11:26AM: Adam Fox joins Barclay Goodrow, Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider, and Mika Zibanejad as Alternate Captains for this season.
Filip Chytil and Alexis Lafreniere are both skating today in non-contact jerseys. (Stephenson)
The lines being used today are (Stephenson):
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- Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, Kaapo Kakko
- Artemi Panarin, Filip Chytil, Will Cuylle
- Alexis Lafreniere, Vincent Trocheck, Blake Wheeler
- Barclay Goodrow, Nick Bonino, Tyler Pitlick
Adam Rotter: Fox is very deserving of an “A”, though a rotation of five players is a bit strange. This is down the line, but I don’t think anyone would be shocked at all if he eventually succeeds Jacob Trouba as the Captain.
We’ll see what the lines look like when both Chytil and Lafreniere are in regular jerseys, but Will Cuylle is an interesting option next to Panarin and Chytil. He could potentially do a lot of the dirty work to open up space for those two. If that is the case though then Lafreniere ends up on the left side on the third line, which, is not top-six, but if that is the spot where he will be most comfortable and at his best for this season, then so be it.