Who goes?

So, things have gone decently well for this club lately, yes? But there are some people waiting in the wings, slowly healing, and I'm not excited about when they do. Clearly, when Marc Staal returns, everything gets better, and he replaces the well-meaning, hard-working, totally-mediocre Jeff Woywitka, who has definitely done his time and earned his #7 spot on this club (now we just need someone to take over for Eminger at #6). But what about forwards?

Both Wojtek Wolski and Mike Rupp are still out injured, and they will both be returning within about a month. What then, for this team that has gone 8-0-2 without both of them? "Don't rock the boat" certainly won't fly, not for this franchise that has shown a meaningful monetary commitment to both Wolski and Rupp (the latter was signed this summer, the former could have been bought out), not for this head coach who is never afraid to scramble lines. So, when they come in, who goes out? While some teams will sometimes put out 11 forwards and 7 defensemen, few ever go with 13 and 5 (for obvious reasons).

Surely no one in the top six (Richards, Gaborik, Stepan, Callahan, Fedotenko, Anisimov). I mean, I'd be fine scratching the streaky and mediocre Artem Anisimov, but that obviously doesn't happen. So who's a candidate for leaving the bottom six (Dubinsky, Boyle, Prust, Avery, Hagelin, Mitchell)?

Yes, everyone is once again talking about what a huge impact Avery has, especially against division rivals. And he's been great. But his 4 shots on goal, 864 missed shots (I'm guessing), and obvious presence over the last 3 games all came in 21:14 total, including a sad 5:03 against the Penguins.

But Avery didn't get the lowest ice time in the Caps or Flyers game. Against the Caps, Avery skated 7:38, edging out Prust's 7:26, and only 46 seconds behind Dubinsky's 8:24. Similarly, against the Flyers, Avery got 8:33, 1:13 more than Prust and only 54 seconds less than Dubi (although Prust's 12 minutes in the box probably helped that some).

Meanwhile, everyone is talking excitedly about the new call-ups of Mitchell and Hagelin (what did I fucking tell you about John Mitchell?). They've each got a goal and 2 assists in the 3 games they've been up for, and they're showing real promise. They've each seen over 10 minutes in each game since they were called up.

So if Hagelin - Boyle - Mitchell is the new third line, and Avery - Dubinsky - Prust is the new fourth line (which I don't hate), who comes out when Wolski and Rupp come back? Honestly, if we keep winning with this lineup, my advice would be to leave them on the sidelines until some guy in the top 12 gives you a reason to bench him. What could Wojtek Wolski or Mike Rupp really do to improve upon the 12 guys we've got out there right now?