Home / News / Andre Burakovsky promoted to top line as Barry Trotz shuffles lines ahead of Western Canada road trip

Andre Burakovsky promoted to top line as Barry Trotz shuffles lines ahead of Western Canada road trip

By Spenser Smallwood

 0 Comment

October 24, 2016 1:20 pm

Five games into the regular season, the Washington Capitals have accumulated seven out of a possible 10 standings points. On Monday, Head Coach Barry Trotz subtlety changed the lines to try and create more offense.

Andre Burakovsky has been bumped to the top line along with Evgeny Kuznetsov and Alex Ovechkin while TJ Oshie has been shifted down to the team’s second line with Nicklas Backstrom and Marcus Johansson.

The new lines

Per Tarik El Bashir:

Ovechkin – Kuznetsov – Burakovsky
Johansson – Backstrom – Oshie
Sanford – Eller – Williams
Connolly – Beagle – Wilson

Brett Connolly has also been moved down to an alternate on the fourth line. The defense pairings remained the same.

Observations

  • The promotion of Burakovsky breaks up the Capitals dominant second line.

That second line was used as the defensive stopper for the Caps. While they held a large lead in shot attempt differential, scoring chance differential and shot differential, the line had not been as stellar keeping the puck out of the net. Backstrom was on the ice for two of the Rangers even strength goals this Saturday and the line did not hold an edge in goals for percentage at even strength. While some of that can be explained by luck and a small sample size, Barry Trotz may have seen something in Burakovsky’s game to make the change.

  • The promotion of Burakovsky reunites the Ovechkin, Burakovsky tandem.

While the analytics from this season may experience some small sample size bias, the stat above does not. The combination of Burakovsky and Ovechkin is lethal offensively. Burakovsky has the speed and skill to stay with both Ovechkin and Kuznetsov in rush situations, but may be a bit worse in the corners compared to Oshie. One thing to keep an eye on is that this line will now have two wingers playing their off-wing. This means that they may not be quite as good defensively and on the breakout.

While the line juggling could easily be simply for practice before a long road trip, the new combos could lead to a better defensive second line and an even more offensively gifted first line. Looking ahead at the upcoming four straight road games, Barry Trotz will not be able to match lines as easily, so the Western Canada road trip might have gotten a little more interesting.

Headline photo: Jamie Squire

, ,