Columbus Blue Jackets Line Shuffle: How High is the 3rd Line’s Ceiling?
Columbus Blue Jackets have shuffled their lines ahead of tomorrow’s game and the 3rd line has an incredibly high ceiling.
After Saturday’s 4-0 loss at home, changes were sure to come for the Columbus Blue Jackets. From coaches to personnel, things have to change if this team wants to compete for the Stanley Cup which is the goal for this team.
The coaching staff has been shuffled and so have the lines according to Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch.
Mr. Hedger tweeted that in practice the top two lines remain the same but the third and fourth line have been reshaped with a third line that could grow into a deadly scoring line. Hedger reports that the third line in practice was Oliver Bjorkstrand – Alexander Wennberg – Anthony Duclair.
Columbus Blue Jackets
Through 29 games this year, all three young forwards have had stretches of brilliance and stretches of head scratching play. Bjork and Duclair have both been healthy scratched this year and Wennberg has been criticized for his play by the coaching staff, all due to the trio’s lack of checking.
The three can certainly skate and score though and that’s why it’s exciting to see these three put together. They all are fast and think the game at a very high level, especially Wennberg.
With scoring options like Duclair and Bjork on his wing, Wennberg should be expected to make a few plays tomorrow against Vancouver to open up his wingers for prime scoring opportunities.
The line should be deployed mostly during the offensive zone starts. The Canucks are giving up the sixth most goals per game and are a perfect team to give this line some confidence as they team up for the first time this year.
Even with a supposed poor start to the year, both Wennberg and Duclair are averaging just under a half point per game. Bjorkstrand is coming off a 40 point rookie campaign and he hasn’t forgot how to score. Alongside Duke and Wennberg, I expect Bjorkstrand to get not only some quality ice time, but some quality scoring chances.
Columbus Blue Jackets fans should be bullish on this line. They have an incredible amount of skill between them and as a third line, they should get some very favorable matchups against the less than stellar Canucks. If I were a gambling man I would be putting some coin down on one of these three to score tomorrow night.