First, late last night I posted a quick 1-question poll asking where Tuomo Ruutu should be inserted into the lineup when he returns. It sounds like there is a decent chance he could play Thursday night, so check @ice_chip on Twitter (Chip Alexander at Raleigh News & Observer) after the morning skate tomorrow to see if he is a go. In my poll, there were votes for all 4 lines and a dead heat for the lead between 2nd, 3rd and 4th lines:
13% - At LW1 with EStaal and Semin hoping to provide a spark to the top scorers and get the first line going.
29% - At RW2 with Gerbe and JStaal. That line has been pretty good, but ultimately this is Ruutu's spot and he provides a bit more offense and size without giving up much if anything in terms of skating or defense.
29% - At RW3 or I guess possibly C3 to add some size to the 3rd line.
29% - Somewhere on the 4th line to start to give him a few games to get his timing and game speed back before moving him up.
Usually I take a strong stand on 1 position especially on line combination stuff, but to be honest, I think there is merit for any of the options. I would lean toward not burying him on the 4th line unless he just physically needs a couple games to get up to speed. If the issue is ice time while he regains his stamina and timing, I think you can still slot him on a higher line and just skip him for a few shifts. He has not generally killed penalties and is not necessarily slotted for a bunch of power play shifts, so that could keep ice time down a bit.
I like 2 possibilities best short-term:
1) See if he can help jump start the EStaal line. Since Bowman seemed to light a bit of a spark, it might make sense to start him there on Thursday and see where it goes first. As someone pointed out with a write-in comment, this could partly depend on Semin’s health. If Semin needs a few games off, Ruutu could step into that spot.
2) RW on the 3rd line. As long as there is some tinkering going on anyway, I think it could also be time to shift Lindholm to his natural center position. Despite the strong start by the 3rd line, I still think the Canes need to find at least 1 more offensive contributor from the bottom 6. Lindholm was supposed to be this player. Lindholm might actually be this player. At some point Muller needs to at least give it a try and see what happens. Now might be that time.
I would not tinker with the 2nd line just yet. Whether it was caused by the difficult matchups, the Pittsburgh thing, just an off night or whatever, Jordan Staal had a rough night Tuesday. But it did not so much carryover to Gerbe who played really well or Dwyer who at least stayed off the telestrator of Canes miscues. And that line was solid in the 1st 2, so I am not sure I would mess with it based on 1 bad outing against a very good team.
The bigger question might be how to keep the roster at the limit of 23. Ruutu will need to come off IR to return which will put the team at 24. (EDIT: @jbk_ltd just pointed out that Gleason went on IR Monday) If Gleason is still a few days away, the team might buy a little time by putting Gleason on IR retroactive back a week or so (EDIT: So that is what happened). But the team still gets to the same predicament once Gleason returns if there are no new injuries worthy of an IR spot (knock on wood). The Canes would need to cut 1 player to get to 23. It will be interesting to see how the team handles this. There are a couple options:
1) No risk tickets to Charlotte. Either Lindholm or Murphy can be sent to Charlotte without needing to clear waivers. If Muller is not ready to push Lindholm more than 8 minutes per night on the 4th line (I think he might be per my Ruutu comments above) then maybe getting more ice time and building confidence during a short stint in Charlotte is not the worst thing. One big down side is that Charlotte does not play again until next weekend.
2) Risky tickets to Charlotte. Bellemore or Sutter could be sent to Charlotte but both would need to clear waivers and could instead be claimed by another team. I said about midway through training camp that Bellemore would not see waivers. Decent depth on defense especially on a no-risk 2-way contract is a scarce commodity, and I doubt he would make it to Charlotte. Sutter has played well enough in his few games that someone might take a flyer on him.
3) Send Westgarth to Charlotte short-term. He too would need to clear waivers but because of his limited role and 1-way contract, I doubt anyone would claim him. The downside is that his 1-way contract gets paid in full at the AHL level whereas the team would save some $ when any of the 2-way players switched to their AHL salary.
Depending on Gleason’s time table, I think sending him for a short rehab stint in Charlotte could also buy some time. I am not sure he is in the top 6 right now anyway, and after a pretty long layoff, he could probably use a few games. Again though, the problem is that Charlotte does not play again until next Saturday.
If it were my decision, my preference would be to leave Gleason on IR and send him for a few rehab games if he is delayed enough. If that is not an option because he is ready now then I think I would send Westgarth down, eat the 1-way salary cost and not risk losing a player just yet.
I have pretty much written tomorrow’s game preview in my head and will finish it tonight to be posted by late morning tomorrow.
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