With Oduya possibly ailing, could we see Coach Q go to 7 defensemen? It's worked for Cooper, but it is a unorthodox move in today's NHL.
For a lot of 2013-14, Coach Jon Cooper went with seven defensemen in the lineup. It allowed Cooper and his coaching staff to manage the minutes of his defensemen (a group that included lead-footed liabilities such as Eric Brewer and Sami Salo along with guys with fewer NHL minutes to their name like Radko Gudas, Mark Barberio and Andrej Sustr) and put them into positions to succeed.