DEVILS

17 Yegor Sharangovich - 86 Jack Hughes - 21 Kyle Palmieri
44 Miles Wood - 19 Travis Zajac - 59 Janne Kuokkanen
97 Nikita Gusev - 37 Pavel Zacha - 39 Nick Merkley
11 Andreas Johnsson - 20 Michael McLeod - 14 Nathan Bastian

22 Ryan Murray - 76 P.K. Subban
70 Dmitry Kulikov - 28 Damon Severson
24 Ty Smith - 7 Matt Tennyson

41 Scott Wedgewood
[1 Eric Comrie]
​
PP1: Sharagovich, Hughes, Wood, Palmieri, Subban
PP2: Johnsson, Zacha, Gusev, Smith, Severson​

Scratches: 5 Connor Carrick (healthy), Will Butcher (healthy), 13 Nico Hischier (leg), 29 Mackenzie Blackwood (COVID-19 protocol), 45 Sami Vatanen (COVID-19 protocol), 63 Jesper Bratt (COVID-19 protocol).

Pims are completely irrelevant to me, one of his penalties was literally him just being stronger than the guy he forearm shivered. And you're wrong about him being the worst on scoring chance difference. Actually look at the analytics which tell the story. He's 3rd on our D in all of CF%, SF%, SCF% and most importantly xGF% at 5v5, behind only Kuli and Sevo in all of those stats. xGF% is by far the most important and Kuli/Sevo lead our D at 62% and 58% respectively, then PK is 3rd at 45%. Ty Smith is sitting at the 2nd worst on the entire team at 37% playing in a sheltered/limited role, only ahead of Gusev. I dont get the slander on PK, hes been fine.
- vlongo4419

I agree. He's been better than last season, at least to the eye test.. idk the advanced stats. Murray is the perfect partner to help cover his deficiencies. I'm waiting for him to get injured. That should get Butcher in the lineup. Smith you can tell struggles defensively; those numbers don't lie. But he at least looks like a bad NHL player, as opposed to someone that contributes nothing and doesn't belong. Looking forward to how he'll develop. We can't forget he's just 20.. will be 21 in March, which is young for a D rookie.

I agree. He's been better than last season, at least to the eye test.. idk the advanced stats. Murray is the perfect partner to help cover his deficiencies. I'm waiting for him to get injured. That should get Butcher in the lineup. Smith you can tell struggles defensively; those numbers don't lie. But he at least looks like a bad NHL player, as opposed to someone that contributes nothing and doesn't belong. Looking forward to how he'll develop. We can't forget he's just 20.. will be 21 in March, which is young for a D rookie.
- MartysBetter88

Agreed, both the Murray and Kuli adds have been good so far. If Murray can stay healthy im all for giving him an extension, hes so steady out there. As for Smith i agree too, hes only going to keep getting better. Im not dissing on Smith or saying he's playing like crap, but he needs a lot of work at 5v5 defensively/without the puck before we can put him as a defacto top 4 player. Just let him keep playing the role hes in, give him the top PP unit minutes over PK, and just let him keep doing his thing and developing.

Rememer all the grief I was given for saying P.K. should start on the 3rd pairing. I don't care what his cap hit is, he is a horrible D. Worst on our starting roster in almost every situation. Smith has 6 points, +5 rating trough 5 games playing a limited role. P.K has almost double the TOI, 1 point, -2 rating, leads the team in minors, and that Trent Frederick soundbite basically sums up his toughness.

Let the kid's play. P.K has proven that he doesn't belong in the top 4, and Butch ain't far behind. I don't expect a ton from this squad, and seeing the young guys thriving is a win as far as I am concerned, but it would be nice for the big $$$ guys to at least show up.
- bikeguy99

The idea is probably to shelter their minutes so they don’t create bad habits on a poop team.