The Washington Capitals returned to practice Friday afternoon, after having the day off on Thursday. It appears head coach Barry Trotz used the time to reconfigure his forwards for the game against the Canucks tomorrow night.
The new lines have Nicklas Backstrom and Justin Williams returning to the top line with Alex Ovechkin. Tom Wilson was moved up to the second line with Marcus Johansson and Evgeny Kuznetsov.
New lines! (And they’re a doozy)
8-19-14
90-92-43
77-20-65
82-83-10
Believe Winnik is skating as the extra.— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) October 28, 2016
Line tinkering is not a surprise, but it appears Trotz is going for the full effect with this set of lines. Trotz is apparently looking for more scoring, just six games into the season.
The #Caps are 28th in goals scored with 14 through six games.
— Tarik El-Bashir (@TarikCSN) October 28, 2016
The new third line of TJ Oshie, Lars Eller and Andre Burakovsky is also intriguing. Burakovsky played on the top line last game against Edmonton, with Kuznetsov and Ovechkin. Justin Williams met with the media following practice, and discussed the line shake-up.
#Caps forward Justin Williams talks to the media about new line combinations at today’s practice from Vancouver. #CapsNucks #RockTheRed pic.twitter.com/Iguy07QvTz
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 28, 2016
As per the Washington Post, “Trotz is putting a net-front guy on every line, which would certainly make sense with the Wilson move.”
Trotz said he won’t tell us who the goalie will be tomorrow. Wants us to wait until tomorrow.
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) October 28, 2016
No changes were made to the defensive pairings. Head coach Barry Trotz spoke with the media following practice on Friday.
Barry Trotz talks to the media about some of his new line combinations in today’s practice & the state of the #Caps. #CapsNucks #RockTheRed pic.twitter.com/4spvxGuMkX
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 28, 2016
By Jon Sorensen
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