Follow @james_tanner123 Friends, just as I predicted yesterday Canada has a new PM and the Jays won. The Jays will win again tonight, and the Coyotes might, because they are going up against a team even worse than they are.
It's been a fun 24 hours, but enough with the politics. Let's get down to some hockey business.
(After this celebratory jam).
Now, I hate that Vitale had to get injured for this to happen, but Plachta is a better choice and should have been here all along anyways.
Martinook back skating with Gordon and Downie. Rest of the lines same as Sunday: 16-12-89/8-11-10/24-50-19.
— Sarah McLellan (@azc_mclellan) October 20, 2015Now normally I don't go game to game with the line combos, but this is interesting.
Richardson between Boedker and Domi? Hey, he can't be worse than Vermette. I like the move of putting Richardson between these guys for now because he Richardson-Chipchura-Doan line was sickeningly bad. Time for AZ to go out and get a centre though.
Hanzal between Duclair and Rieder - it's an awesome line, no complaints here.
Vermette between Chipchura and Doan - the line of players who should have all been moved out as part of the rebuild already. I guess as a third line it's OK, not great though comparatively.
The fourth line of Martinhook-Gordon and Dowinie means that we'll have to wait for Plachta's debut, I guess.
To tell you the truth, this lineup is concerning. Yes, they've won a few games already, but Richardson and Vermette making up two of the top three centres is a recipe for one thing: last place. I don't know why they won't give Samuelsson a chance, but barring that a trade needs to go down desperately, and hopefully before the season is lost.
And that actually isn't too far away. I liked the hot start, but let's put it in perspective: The team is shooting 14.5% when 8% usually leads the league. Only one team has shot 10% over a full season since 2008. (It was the Capitals; and the Leafs did it during the lockout). The Coyotes also have bad possession stats, a PDO of 110 and have been getting goaltending that is slightly better than Dominick Hasek.
The point is, none of these things can last. They're fun to watch because of the kids, but if the team is at all interested in maintaining the interest that a 3-0 start provided, they need to make moves to fix whats wrong now, instead of waiting for the results to confirm what we already know.
P.S I almost forgot: You can't go into Jersery without a little tune from the King of New Jersery himself.