Day 33: Coaches Corner

Well, we're officially loving our third line. I hope that they keep it rolling with Horton rejoins the unit, but we at least know that we aren't up the creek should a top winger go out and we need to promote from the lower lines. Bergeron can step in and do the job if Horton or Malone are called on to fill in higher up (or perhaps Bergeron himself would get the call).

But today isn't about the forwards, it's about the defense. We need to do a bit of juggling to deal with the first injury to a Dman this season. Thankfully it's a minor one. Brewer got banged up in the second period against the 500s. Handzus was finishing a check and caught Eric funny so that his knee knocked against the boards. He's got a bit of a bruise and it's kind of sore, so he's not likely to go tomorrow night. So with Bergeron's debut going so well, we'll be looking for the same kind of solid play out of another rookie, John-Michael Liles, in his RHL debut. JM is a versatile guy who prefers the left side but can play either, so as a rookie in his first game we'll try to make him comfortable and play him on the left. He's ok defensively, but he brings a pretty polished offensive game for a rookie, so we'll give him a shot on the PP as well since Brewer was part of the second unit.

Regehr Pronger
Johnsson Hill
Liles Pronger
Johnsson Hulse
Regehr Hill

Previously Brewer paired with Johnsson in one grouping and Regehr in another. We don't want to overplay Liles, so Hill will get a chance to see increased minutes, taking Brewer's two assignments. With Hulse being a veteran and a more physical player, we'll slide him to the right side (his natural side anyway) to pair with Johnsson and let Liles play the left side with Pronger. That balances both pairs with a physical presence (Pronger/Hulse) and a puckmover (Johnsson/Liles, though obviously Pronger fits both bills).

Korolyuk Draper Ekman Johnsson Pronger
Frolov Demitra Gl.Murray Liles Pronger

We'll also slide Liles onto the PP and see how he handles it. We don't want him to overthink things out there; we've made it clear that this is a one game injury situation so we aren't going to make any negative judgements based on mistakes in one game. We just want him to get comfortable with the RHL game as we know he'll be a big part of the team down the line (and also if we sustain more serious injuries on the blueline).

A final note on the game is that Chris Mason will get the start against Guelph. Mason last saw action in a 4-3 win over the Capones two and a half weeks ago, so wiht this being a back-to-back situation, we'll give him the home start. He hasn't played much since the start of the season when we were still trying to figure things out as a team, so hopefully we support him well and play the type of game we've been playing the past two weeks.