In an attempt to balance out the New York Rangers’ forward core, Mike Sullivan drastically changed the lines ahead of their game against the Calgary Flames on Sunday.
Here were the lines that Sullivan decided to roll with on Sunday:
Artemi Panarin - J.T. Miller - Taylor Raddysh
Conor Sheary - Mika Zibanejad - Alexis Lafrenière
Will Cuylle - Noah Laba - Brennan Othmann
Adam Edström - Sam Carrick - Juuso Parssinen
“I would acknowledge that,” Sullivan said about whether this lineup is aimed at creating more balance “Would you guys agree?”
Since Vincent Trocheck went down with an injury, Artemi Panarin had been playing alongside Mika Zibanejad, so to put J.T. Miller alongside the superstar forward was a big shift.
Meanwhile, Taylor Raddysh, who was playing a bottom-six role to start the year, was suddenly propelled into a prominent position.
Zibanejad has grown accustomed to either playing alongside Panarin or Miller, so this is certainly a change for him.
The goal of his new line seems to be balance, with Alexis Lafrenière bringing an offensive element, Conor Sheary providing a hard-nose, gritty style of play, and Zibanejad bringing both traits to the table.
The trio of Will Cuylle, Noah Laba, and Brennan Othmann is the new reincarnation of the kid line.
Both Cuylle and Laba are looking to find their game offensively, while Othmann was just called up from the American Hockey League with something to prove.
Sam Carrick and Adam Edström have almost exclusively played alongside each other. Matt Rempe usually completes their line, but he’s currently dealing with an upper-body injury that prevented him from joining the team on their four-game road trip, so Sullivan decided to fill his vacant spot with Juuso Parssinen.
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The Rangers’ newly established line combinations did not spark much of a change on Sunday night. The Blueshirts lost 5-1, marking their third consecutive loss.
We’ll have to see if Sullivan sticks to these lines on Tuesday night when the Rangers are set to go up against the Vancouver Canucks.