You know, it just wouldn’t feel like Joel Quenneville behind the bench without some line changes. From the Denver Post:

Ryan Smyth is a hockey player who has been around long enough to know when he needs to be a diplomat. The Avalanche’s biggest offseason free-agent signee might not be thrilled at playing on his third line combination since training camp, but he’s not about to openly criticize coach Joel Quenneville.

This time, I find it hard to disagree with making a change, as the top line has been dogging it since in the first two games.

“Whatever Coach feels is best for the team, that’s what happens,” said Smyth, who will skate on the second line with Paul Stastny and Milan Hejduk today against San Jose at the Pepsi Center. “We weren’t clicking as well as we could have been, and sometimes that’s the way it goes.”

After two games in which his top line failed to record a point, Quenneville will have four new combinations against the Sharks. Smyth and Hejduk were dropped to a line with Stastny, and Andrew Brunette and Jaroslav Hlinka will skate with captain Joe Sakic.

So, Q is hoping that Brunette and Hlinka will work some magic with Joe Sakic, while Stastny will be good for Smyth. But is Q going to throw the baby out with the bath water? It’s fairly obvious that from the first game, the second line of Stastny, Brunette, and Hlinka were working just fine. Now, we get something entirely different. I understand the issues here. You only have so many players to choose from, especially ones you can trust on your first two lines. But how is this going to affect the line the goals are coming from?

Proof in the pudding tonight against the Sharks, 5:00 pm local.

The game is going to be broadcast on Yahoo Streaming tonight. Get that high speed internet connection ready.

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