-Boyd-Moss/ Nystrom-Primeau-Prust. They’re at home to the Avs tonight.
SYKORA CLOSE
The Pittsburgh Post Gazette notes that injured winger Petr Sykora made it through practice yesterday, which was relatively short but featured some intense skating and physical drills, with no apparent difficulty — “It felt pretty good,” he said — then said he would decide after the game-day skate today whether he’ll be in uniform against the Flyers tonight.
“If he’s OK to play, he’ll play,” coach Michel Therrien said.
Sykora would likely bump Tyler Kennedy off L2, forming the Staal-Malkin-Sykora trio.
Miro Satan is still finding his way alongside Sidney Crosby on L1.
“I’m learning every game,” he said. “I feel like I’m getting there, to understand how to adjust and be more effective on his line.
“It’s going to take some time. Hopefully, we can get this kind of period behind us as quickly as possible. It’s only a few games. I don’t think I’m concerned. This team has enough very good players and they’re eventually going to break out.”
Crosby has a habit of making minced meat out of the Flyers (37 points in 20 GP), so I’m hoping that moving Satan from my bench to the active roster tonight will pay off. I’m also gambling a defensive game on Alex Goligoski in the hopes that this game tonight features a lot of goals, but we’ll see.
Antero Niittymaki is apparently starting for the Flyers. He’s 4-5-2 career vs. the Pens with a 4.32 GAA and .858 SV%.
WINGING IT
Good news for Ty Conklin owners, who saw a quality start behind a stud team last night.
Ideally, coach Mike Babcock tells the Detroit News that he plans to play Conklin every third game in relief of starter Chris Osgood.
“My play will dictate if that holds up,” Conklin said. “If I’m not playing well, he’s not going to play me.”
Babcock said: “If one guy’s on fire and one guy can’t stop a beach ball, things change.”
We’ve already gone over at length about Osgood likely hitting the 50-60 start level, with the final number possibly settling in around 55. That leaves some tasty tidbits leftover for Conklin and his fantasy owners; myself included.
Speaking of the Wings, there was a note in the Detroit Free Press today that Babcock is considering moving Dan Cleary onto the Franzen-Zetterberg line. That bumps Hudler down onto L3 and gives Cleary the potential to become a hot commodity. If you’ve got an empty bench spot anyway, it’s worth a shot. I added him today, although I’m already overloaded with quality forwards.
Babcock tinkered with his lines partway through that last game in Carolina, moving Samuelsson onto the Zetterberg line and Hudler down a notch.
Holmstrom-Datsyuk-Hossa would still be the other top line.
GET CARTER?
The Los Angeles Times notes that with his performance Sunday, combined with injuries to forwards Travis Moen (stiff back) and Rob Niedermayer (bruised foot), who are day-to-day, Ryan Carter played left wing during Monday’s practice, on the same No. 1 line as center Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry.
Is it just me or do newspaper writers love using a lot of commas?
“Coming into the league and trying to make his mark and gets to play with Getzlaf and Perry, I don’t know how many more opportunities there are,” coach Randy Carlyle said.
Carter actually played on that line late in Sunday’s game and contributed generally inside the top six with Anaheim trailing, as noted in the live blogging at the time. Is he suddenly a “must-have” free agent? No. But his value has gone up from where it was and the proverbial ball is now in his court.
The Ducks are at the Kings tonight.
THRASHING AROUND
Another day, another line change for Bryan Little, who is likely to take the ice tonight with his third group of linemates in as many games. So says the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Little skated with left wing Ilya Kovalchuk and centre Todd White in Monday’s practice. He replaced Jason Williams, who took Little’s spot on the line with Slava Kozlov and Erik Christensen.
“Williams is a great player,” coach John Anderson said. “We’re trying to get a little more speed on that line. We’ll see if [Little] can provide that. Hopefully he has enough savvy to play with those two guys. It’s not set in stone. We can always change it back.”
Little actually has three points in his first couple of games, while Williams has two.
The Thrashers are home to the Wild this evening. Apparently Johan Hedberg will be getting a start soon too, so that he doesn’t get too stale. Tonight? Maybe. If not then, soon.
LIGHTNING HELP ON D
In case you happen to be depending on Mike Smith and/or Olaf Kolzig in your pool in net, help may be on the way.
The Tampa Tribune reports that the Lightning are expected to sign veteran defenseman Marek Malik to a one-year contract this week, possibly by Wednesday, according to a source familiar with the situation. In addition, Paul Ranger, who has been out while recovering from offseason shoulder surgery, could be cleared to return in time for Thursday’s game against the New York Islanders.
The team has allowed 126 SOG in three games. Yikes.
“It’s about composure,” coach Barry Melrose said. “Right now with our D, when they are under pressure [the puck is thrown] around the wall.”
KOBASEW SIDELINED
Claude Julien told the Boston Globe that Chuck Kobasew would be sidelined for three weeks, dating back to last Thursday’s game when he suffered a fractured right ankle.
That basically means that Milan Lucic and Blake Wheeler have a little more breathing room to remain on a top three line. They’re each currently winging it with David Krejci on L3.
LALIME SPOT START
You may have seen that Patrick Lalime got in a start to spell Ryan Miller last night. End result? A 7-1 win over the Isles.
The Buffalo News notes that the Sabres figure to stay on their schedule of giving Lalime regular work. Figure him to start either Friday at home against Vancouver or Saturday at Atlanta.
Ryan Miller got overworked last season with 75 starts (no faith in Jocelyn Thibault at the time) and faltered somewhat down the stretch. This year more rest should mean better long-term results for the talented goaltender that signed a long-term extension with this team over the summer.
JOHNSON OUT
Not great news for the defensive Johnsons this season.
Erik in St. Louis was the first to fall and now Jack in Los Angeles is out for two to three months with a torn labrum in his left shoulder. It was sustained during a Mike Grier hit.
“It’s very unfortunate,” Kings coach Terry Murray said to the Los Angeles Times after Monday’s practice. “He was just starting to get going here and then this happens. It was just sort of a fluky thing.”
The team claimed Kyle Quincey off waivers from Detroit and he’ll be in line for some decent minutes.
HUET OR KHABI?
So we’ve seen Cristobal Huet and Nik Khabibulin split work for the Hawks so far in net. Is this a trend? Huet started last night against the Predators.
“It’s his turn,” coach Denis Savard told the Chicago Tribune. “Probably for a little bit I might alternate.
“I felt it’s his turn to come out in front of his new fans and we’ll go from there.”
Savard said the goalie situation “will sort itself out,” but he appears content with alternating the veterans.
“Eventually I might go with one guy,” Savard said. “We have two great goalies here, two No. 1s. They’re fresh when they go in, that’s a good thing.”
Good for them… not so good for poolies, who either have to lock up two roster spots for the equivalent of one starter or who may only have one of the two.
JACKETS @ SHARKS
Projected lines for tonight’s game from the Columbus Dispatch:
Nash-Umberger-Huselius/ Chimera-Brassard-Voracek/ Picard-Novotny-Boll/ Modin-Murray-Dorsett for the Jackets with Marleau-Thornton-Setoguchi/ Michalek-Pavelski-Cheechoo/ Clowe-Roenick-Grier/ Shelley-Plihal-Kaspar for the Sharks.
Brassard and Voracek have looked good together, while Umberger is still developing chemistry with the top wingers on the club.
It’s also interesting to see some consistency with those lines in San Jose, who truly have the makings of two potentially lethal trios once they’re fully clicking.