Last night against the Rangers, Todd Bertuzzi spent a majority of the first period fouling up perfectly good two-on-ones with Jarome Iginla. He eventually found his way back to the slightly more suitable second line; however, the question of player placement inside the top 6 will be resurrected anew now that Boyd has been declared fit to play.
With Bert vacillating between the first a second units, Keenan also swapped in Glencross from top to bottom, while Cammalleri, Langkow, Moss and Iginla stayed relatively stationary. That put Lombo back on the 3rd line (I guess it was inevitable) with Conroy and Bourque. The latter doesn't sound like that bad of trio actually and won't leave Lombardi standing in the rip tide with 50 pounds of wet laundry strapped across his back - so Im not too peeved about it.
Question remains though - who gets the bump? Moss, Glencross and Bourque are all lights out right now. Iginla is Iginla and Langkow is holding things together from the second like, despite what his relatively lackluster counting numbers might suggest. Cammalleri is putting up points because he's finally getting the kind of minutes his ability demands.
Then there's Bertuzzi. Yeah, he's been unlucky so far. You know what? The guys a lead weight even when the bounces are going his way. Ideally, I'd like to see Bert demoted down to the 4th unit at ES. Give him minutes away from anyone of consequence and then feed him a bunch of PP time.
Short term, I dont know how much better Boyd actually is relative to Bertuzzi, to tell you the truth. I know I personally like Boyd's game better, but that could be all in my head. In the long run though, I think it would be advisable for the org to promote and develop Boyd aggressively this season, especially in light of his apparent step forward. The kid is a much more integral piece of the puzzle and should be given as much water and time on the window sill as possible.
Bert, on the other hand, is clearly a stop-gap measure - and not a very good one at that. He's been sloping downwards for years. He won't be improving and won't be around next season. Use him like a sailor on leave uses the red-light district - short-term gratification is the only relevant concern. Use him where he's effective (PP), shelter him where he's weak (everywhere else) and don't allow him to sink the big boys (Iginla). Give the kids the much needed ice time to grow and improve.
Anyways, since we know this ain't going to happen, probable line-ups? I anticipate:
Cammalleri-Lombardi-Iginla
Bert-Langkow-Moss
Glencross-Conroy-Bourque
Nystrom-Boyd-Roy
With Glencross/Lombardi perhaps interchangeable. Book it.
