As the Kings have struggled to find consistency in their last several games it's not surprise that the line swapping has begun.
Last game we saw Carter move from center to wing, and from 2nd line to top line. No we are seeing American Hero Trevor Lewis go from bottom line center to 1st line wing.
Wait. What?
Yea you read that right. Gaborik-Kopitar-Lewis.
To be fair to Trevor Lewis and to Darryl Sutter, No. 22 has looked pretty solid since his return from injury.
Furthermore, that 70's line seems to be dead and buried, Mike Richards has moved from 2nd line back down to 4th, and Dwight King will be back in the lineup over Jordan Nolan. The same Jordan Nolan who started last game on the first line.
So if history repeats itself that means....Trevor Lewis healthy scratch next game?
I'm all for line blending and swapping in order to get guys going, but some of these don't make a lick of sense. But again, to be fair to Darryl Sutter, who HAS looked good this season?
The line of Carter-Toffoli-Pearson was great while it lasted but hit the coldest of cold spells and came back to earth. If it ain't broke don't fix it, but that line was definitely looking worse for wear recently.
In today's NHL coaches are more about duos rather than trios anyways, and it seems like Sutter is somewhat set on having Gaborik-Kopitar and Toffoli-Carter as two of his major duos in the lineup. Everywhere else it just feels like a game of musical chairs. He's definitely trying to find something here though.
Check out this blurb from LA Kings Insider:
Darryl Sutter, on trying to generate chemistry when adjusting lines:You know what? It’s an ebb-and-flow, always. You know what? For the most part Gaborik and Kopitar are going to play together. We used to use Mike Richards and Carter together lots. We used to use Lewis and Stollie together lots. But I think with trying to put some young guys into situations and with them knowing full well that they’re going to have – when you look at a guy like Tanner, who had a great start to the year in his first 10 games, and then he hasn’t scored now in I think 10, that is not working right now, so you’ve got to move guys around. It’s the way it is.
I agree with his line of thinking and it's not necessarily an easy thing to do.
Put yourself in the coaches position for a second. If a line was great for a stretch, then terrible for a stretch, what do you do? Do you break them up or do you keep them together until it gets back to normal? It's a bit of a damned if you do damned if you don't scenario unless you strike gold with one of your mixmaster combinations.
So with this being tonight's projected lineup, how do you feel?
Gaborik – Kopitar – Lewis King – Carter – Toffoli Pearson – Stoll – Williams Clifford – Richards – Brown
Is this your ideal lineup? Seems a rather expensive 4th line and a nonproductive 3C and 2LW. But hey, maybe it will work. Maybe this will "get guys going" that haven't been in the best of form.
I've never been one for switching line combos every game ala Terry Murray, and Sutter hasn't really been too bad about that. I feel like you have to allow chemistry to grow. You can't just pair guys together for one game and expect it to look wonderful. With that in mind you can't let an unproductive line fester forever. Is Sutter juggling too much lately? Is there even time to get chemistry in situations like this? I guess we'll find out tonight against Florida.
Oh and watch out for the Panthers, they came out firing against the Ducks on Sunday night winning 6-1.
Willie Mitchell will be back in town to get his ring, and he brings with him a squad of pretty young and promising players. Trochek, Gudbranson, Barkov, Huberdeau, Ekblad, Bjugstad, Hayes....yea it's a real young and talented team that are trying to learn how to win. They are 6-4-5 to start the season, which isn't all that bad, so don't sleep on them and think this will be a cakewalk.
Also, Alec Martinez will miss about a week with a broken finger he received from blocking a shot last week. Pray no other defenseman go down injured, because this is starting to borderline on ridiculous.
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