On Tuesday the Millers welcomed back F Jordan Martinook, signing the vet to a 2 year contract. He’ll make his debut on Sunday, taking the spot of Logan O’Connor on the 4th line. It’s hoped Martinook can bring some stability to the bottom 6, which has cycled through O’Connor, Ridley Grieg, Andreas Athanasiou and the departed Yanni Gourde as wingers in a desperate attempt to bring the right mix of steady defense and enough offense.
O’Connor joins Mario Ferraro as a player expected to be a steady contributor who has instead found himself as a healthy scratch. O’Connor has been strong on the penalty kill but his even-strength work has been atrocious, with just 4 points and a minus 9 in 20 games. Unlike Ferraro, whom the Millers are willing to eventually turn back to either later this season or next year, O’Connor has been rumored to be on the trading block.
Ferraro may return to the lineup soon, as the team is increasingly losing patience with Jake McCabe. After abandoning the pairing with K’Andre Miller and placing him with Shea Theodore, a run of spotty defensive play has the Millers now ready to try McCabe with Sean Walker. If the results aren’t there expect Ferraro to come back in and McCabe to sit or be traded.
It’s believed that the Millers would like to package McCabe and O’Connor together to bring in a winger who can play with Malkin or Larkin. The first line of Larkin-Coleman-Moore was broken up recently, with Coleman moving down to help Malkin, who has only 12 even-strength points in his 28 games. Mallkin, along with Coleman and Jake Neighbours, has been moderately better since the move, but the Larkin-Moore line has struggled as Dylan Guenther doesn’t appear ready for consistent top line minutes just yet, as he has a paltry 2 goals on 69 shots during even strength. The youngster is tied for the team lead in power plays goals so he’ll stay in the lineup even if a top 6 winger is brought in.
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