Devante Smith-Pelly will replace the suspended Tom Wilson on the Capitals first line

Wednesday night, the Capitals’ top six suffered a major blow when the NHL’s Department of Player Safety suspended forward Tom Wilson for three games.

In the regular season, Wilson was the team’s most improved and chaotic player, registering career highs in goals, assists, and points. In the playoffs, Wilson built on his stellar #rego play, tallying seven points (2g, 5a) in nine games. The burly winger has created time and space for Evgeny Kuznetsov and Alex Ovechkin.

Thursday morning, Barry Trotz adjusted the Capitals lines ahead of Game Four and chose to promote grinder Devante Smith-Pelly (2g, 1a) to the top line. Jakub Vrana was bumped from the fourth line to the third.

Caps AM skate lines:

Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-DSP
Stephenson-Backstrom-Oshie
Connolly-Eller-Vrana
Gersich-Beagle-Chiasson

Kempny-Carlson
Orlov-Niskanen
Orpik-Djoos

Holtby in the starter’s net.

— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) May 3, 2018

Rookie Shane Gersich will make his NHL postseason debut.

.@shane_gersich9 slated to make his #StanleyCup Playoff debut tonight in Game 4. #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/CDFnVFnvJP

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) May 3, 2018

The trio of Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Tom Wilson has been the team’s best in the postseason and stepped up their play from the regular season. During a little over 118 minutes at 5v5, the line has a dominant 56.0 shot attempts percentage. They’ve been on the ice for eight goals and six against.

The trio of Ovechkin, Kuznetsov, and Smith-Pelly struggled with pushing play during the regular season and were underwater in goals percentage, but perhaps Trotz wanted a more physical player to mimic Wilson’s success.

P means postseason, RS means regular season. Numbers from Natural Stat Trick.

But one mitigating factor in those low numbers of a Devante Smith-Pelly first line might be Brooks Orpik.

If DSP truly does go to the top line, please for the love of all things hockey god keep them away from Brooks Orpik pic.twitter.com/8RNDBIGIdP

— Chris Cerullo (@CJC_95) May 2, 2018

Putting Vrana on the top line could also be a good solution if DSP does not work out. The trio outscored their opposition 7 to 3 during 94 5v5 minutes, despite poor possession numbers.

What do you think?

Headline photo: Cara Bahniuk