Hard to be a fan of Prust on the "2nd line". It's like WillieD is recognizing the problem that Bae-Bo-Vrbata line has had in the lack of a "heavy" player or a real effective "forecheck" from the wing...which is good. But unfortunately, while Prust might be kind of along the right idea in that physical presence aspect...it's not really a very good fit on balance of that component PLUS skill and speed to get in effectively with Bo.
Can't say i love the way they seem to have Virtanen pegged to the 4th line for his minutes either. Just doesn't seem like a role where he can really spread his wings and work on expanding his total game (namely, the offensive side of things).
Sitting Sven is fine with me, though we could really use his skill...if he's not going to be hard enough on pucks and do the unpleasant work, he can sit for a bit and have pillowfights with Weber in the pressbox.
Burrows-McCann-Hansen makes a ton of sense, and i can definitely understand keeping that trio together, even possibly at the expense of that other line. Playing Center as a young rookie is a big ask, and those two wingers are terrific for insulating him as much as possible - plus, fit in just fine offensively, giving McCann some solid help at both ends.
Just seems to me, the better solution would be effectively swapping Prust and Virtanen's spots. Keep that 4th line together and let them grind it out like they've been doing. And let Virtanen play forechecking missile and have some more leash to work with offensively...let Bo help carry him. Though perhaps the team are just really worried about potentially overloading Jake this early, by expecting him to play either wing within the system here. One thing at a time i guess. It's too bad though, if that's the case.
