MacLean Does Some Lineup Juggling, Trying To Find Offense

Looking for offense, Ottawa Senators coach Paul MacLean did some juggling of his lines at Monday’s practice.

Here is how the forwards lined up, without Peter Regin and Guillaume Latendresse, as tweeted by various members of the media:

Milan Michalek – Mika Zibanejad – Daniel Alfredsson

Colin Greening – Kyle Turris – Jakob Silfverberg

Erik Condra – Zack Smith – Chris Neil

Jim O’Brien  – Stephane Da Costa – Kaspars Daugavins

Michalek and Alfredsson will be reunited on Tuesday.. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

This morning’s practice, according to those in attendance, lasted almost an hour and featured many drills aimed at getting the puck and traffic to the net.

With Regin out for Tuedsay (at least) this could be how the team lines up against the Sabres.  If Alfredsson can get Michalek going, I am all for it, because as I said yesterday, Jason Spezza’s Absence For The Ottawa Senators” href=”https://senshot.com/2013/02/10/wheres-milo-milan-michalek-must-step-up-in-jason-spezzas-absence-for-the-ottawa-senators/” target=”_blank”>#9 has been invisible since Jason Spezza’s surgery.

Getting Turris away from the #1 matchup will help him, because I am not sure he was ready for it.  However, throwing Zibanejad in that role is a stop-gap measure, because I know he is not ready for it.  He will be a better winger, but right now the need for him to play the middle is there, and his flexibility to shift over that way.

Although, if need be, Zibanejad will not likely be taking many defensive zone faceoffs.  Look for some shuffling in their own end, and if MacLean can’t get Zibanejad off (after an icing for example) look for Alfredsson to step in for those faceoffs.  Alfredsson has won 26 of 58 faceoffs he took last year and early on this season.  Better than Zibanejad’s 20% this year in limited opportunites (although he was 44% in his 9 games last season).

Craig Anderson will get the start in net for the Senators.