Lines, etc.

Wow, I talk too much. Let's recap.

Centers: Anisimov, Boyle, Drury, Dubinsky, Prospal
Right Wings: Callahan, Gaborik, Kotalik, Lisin
Left Wings: Avery, Brashear, Higgins, Voros
Defensemen: Del Zotto, Gilroy, Girardi, Redden, Rozsival, Semenov, Staal
Goalies: Lundqvist, Valiquette

(assuming we sign Semenov)

Opening night lines become a slightly easier and less interesting game to play, since Semenov doesn't have a contract just yet, and reports on Avery have unsurprisingly returned to "probably going to be out on Friday." But let's talk ideal lines for a moment. Ideally, our top line is going to be Avery - Dubinsky - Gaborik. Or Higgins - Dubinsky - Gaborik. Presumably, our fourth line is shaping up to be Voros - Boyle - Brashear (I'm unconvinced Donald would even notice he's on the opposite side). This leaves Anisimov, Drury, Prospal, Callahan, Kotalik, Lisin, and Higgins (or Avery) to form our second and third lines. It seems logical, then, to have Drury center line two and Anisimov center line three, moving Prospal back to the wing.

But Torts hasn't tried Prospal (or Anisimov, for that matter) on the wing yet, at all. It seems like both Prospal and Anisimov are being prepared as centers. I can't imagine moving Drury to the wing, as the Anisimov article I linked to in the previous post suggests, though I suppose that's possible. The other option is that we sit a center, either Anisimov or Prospal (if we move a center to wing, presumably, Lisin would sit).

Note that I am here using "sit" to mean "sit or be sent to the 4th line to replace one of them, because they'll play like 4 minutes a game anyway."

Here's what I would do, if I were in charge:

Avery - Dubinsky - Gaborik
Higgins - Drury - Kotalik
Prospal - Anisimov - Callahan
Voros - Boyle - Lisin (yes, I know...)

How close to that will Torts come (the obvious Brashear-in-for-Lisin replacement aside)? I dunno. It seems reasonably likely that Higgins and Avery will be switched. It's not entirely impossible that Prospal and Drury will be switched, or that Prospal and Anisimov will be switched.

With Avery out, I'd expect Higgins on Dubinsky's line, with Lisin filling in on the second or third line left wing (depending on which center ends up in that other position - without Sean, a center must play wing, because we're out of forwards otherwise).

I'm curious to see what Torts does Friday with Avery out, because which center he tries on left wing will be fairly telling as to which center he sees on wing as a longer term move.

As for defense, there's no rush to get Semenov a contract, because of the Del Zotto situation: we can play Del Zotto for nine games before his entry-level contract kicks in (and he's no longer eligible for the juniors, we have to keep him on roster and start paying his salary, etc.). So, though I imagine the decision will be to keep him in the end, I would expect the Rangers to play a lot of him early, so that decision can be made. While we're playing him, since our top 5 (Redden, Rozsival, Staal, Girardi, Gilroy) seem pretty set, we won't really be playing Semenov anyway. I expect that we'll sign Semenov, but I don't expect us to rush to get him into the lineup on opening night.

It's not worth discussing my "ideal" lineup (Staal/Gilroy, Girardi/Semenov, Del Zotto/Rozsival), so let's talk about what we might see. For all the talk about pairing veterans with kids, Torts hasn't split up the Albatross Twins since preseason game 2 in New Jersey two weeks ago. I anticipate them as a pair to start the season. So what I'd really like to see on opening night is:

Staal - Gilroy
Redden - Rozsival
Del Zotto - Girardi

It's reasonably likely he'll switch Gilroy and Del Zotto.

With Semenov in the mix, Del Zotto will likely be the first to sit. I don't imagine a Semenov/Girardi pair, unless Staal and Gilroy develop really good chemistry very quickly. So we'd probably end up with something like:

Staal - Girardi
Redden - Rozsival
Gilroy - Semenov

Anyway, at least we know who our starting goalie will be.

In around-the-league news we care about, there's a nugget buried in here saying Blair Betts is likely to be a Flyer on opening night. Can't blame 'em. I hate it when the Flyers do things I agree with. Also, the Coyotes (who, for the time being, remain in Phoenix) continue to be the place Rangers go when they leave New York by recalling and signing Ryan "we didn't like him much when he was here" Hollweg. Interesting, coming only a few days after Gretzky stepped down as head coach over what appear to be "artistic differences." Oh, well. Now it's less likely than it was a week ago that I'll move to Arizona and buy a jersey with a dog on it (though the word is Prucha is going to be getting regular ice time there, on a line with men named Martin Hanzal and Radim Vrbata).

Gonna miss Sean on Friday night. 3 more days! Let's Go Rangers!!