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Devils stick with same lineup; should Kings make tweaks?

San Jose Sharks v Los Angeles Kings

LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 28: Simon Gagne #12 of the Los Angeles Kings fends off Justin Braun #61 of the San Jose Sharks around the net at Staples Center on November 28, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

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New Jersey Devils head coach Peter DeBoer didn’t make a ton of changes during the first three games of the 2012 Stanley Cup finals, simply inserting veterans Petr Sykora and Henrik Tallinder in the lineup in Game 4. It’s not a shocker that Tom Gulitti reports that the Devils stuck with the same lineup from the last two wins, then.

Of course, it’s only logical to ask if Darryl Sutter should make any changes to the Los Angeles Kings lineup. John Hoven believes that Sutter should replace Simon Gagne and Jordan Nolan with grinding forwards Kyle Clifford and Brad Richardson.

Feel free to dissent, but replacing Nolan with Clifford seems like a pretty inoffensive lateral move. To me, Richardson for Gagne is the most intriguing idea.

A shaky return?

At 100 percent, one could argue that Gagne is right up there - or maybe just a stride or two behind - guys like Jeff Carter as the most gifted “natural scorer” on the Kings roster. Yet as different as his game is from Manny Malhotra’s, the parallel between the two Cup finals returnees extends to their teams’ respective struggles.

If you want to ponder a wildly unfair stat, chew on this: the Kings are now 0-2 with Gagne in the lineup.

Finding the right mix

Again, I can’t state how unfair it would be to blame Gagne. Still, one could argue that Sutter “messed with a good thing” by injecting a guy who hadn’t played since December back into the mix. It’s probably worth mentioning that Gagne hasn’t played since Carter was acquired, so the team never really had a chance to see how another top-six-type forward would fit in within its current scheme.

Richardson isn’t the talent that Gagne is by any means, yet he’s a versatile forward who might make more sense on one of the bottom lines than a guy who has 283 regular season goals to his name. Of course, on the other hand, Gagne is a bad season away from being a 300-goal scorer.
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It’s a tough call, even if Sutter hasn’t really considered it himself. What do you think? Should the Kings and/or Devils make any changes to try to get an edge in Game 6?