Anyone watching the NHL Western Conference Finals so far has seen the same thing.
The Chicago Blackhawks just look better than the San Jose Sharks.
It would be naive to think that tweaking line or defensive combinations, or inserting role players who have been scratched in place of the current line-up, would change that fact.
San Jose will have to make changes in their strategy , and their execution, to win four of five and take the series.
A personnel shakeup can give the Hawks new problems to deal with, and could force Chicago to make adjustments. San Jose's move could take the Blackhawks out of their comfortable, successful pattern. This could narrow the gap between the two teams—a gap that is fairly narrow to begin with.
In terms of personnel tinkering, the easiest is juggling the lines.
I would give Scott Nichol, who has speed, energy, checks hard, and gets under the skin of the opposition, more playing time.
Moving him from the fourth line makes sense. Someone would have to be moved down to make room for Nichol.
While the top line has been a combined minus-eight in the seri ...
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Article written by MJ Kasprzak
San Jose Sharks-Chicago Blackhawks: It’s Time To Make Some Personnel Changes
May 21st, 2010 by MJ Kasprzak Leave a reply »
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