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The Bruins have opted for an optional skate this morning, so we don't actually know what lines will look like for tonight's game until gametime. However, I figured I'd try my hand at guessing. Here are the recent player moves:
OUT:
- Zac Rinaldo, Sent down to Providence
- Joonas Kemppainen, Sent down to Providence
- Max Talbot, Sent down to Providence
IN:
- John-Michael Liles, acquired yesterday in trade
- Lee Stempniak, acquired yesterday in trade
- Noel Acciari, called up from Providence
Soooooo with that in mind, here are my theoretical lines:
- Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - Lee Stempniak
My thinking here is that Connolly hasn't been doing the job, and it's good to give the new guy a chance to succeed. Will likely change if it starts that way.
- Loui Eriksson - David Krejci - David Pastrnak
- Matt Beleskey - Ryan Spooner - Jimmy Hayes
- Landon Ferraro - Noel Acciari - Brett Connolly
- Zdeno Chara - John-Michael Liles
- Torey Krug - Adam McQuaid
- Kevan Miller - Dennis Seidenberg
If it ain't broken, don't fix it
This is pretty reasonable
New guys, old guys, guys that look like they're 45. Ferraro was a waiver pickup, Acciari is a callup, and Connolly has had a rough year. Throw them together and see what happens. Can't be worse than Talbot and Rinaldo, y'know?
As for the defense, well. Nobody's been sent down, but they've added in a single guy: John-Michael Liles. We all can dream that this finally removes Kevan Miller from the lineup, but I'm not counting on it. Colin Miller is still in Providence for some stupid reason, so here's what we're looking at:
Put the new guy with Chara. Yeah, I said it.
At this point, I don't even know. Bruins defense feels like it gets real murky after Krug and Chara.
Because these guys are both definitely going to be in the lineup anyways, so may as well try to bury them on the third pairing.
Should be interesting to see how they line up. We'll find out at warmups tonight!