With a second consecutive day of practice before Friday's game against Montreal, the Wild spent Thursday morning getting used to the new line combinations coach Mike Yeo instituted Wednesday. No one was happier than Charlie Coyle, whom Yeo confirmed would rejoin the lineup Friday.
Coyle had missed 11 games because of a sprained knee. Thursday, he centered a line with one familiar face--left wing Zach Parise, a former Coyle linemate--and had Justin Fontaine and Dany Heatley taking turns on the right side. Coyle also worked with the first power-play unit, joining Parise and Mikko Koivu with Ryan Suter and Jason Pominville at the points.
Coyle said he could feel the knee getting better every day as he did workouts and physical therapy. Lots of time on the bike kept his conditioning from slipping, though he said his legs were not quite in game shape because he couldn't do a lot of "stride stuff" on the ice. "That was the hardest part," Coyle said. "I'm on the right track."
He also likes the new lines because "there's a little of everything on each line." That's just what Yeo was going for. The coach said Thursday that even though the new combinations don't feature a clearly defined checking line, strong defensive play throughout the lineup means that role can be played by any threesome. With everyone taking responsibility in that area, Yeo felt he could mix and match freely in an effort to spark more scoring.
"Part of the reason behind it is we feel we have anybody we can put out against anybody," Yeo said. "If (Mikael Granlund) was not playing as well defensively as he has ... He's proven he can be on the ice against anybody and defend against anybody. Likewise, there's no reason why (Coyle) shouldn't be very effective at that, too. (He has) a big body, he's a smart hockey player, he moves well. He understands the structure we play with, so we expect him to be like that. And obviously Mikko, we have no concerns about him going against top guys. We should feel comfortable with any line going out against anybody."
Much of Thursday's focused, fast-paced practice was dedicated to developing familiarity with the new groupings. In addition to the Coyle line, the others are: Matt Cooke-Granlund-Pominville, Nino Niederreiter-Koivu-Kyle Brodziak, and Fontaine/Heatley-Zenon Konopka-Torrey Mitchell.
One issue Yeo will have is transitioning between the power play and even strength. He's mixing things up there, too, using players from several different lines on both units. The second unit features defensemen Jared Spurgeon and Keith Ballard at the points, with Niederreiter, Granlund and Heatley.
"That's tricky," Yeo said. "It's something we'll have to look at a little bit there and keep an eye on. It's something, certainly, we discussed. If you have a line out there for 40 seconds and they draw a power play, that's going to be pretty tough. To have a tired player go out there, that doesn't benefit anybody. We wanted to try that today, and we've got to figure some stuff out. We have to make sure we use this opportunity to try to figure out what are the best options for us."
