The New York Rangers have made drastic changes to their offensive line combinations.
During Saturday’s practice, Peter Laviolette formulated four new lines, completely changing things from the way they have been all season.
This is what the lines looked like:
Panarin-Zibanejad-Lafrenière
Kreider-Chytil-Kakko
Cuylle-Trocheck-Smith
Edström-Carrick-Vesey
Laviolette felt that New York’s offense wasn’t quite where he wanted it to be the last few games, which led to these changes.
“Just to change it up,” Laviolette said about why he shook up the rules. “I have looked at it differently in practice and we will talk about it again. I just wanted to check out some things.”
Some may view these changes as monumental and while that may be a good way to describe Laviolette’s decision, he feels like he only made a few small changes that seem bigger than they really are.
“As far as Lafrenière and Panarin are concerned, it was just one change,” Laviolette said. “As far as Filip and Kakko are concerned, it was just one change. If you move things around there will be some change, so we’ll see.
If the Rangers decide to stick with these new lines, the goal is to create a more balanced attack and jump-start the attacking play of players who have struggled to start the season.
The Rangers play the New York Islanders tomorrow and that game will be a big test for this new offensive unit.
