[HockeyBasedNYC]

I'm always careful with setting lineups and combos before the season starts. For a lot of reasons, but mainly because of chemistry. You can have a 4th liner work on a first line. You just dont know why sometimes.

But ill entertain the discussion. Not against Dubi being on the first. Why not. He gets in there on the wing, protects the puck, can distribute, playmake. But Richards is the real playmaker, and in a perfect world, it would be nice to have a right-handed shot on that side for the passes coming cross ice. But now you're getting nitpicky, and thats exactly why its not necessary to get crazy with combos.

Dubinksy might as well be better served doing his thing on his "own" line, where he really makes his presence felt. Gaborik and Richards are going to command so much of the ice (provided they are actually on the same line, which is a completely different discussion in itself. Our luck - Gabby has absolutely no chemistry with him - and that might very well be the case) so its almost like you want to put a "filler" guy up there who crashes the net well.

And to be honest, im not sure if line combos mean much during the season either, given that the Rangers coach is John "i change lines like i change my underwear" Tortorella. He feels the game from the bench and whether you agree with it or not, his style is complete in-game management with his lines. I'm not sure how Torts used Richards when he had him, and what kind of players he surrounded him with - but a guy like Fedotenko might fit with those two simply because hes "in" the play, is around the puck, is involved in a lot of scoring chances, is repsonsible defensively and is trusted. He was also involved in more scoring chances than most of the players on the team last year.