Arizona Coyotes HC Dave Tippett Changing Up Lines
In an effort to generate some offense, and shots on goal the Arizona Coyotes will mix it up… and see what happens.
Per Sarah McClellan of azcentral.com Head Coach Dave Tippett is mixing up his lines a bit to see what comes out. That’s what he likes to do, and what else can he do? The power play has been non-existent, and the team suffered dearly when scoring was their demise last season. They are scoring more goals, but after being seventh in power play production last season at 20 percent, they are a miserable 10.34 percent so far this new season.
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With these line changes, Head Coach Dave Tippett is hoping to get some more of the veterans involved, and not need to rely on the young prospects Max Domi and Anthony Duclair as much. Each of these talented young forwards have seven points in six games, which is far above any expectations the Arizona Coyotes staff would have projected this early on in the season.
So, with that in mind Dave Tippett knows chemistry when he sees it, and changed his forward lines accordingly:
Boedker-Vermette-Doan
Domi-Hanzal-Duclair
Rieder-Richardson-Downie
Chipchura-Gordon-Martinook
On defense he switched it up a little:
Ekman-Larsson-Stone
Dahlbeck-Michalek
Grossmann-Murphy
Sarah McClellan mentioned that Jordan Martinook left the ice during practice, so he may have had a setback in his recovery from his injury. ** UPDATE: Martinook must be okay, since the Coyotes just sent Matthias Plachta back to Springfield after calling him up for the New Jersey Devils game Tuesday. In any case, the lineup changes will be tested tonight during the New York Rangers game, which will be the first game where Keith Yandle and Anthony Duclair will face each other since they were traded for each other last March.
With Duclair joining his buddy Domi, and Hanzal staying on this line, it should generate some offense. This line is also used on the power play unit. They really have chemistry, and perhaps Tippett’s objective is to use this line’s offensive capabilities to the utmost. Hanzal leads the team in points with no goals and eight assists, while Duclair has five goals, two assists, and Domi has three goals, with four assists to his credit.
That means with the Arizona Coyotes scoring 18 goals thus far this season, the Domi-Hanzal- Duclair combination has been involved in 22 of the possible points in those scoring plays. That amounts to 40 percent of their total team scoring.
The top line was re-united with Boedker-Vermette-Doan trying to get the veterans going. I think they will remember each other’s moves adequately to get the job done.
The third line of Rieder-Richardson-Downie has speed, grit, and toughness as it’s ingredients. It may decrease Rieder’s coring potential, since he was getting fed by Hanzal, but this line should be a good fore-checking and defensive line. Let’s see how their chemistry goes.
The fourth line with Chipchura-Gordon-Martinook will be the checking-stop-the-other-team line. They will need to shut down the Rangers’ scoring opportunities and protect Mike Smith. With Plachta being sent back to Springfield, we won’t get to see his NHL debut. Maybe another time. It’s hard to figure out this move, unless something else is coming down the pipes. We here at Howlin’ Hockey will keep our ears to the ice to see what prevails, and keep you informed.
May 26, 2015; Tampa, FL, USA; New York Rangers defenseman Keith Yandle (93) passes the puck in game six of the Eastern Conference Final of the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports
The Yandle re-union with his former teammates included dining out with them last night. Anthony Duclair is pumped not only being back in New York City where he was for 18 games last season, but playing against the team who traded him to Arizona is always a motivator.
Like Duclair needs to anymore motivation with five goals and two assists in six games…
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