According to a recent article on the official site, Jaroslav Hlinka has been moved to a line with Milan Hejduk and Paul Stastny in an attempt to kickstart the newcomer. Hlinka has just 4 points in 18 games with the Avalanche, 2 of those coming on opening night against Dallas. Kurt Sauer has more points than he does if you want to put some sort of perspective on the situation.
The argument can be - and has been - made that he's seen limited ice-time which keeps his point production down. However, after his 2 point game against Dallas, he didn't register a point in 8 straight games until getting a goal against Edmonton on October 23. And according to DD's handy-dandy line charts, he didn't make it down to the 4th line until game 7. He also had a couple games on the top line with Mr. Sakic himself where he didn't produce.
So where does this leave the rest of the lines? It wasn't in the article so I'll take a stab at it. Sakic will likely play with Wolski and Smyth, with Brunette finding his way down to the third line with Arnason and Svatos. Then the fourth lines fills up with Smith, Guite and McCormick with Parking watching from above. Hopefully.
Oh, and Budaj is in goal. In case anyone cared. But nobody does. Right? Right?
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2 Comments:
Great news. Nice to see Hlinka getting another chance.
I don't know that we'll see Wolski and Smyth with Sakic. I think Bruno will still be there on the right wing, along with Sakic and one of these guys. The other would play with Arnason and, I assume, Svatos.
Where does this leave Richie, though? 4th line again? *sigh*
Yeah, Richie. You know, it wouldn't be surprising to find him on the first line again. He played there last game I believe and looked pretty good.
Of course, that again bumps someone down to the 4th line. If Bruno stays with those two, then Smyth moves down with Arnason and Wolski. Then Svatos finds himself working on the fourth line with some combo of Guite/McCormick/Smith.
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