War Drums.

[bzarcher]

Lineup for Friday against Nashville just went up.

F1: Rick Nash, Derick Brassard, Kristian Huselius
F2: Fredrik Modin, R.J. Umberger, Jake Voracek
F3: Jason Chimera, Manny Malhotra, Andrew Murray
F4: Tom Sestito, Derek MacKenzie, Adam Pineault

D1: Fedor Tyutin, Rostislav Klesla
D2: Jan Hejda, Mike Commodore
D3: Christian Backman, Kris Russell

G1: Pascal Leclaire
G2: Dan LaCosta

This isn't precisely the full NHL lineup (No Mike Peca, no Boller, no Raffi, no 7th defenseman, LaCosta at backup instead of Norrena) but it's -awful- close. Don't be shocked if those defensive pairings and lineups are pretty similar what we see on 10/10 against Dallas.

If I had to make a guess, the top two lines are pretty much locked.

I would guess that the third line will actually end up being Boll - Peca - Murray, and fourth line going to Chimera - Malhotra - Dorsette or Chimera - Novotny - Malhotra.

I'm also thinking that the last D pairing might end up as Russell and Tollefsen with Backman as the 7th. We'll see, though. If it clicks? It clicks.

Comments

[chaptal.livejournal.com]

How's York doing? Is he going to captain at Syracuse if he does not make it here?

I like that second line, a lot.

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

York...ugh. I dunno.

He looked very confident in camp, and did a nice job on transition. The problem is, he was in the lineup against both Minnesota and Chicago, and I can't recall hearing his name mentioned once other than the fact that he was in the lineup!

I wonder if he's got the confidence level back to really contribute in the NHL again.

I don't know about captaincy in Syracuse, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if he ends up being in the top lines there to start the year, and we'll see if he really gets his groove back.

I really like both top lines. If this ends up being our "permanent" top 6 to start the year I think we could be in for some really interesting games. :) There's a lot of scoring and chemistry there if we can get them all to jell.

[flaggerx.livejournal.com]

That really does look like everybody but F3 and F4. Methinks they want to make a statement.

Personally, I can't wait to see the Nashville's reaction to a real top six here. Frankly, this lineup is a lot better than any of our starting line-ups from last year.

And think they're really going to enjoy the BRASH line.

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

MMMmhmm.

Interesting line in practice today.

Boll - Peca - Torres.

You have to wonder if that might be the "production" 3rd line...

[flaggerx.livejournal.com]

Methinks yes.

And wondering about Novotny, who has shown up in the pre-season thus far.

Chimera-Novotny-Malholtra or maybe Dorsett.

And I'd like to see Filatov in person, though I'd guess we'll be seing him in Syracuse.

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

Actually, I heard that Filatov may be in the lineup on 10/2 or 10/3...keep an ear to the ground.

I have to admit I am impressed by Novotny and didn't expect to be. It seems like he got a wakeup call from some of the moves this offseason.