Arizona Coyotes Preseason: What We Can Take Away From Tonight’s Lineup

Sep 15, 2013; Glendale, AZ, USA; Phoenix Coyotes center Max Domi (15) carries the puck during the second period against the Los Angeles Kings at Jobing.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

According to AZ Central’s Sarah McLellan, this is the line-up for tonight’s preseason home game:

FORWARDS

Domi-Hanzal-Samuelsson

Korpikoski-Gagner-Doan

Swarz-Gaudet-Kassian

Crombeen-Vitale-Reider

Extra: Dziurzynski

DEFENSE

Ekman-Larsson- Gormley

Campbell-Reese

Summers-McBain

Mcneil-Louis

GOAL

Mike Smith (Confirmed Starter)

Mark Burke

Mike McKenna

*Note- a minimum of eight veterans must play in each game

So… what can we take from this, going into the game?

First, we can assume that they’re getting a feel for Sam Gagner’s play. They’ve placed him on the only line that doesn’t have a rookie as well, instead sandwiching him with potential second-line winger Lauri Korpikoski and team captain Shane Doan.

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I’d also like to assume that putting Max Domi and Henrik Samuelsson on the same line was done in an attempt to see how well the two play together on a line. They’re flanking Martin Hanzal on the game’s first line- and while I would have liked to see Domi playing center to Samuelsson’s natural left wing, I can’t be upset about seeing the two skating out on a line together- even if it is just in a preseason game.

Note: This game has Brandon Gormley, but no Keith Yandle. Instead, we can assume (although I haven’t seen the line combinations for the game in L.A. yet, so there’s no way to know for certain) that either Michael Stone or Connor Murphy will be the one paired with Yandle for the away game. While it’s still WAY too early for me to be making this kind of assertion, I’m going to boldly predict that this narrows down Yandle’s potential partner to one of those two, and takes Gormley out of the running completely.

In goal they have confirmed that Mike Smith will be starting at home, and Devan Dubnyk will be starting the away game. Using the process of elimination, I would assume that having Mike McKenna and Mark Burke playing with Smith means that Mark Visentin is headed to California tonight, but there’s been no word on his training camp injury, so we’ll have to keep you posted on that.

Final Thoughts:

The L.A. Kings have released their home roster as well- and from the looks of things, Jonathan Quick and Mike Smith will be facing off at Gila River Arena. It seems like “That Seventies Line”, the 1-2-3 punch of Tanner Pearson, Jeff Carter, and Tyler Toffoli, are going to be headed to Arizona as well.

While I don’t think that means that they’ll put those three on a line together- after all, these games aren’t about the final rosters and line combinations just yet- it should be interesting to see how Domi and Samuelsson play against that particular trio of skaters. Pearson and Toffoli are both young, fast guys who made a huge impact during the playoffs this past spring- it should be fun to watch them skating out against the new face of the Coyotes’ offense.

The home game will be broadcast on 98.7 FM. Howlin’ Hockey will be live-tweeting the home game, while the Arizona Coyotes’ Official Twitter will be live-tweeting the away game.