FanPost

Platooning




It's common in baseball--hardly a physically demanding sport--to platoon some players, that is, to rest players regularly or play them only against certain teams or pitchers.

Why isn't this done in the NHL, other than for old-fashioned reasons of "macho" ("real hockey players play every game")? Yes, baseball rosters are larger. Still, I'd think that platooning someone like E. Cole or T. Ruutu, who are prone to injury, or players who are old enough to get worn down (Samsonov, maybe even Corvo) would help the team. They could be scratched occasionally in back-to-back games, or played many fewer minutes occasionally on the fourth line--which might make for a very dangerous fourth line.

Some people might say "line chemistry", but I'm not sure I buy the notion of line chemistry in most cases, considering how often teams change line combinations.

I have never heard of teams analyzing which of their players do better (or worse) against particular opposing teams or goalies. This is common in baseball. If so-and-so just never seems to score against New Jersey, rest him against NJ and let someone else play. If player Z seems to play much better away, rest him for a home game occasionally. And so forth.

It's not like we don't have a lot of good players eager to get game experience! And Charlotte's not far away.