Devils coach Brent Sutter said the team will dress 21 players -- 12 forwards, seven defensemen and two goalies -- for warmups for today's game agianst the Rangers because he wasn't sure what lineup he wanted to go with. If he goes with seven defensemen, it would be the same seven as the last two games with Johnny Oduya as a healthy scratch. If it's 12 forwards, left wing Mike Rupp will dress for the first time since the Devils' last game against the Rangers on Nov. 14.
"We have a pretty good feeling of what we want to do, but you want to get through warmup," Sutter said. "I want to make it 100 percent sure. I'd say we're 99.9 and the player that is likely to dress tonight we want to make sure we give him enough time for tomorrow (in Washington) because we play back to back."
Martin Brodeur will start his 12th game in a row today, but Sutter left open the possibility of starting backup Kevin Weekes in Washington. "I'll make (the decision) tomorrow morning," Sutter said.
I don't understand why we have to roll 4 lines just because the Rangers do. The Devils should dictate what their opponent does, not the other way around. Why change the lineup strategy that has won 9 straight games? The last time Rupp was in the lineup was against the Rangers... when the Devils LOST!
Posted by: frankiedue | December 09, 2007 at 04:29 PM
There is a better way to look at it. We have never lost when dressing 7 dmen. Why mess with karma?
Posted by: Eric | December 09, 2007 at 04:55 PM
Rupp hasn't played in 10 games. What good will he do tonight? Just keep going with 7 d-men...it's been great. A lot of teams roll 4 lines, not only the Rangers.
Posted by: Devilswede | December 09, 2007 at 04:56 PM
i don't see what the difference is btwn rolling 4 lines and dressing 7 defensemen. If u play 12 forwards, yea some other guys will get a rest.. but theres 11 other forwards to choose from.. with 7 dmen, theres only 6 other defensemen.. so really the rest is being spread out more evenly if 7 defensemen are dressed, increasing overall performance and rest for the defense.
Posted by: matt | December 09, 2007 at 05:04 PM
Hey TG any word on why Vishnevski didn't dress?
Posted by: Pat D'Amico | December 09, 2007 at 06:01 PM
Healthy scratch. He took warm-ups.
Posted by: TG | December 09, 2007 at 08:56 PM
So Rupp keeps getting the shaft since we need 7 d-men rather than 6 to play the game of hockey.
Are you kidding!!!...the problem is that we have 4 top-4 d-men in White, Martin, Vishy and Rachunek...but they are all "4s"...we have NO TOP 2s which is what won us 3 Cups.
Lou please make a trade, lest we remain a 1 playoff round and out team!!!!!!!
Posted by: Scott | December 11, 2007 at 01:21 PM