Just two games into the 2021 season, and Nashville Predators head coach John Hynes appears to be quick on the trigger when it comes to some of the younger players on his roster.
In a 3-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena, Hynes pulled 20-year-old forward Philip Tomasino out of the lineup in favor of Rocco Grimaldi. And the following day, the Predators sent 22-year-old center Cody Glass to the Milwaukee Admirals.
Both players had been playing on the fourth line with 28-year-old Nick Cousins.
“There’s a lot of things that go into it,” Hynes said after Saturday’s game regarding his patience with his line combinations. “What’s the chemistry like? Are they winning shifts? What are their opportunities for and against looking like? So, a lot of it is just trying to make sure that you give guys an opportunity to do it. But if something is not working, then I think you want to change it.
“But I also think you don’t just want to have a knee-jerk reaction to it. Sometimes part of coaching and working with the players is, if you like certain combinations, maybe something's not going as well as it needs to. Sometimes you can sit together as a line with one of the coaches and talk about certain things. Maybe they’re not playing as connected as they need to be. But we basically do that after every game.”
Benching possibly the most talented forward prospect the franchise has ever drafted one game after making his NHL debut would seem to be a knee-jerk reaction if there ever was one. And sending the former No. 6 overall pick to the American Hockey League after just two games appears be a close second.
Perhaps Hynes’ issue wasn’t that either played particularly badly. Maybe it was that neither produced anywhere close to his expectations, thus the quick trigger on yanking both from the lineup.
“I wouldn’t say [there’s] growing pains at all; it’s finding chemistry,” center Ryan Johansen said of the Predators’ younger players. “Our new guys, our young guys, they’re working. There’s line combinations they’ve never played with before. They’re just getting used to each other, trying to find some chemistry and how each other play, and sometimes that takes a while.”
Tomasino’s debut yielded one shot and a -1 rating in just 10:34 of ice time, while Glass registered a single shot and averaged 11:28 of ice time in two appearances. But how much should the fact that both players — who are projected as high-end top-six forwards — were relegated to the fourth line be held against them?
It doesn’t seem reasonable — at least through only two games — to expect much from a line that usually averages eight to 10 minutes per night, typically in physically demanding, defensive-minded situations.
“Of course, you hope the first shift it just clicks; that’s not really how it works all the time,” Johansen continued. “Our young guys are very smart and intelligent, and we have great kids and they’re going to do a lot of good things for our club.”
While it’s not known if Tomasino will be in the lineup for Tuesday’s game against the Los Angeles Kings, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him back on the ice against a team that he is better suited to play against matchup-wise.
With Glass in Milwaukee, the Predators could slide Tomasino — a natural centerman — into the center-ice spot, or perhaps they could move Cousins there as well. While Grimaldi is likely the leading candidate to claim the final forward spot, Mathieu Olivier, who's been on injured reserve for the last week, shouldn't be ruled out either.
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