Minnesota Wild make big changes to line combinations, defensive pairs
Freddie Gaudreau gets his chance to center the top line.
All four lines and three defensive pairs will look a lot different when the Minnesota Wild play Tuesday night in Canada against the Montreal Canadiens. Head coach Dean Evason said Monday that the lines that worked well last season aren't working now, so he's experimenting with new looks.
Here are the lines reported by Michael Russo during Monday's skate.
- L1: Kirill Kaprizov, Freddie Gaudreau, Mats Zuccarello
- L2: Marcus Foligno, Marco Rossi, Matt Boldy
- L3: Brandon Duhaime, Joel Eriksson Ek, Ryan Hartman
- L4: Tyson Jost, Sam Steel, Connor Dewar or Mason Shaw
Evason is pulling Ryan Hartman from centering the top line and moving him to the right side of Joel Eriksson Ek on the third line. Freddie Gaudreau is getting a shot to center Kaprizov and Zuccarello. Foligno is on the second line with rookies Marco Rossi and Matt Boldy.
Here are the defensive pairings from Monday's practice, per Russo.
- D1: Jacob Middleton, Jared Spurgeon
- D2: Jonas Brodin, Calen Addison
- D3: Jon Merrill, Matt Dumba
Minnesota is 1-3-1 in five games to start the season.
