Arizona Coyotes vs Winnipeg Jets: Final lines
T-minus 7 hours!
According to AZ Central’s Sarah Mclellan, here’s your final game roster and line combinations for tonight’s Arizona Coyotes matchup against the Winnipeg Jets. It’ll be broadcast on Fox Sports AZ, but if you still want to go, you can get your tickets here.
Forwards
Mikkel Boedker– Antoine Vermette– Shane Doan
Martin Erat– Martin Hanzal– David Moss
Rob Klinkhammer– Sam Gagner– Lauri Korpikoski
Brandon McMillan– Joe Vitale– BJ Crombeen
Extra skaters: Kyle Chipchura, Justin Hodgman
Defensemen
Zbynek Michalek– Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Extra skater: David Schlemko
Goaltenders
Things to note: if you aren’t in love with the current Coyotes line-up (which, hey, you probably aren’t), the first few games of the season give Dave Tippett and GM Don Maloney the opportunity to figure out who works best together, what line they should be on, and where the biggest holes in the roster currently are. Don’t expect to see the lines set in stone until probably about the third week of the season, possibly even later.
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Another thing to note is that it looks like Keith Yandle is on the Arizona Coyotes’ top-two defensive pairing for this game, most likely a result of his stellar preseason play. In contrast, it seems that Joe Vitale needs to prove himself a tad more (or Sam Gagner needs to earn his top-six roster spot) in order to move himself off the fourth line, which is where we had projected him prior to the team’s pre-season.
I’m unsurprised to see Kyle Chipchura sitting as the extra skater for this one, and the Justin Hodgman announcement shouldn’t come as too big of a shock either- he has yet to prove himself, while Chipchura looked like one of the less effective returning roster members over the past few weeks. The biggest shock to me was seeing David Schlemko on the extra skater list, rather than Chris Summers- I thought that the David Schlemko- Michael Stone pairing looked particularly effective during the pre-season. I really enjoyed the way they communicated with one another on the penalty kill, and wish I could see some of that jumping right into the season.
Not as familiar with the Murphy-Summers pairing, but I’m sure Dave Tippett has no reason to believe they won’t play together just fine. It’s nice to see Murphy being placed in the starting lineup, rather than as the extra skater- I know we’re all about youth development, but I think his time has come with the big team.
Remember, the game starts at 7p.m. MT, and will be aired on Fox Sports AZ! If you can’t catch it, follow us on Twitter, and we’ll be sure to keep you updated! Go ‘Yotes Go!