Earlier today, Stephen Whyno posted a story on how the Flyers are expected to sit Andreas Nodl and Nikolay Zherdev as healthy scratches for tonight’s game. Part of this is a result of the Flyers finally having everybody “healthy”, or at least healthy enough to play.
Presumably, this means Coach Laviolette will roll with these lines:
Hartnell – Briere – Leino
van Riemsdyk – Giroux – Carter
Versteeg – Richards – Carcillo
Shelley – Betts – Powe
Put aside the obvious claims of “Geoff’s biased” for a second and ask yourself: Is there ever an excuse to have both Jody Shelley and Dan Carcillo in the lineup when the entire team is healthy?
The most likely answer is “to give the team energy.” Even if true, that doesn’t address the redundancy in playing both Carcillo and Shelley. Sure, both Nodl (1 goal, 1 assist in last 18 games) and Zherdev (1 goal, 1 assist in last 15 games) have slumped recently. But scratching them both at the same time? So that Dan Carcillo and Jody Shelley can play?
If this happens, what exactly should be read into it? Is it as simple as “sitting slumping players”? Is it even as simple as “lighting a fire under Nodl and Zherdev” for when they come back in the lineup? Is it a calculated effort to bring some energy tonight? Or is it a Coach saying the slump ends now?
If you chose either option C or D, and the solution is to take two better hockey players out of the lineup for two “energy guys”, maybe the attitude in the locker room was worse than we thought.
