Hard to glean too much from a practice where a key piece is missing so take this for what it’s worth. Alex Ovechkin is in Moscow for the funeral of an uncle. But Bruce Boudreau again had Mathieu Perreault on the second line with Alex Semin and Troy Brouwer. Could that be another message to Marcus Johansson, who centered Ovechkin’s line much of the preseason, but was skating on a wing in his place at Wednesday’s practice?
“I think the obvious answer is, yeah, we’d like to see more from [Johansson],” Boudreau said. “Maybe we expected too much from him at the start. He’s only a second-year guy – even though he played great the second half of last season. But I thought [Monday] was his best practice and I thought today he worked really hard.”
But Boudreau wouldn’t go so far as to call Johansson the “odd-man out” three days before the season opener against Carolina. We’ll have a better idea when Friday comes along and Ovechkin is expected back.
Boudreau did say he “really liked” the Chimera-Laich-Ward line from the Chicago game on Sunday and that the Hendricks-Halpern-Beagle line “looked really good as well.” Mike Knuble was back on the top line with Backstrom at Wednesday’s practice. That didn’t happen much late in preseason.
“I always think that Nicky and Alex in the end are meant for each other – so to speak,” Boudreau said. “They’ve played together for so long so I think that’s a fit. And who knows? Mike’s been on that line for two years and I think he’s the best early fit.”
Boudreau credited Perreault for bringing energy to his line and creating scoring chances and said he needed someone to do that for Alex Semin. Semin, by the way, has been back on the right wing at the last two practices after an experiment on the left side back in preseason. In that case, Brouwer would switch to the left side. Who will center them, for now, is still up in the air, though my best guess is it’s still Johansson.
“I was talking to Bruce a little bit yesterday, and I think he wants to change something to get something to happen,” Johansson said. “He wants to try something new. He’s the coach, so he decides.”
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