The move was so subtle, I have to admit I didn' t notice it at practice on Tuesday. But Zach Parise will be skating at center in tonight's game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, swapping spots with Dainius Zubrus, who will move to left wing with Arron Asham staying at right wing on the line.
Parise, who played center until being switched to left wing early in his rookie NHL season of 2005-06, said he got the word he was moving back to the middle before practice on Tuesday. This move might be more about Zubrus, though. He has played wing and center in his career, but has yet to have an impact in the middle for the Devils, posting only two assists in his first two games.
"It's a situation with Zach where we want to try something a little different just not with him, but with (Zubrus) also," head coach Brent Sutter said. "Zube's been able to play both center and wing and he's had success at center in the past and he's had success as a winger too."
Sutter was on the ice for the morning skate today after missing practice the past two days while battling the flu.
Defenseman Sheldon Brookbank will be the odd man out again tonight. Martin Brodeur gets the start in net. Backup Kevin Weekes said he hasn't been told anything about starting Thursday's game in Philadelphia, though assistant coach Larry Robinson said Tuesday that is the plan.
There's no official word yet on rookie right wing Nicklas Bergfors being sent to Lowell, which hosts Providence tonight.
The forwards lines and defense pairings from the morning skate:
Forwards: Elias-Zajac-Gionta; Zubrus-Parise-Asham; Pandolfo-Madden-Clarkson; Rupp-Pelley-Brylin.
Defense: Martin-Oduya; Greene-Rachunek; Vishnevski-Mottau; Brookbank (extra).
A number of us fans have thought about Parise centering instead of Zubrus. Zubrus is left handed which would make Left wing natural for him. Parise is also really good in the corners so that line just got 100% better in terms of potential. How it works in reality we'll have to see tonight.
Posted by: MoonDragn | October 17, 2007 at 02:59 PM
I like this move. Parise has improved a lot since his rookie year and now that he has adapted to being an NHLer it is right that he moves back to his natural position. Zubrus hasn't been great nor bad this year in my opinion, but hopefully this is a move that helps him be better than average.
I'd still like to see Madden moved to LW for a few more games to try that experiment out since it worked well in the pre-season and he looked good there in the opener.
Posted by: Brian | October 17, 2007 at 03:03 PM
I really like this move. I think Zubrus is better on the wing and it’s time to see how well Zach can play at center in the NHL. Hopefully this will be a spark for this line.
I’d just like to see Sutter stick with these lines for a few games, especially the top line of Elias – Zajac – Gionta…at least until Bergfors is ready to play again.
TG – keep up the great work!
Posted by: HBK27 | October 17, 2007 at 03:15 PM
can some please tell me why Oduya is on the top pairing with Martin ?
Posted by: Jersey Mike | October 17, 2007 at 04:34 PM
I would like to see a line of Elias-Parise-Gionta get a chance. They have the potential to score 100 goals between them over 82 games.
Madden is a Selke winning centericeman. Why would you want him at left wing Brian? It worked well for him when he scored a pair of goals after being moved back to the position he has played well for seven seasons in New Jersey.
Posted by: Don Lamoriello | October 17, 2007 at 04:37 PM
This just cracks me up. Honestly. I've been making so much noise about the Zajac-Parise connection for the last week, and now Sutter pulls this crap! (Although I like the idea of Parise at center A LOT) Now, it's basically going to be impossible to get those two on the ice together unless Zajac becomes a right wing. Not gonna happen.
Now my only hope is for Zach to do poorly at center so that he's moved back to wing and have Zubrus step up big time and go to the first line. I simply have to get the notion that Zajac and Parise should skate together out of my head entirely.
p.s. Parise wins at least 75% of his faceoffs tonight. Guaranteed.
Posted by: Maxwell | October 17, 2007 at 06:06 PM
Don,
I felt that Madden worked well as a LW in the pre-season. He showed some scoring touch and Pelley showed that he is capable of handling the 3rd line ice time. Now that Sutter is big on rolling 4 lines and not playing the matching game, I think it is worth a shot to see how it would work out over a couple of games in the regular season. I think moving Madden to LW can help balance out the lines and give the Devils a more serviceable fourth line with Pandolfo dropping down. If the experiment fails they could always go back to the Pandolfo-Madden combo, but I don't see how the experiment could hurt the team. Its suited for this new system they are playing.
Elias-Parise-Gionta line would be insane, but I almost feel that would be putting all of their eggs in one basket. If that line had an off night, then the team would be in trouble. I have liked the chemistry that Elias and Zajac have so hopefully they stick together. When Langenbrunner comes back the Devils should be pretty balanced on the top two lines.
Does anyone think Vishnevski and Martin should be paired together? They looked good in the opener and I think their style's complement each other well. I'd much rather see that than Oduya on the top pair. Still, without White, the defense is not looking good. Hopefully he makes a full recovery and we can see a top 4 along the lines of:
White-Martin
Vishnevski-Greene
Posted by: Brian | October 17, 2007 at 06:07 PM