Oilers coach Knoblauch makes controversial line change before Cup Final
The Edmonton Oilers took the ice for practice for the first time in Florida today before the Cup Final, and coach Knoblauch is making a significant change to the defence pairings.
Knoblauch has opted to go back to the more recent pairings and reunite Darnell Nurse and Cody Ceci, while Philip Broberg stays in and Vincent Desharnais comes out.
Throughout this playoffs and much of the regular season, the Nurse and Ceci pairing has struggled greatly. Fans and media were very vocal about this in the third round, where Nurse started facing some hard questions about his play. Nurse stepped up his game in the final games against Dallas, but the level of trust it keeps up is very low.
In addition, it's a real tough break that Desharnais has lost his spot for now, but Philip Broberg's play is also commanding that he be in the lineup. Broberg brings an offensive element and puck moving ability to the third pair which greatly benefits the Oilers, but we'll have to see if the team doesn't need Desharnais' strength and reliability in his own zone in the Cup Final.
Finally, Knoblauch made some nice but subtle changes to the bottom six arrangement. Warren Foegele is coming back into the lineup on the third line, Adam Henrique will center the fourth line, and both Derek Ryan and Sam Carrick will come out.
All season and throughout the playoffs, Knoblauch has shown an incredible ability to pull the right strings at the right time to get the most out of his players - even gutsy moves like starting Calvin Pickard. It may be hard to trust Nurse and Ceci right now, but Oilers fans can trust Knoblauch's tactics behind the bench.
| POLL | ||
Should Knoblauch play Darnell Nurse and Cody Ceci together, or split them up? | ||
| Play them together, be consistent | 114 | 33.6 % |
| Split them up, find a new solution | 199 | 58.7 % |
| See Results | 26 | 7.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
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