The New Jersey Devils' West Coast road trip has not had the best start, losing the first two games to the Colorado Avalanche and San Jose Sharks in ugly fashion. With two ugly losses, head coach Sheldon Keefe has shaken things up and made controversial line changes ahead of the Devils' game against the Los Angeles Kings.
The new lines were just confirmed today, according to the Devils' team reporter, Amanda Stein. Head coach Sheldon Keefe said not to look too much into the lines, as Connor Brown's availability for tomorrow's game will determine everything. Brown was not on the ice for team practice and has been listed as questionable for tomorrow. It was an off day for the winger.
The top line now consists of Stefan Noesen/Jack Hughes/Jesper Bratt. The change here is Ondrej Palat coming out of the top line, which was expected after his abysmal performance against the San Jose Sharks last night. Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt were creating a ton of scoring opportunities; meanwhile, Palat either wasn't positioned well for the shot or completely whiffed on the puck. An interesting stat early on in the season is that Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt have combined for 27 points, while Ondrej Palat is stuck at just one point this season.
As for the second line, there are two changes, which are replacing Timo Meier and Dawson Mercer with Ondrej Palat and Arseny Gritsyuk. So now the second line consists of Palat/Hischier/Gritsyuk. The questionable move here is bumping down Timo Meier to the bottom six; he makes way too much money and is too good to just be thrown down there. Including Ondrej Palat on any line is basically a negative move, but it seems as though Sheldon Keefe has no other choice as long as he is on the team and healthy.
The third line is the most interesting as it now consists of Timo Meier/Juho Lammikko/Dawson Mercer. As mentioned before, Connor Brown was not on the ice for Devils practice today. If he were, then I'd assume that he would stay on this line. This feels like a line where Palat should be, especially if Timo Meier is still playing on the left wing.
As for the fourth and final line, it consists of Paul Cotter/Luke Glendening/Brian Halonen. Stefan Noesen got the big bump on the team as he was previously on this line and is now on the top line.
The defensive pairings also changed a bit as Dennis Cholowski has moved his way up, pairing with Simon Nemec. This means that Seamus Casey will be an extra tomorrow for the game against the Los Angeles Kings. Casey hasn't had a great start to his season as he just looks completely lost on the ice defensively. The offense will always be there, but he has a lot to work on if he wants to start going forward.