DENVER — Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice tried it during the game against the New York Islanders, liked what he saw, and will go with it again tonight against the Colorado Avalanche: Rod Brind'Amour on the wing.
Brind'Amour will play the left wing on Matt Cullen's line, with Scott Walker on the right side. Maurice also will open with Chad LaRose and Ray Whitney on Eric Staal's line, and Jussi Jokinen centering Tuomo Ruutu and Sergei Samsonov. The fourth line is unchanged.
Maurice noted that Brind'Amour played some left wing while with the Philadelphia Flyers before coming to Carolina in January 2000, although long-time Hurricanes observers don't recall him ever starting on a wing for the Canes.
"Most of all there's a comfort level with him, that he felt comfortable," Maurice said of the Canes captain. "And I liked a lot of his game. He had two or three shots in tight, which is a good sign for him.
"He easily picked up his positioning in the defensive zone, which is what you're most concerned about when you move a guy around. In the offensive zone there's so much movement it's pretty standard. Everybody does every job in the offensive zone, but in the defensive zone it's a lot more defined as to what your job is, and he looked comfortable out there."
In an official scoring change, Brind'Amour was credited with the primary assist on Matt Cullen's power-play goal against the Islanders on Wednesday night. That took away an assist from Staal, preventing Staal from notching his first multi-point game of the season.
LaRose has neither a goal nor an assist in the first eight games. He was moved to Staal's line in the third period against the Isles after starting with Walker and Cullen.
"It was the first time I had a good feeling behind the bench of where we were at," Maurice said of the 4-3 shootout loss to the Islanders, when the Canes rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the third. "Even down two goals, there's always a feeling and sense as to where your players are at.
"We played well in the Pittsburgh game. It was an exciting game. But there's still parts of our offense you're not comfortable with. But the last two periods of the Islanders game was the first time I felt a little comfort level."
A Raleigh native, Chip has worked at the N&O since 1979 and is the Canes beat writer. He can be reached at 
Comments
Brindy did
Fri, 10/23/2009 - 22:57 — esteban1949seem to be able to contribute more in that posistion...and despite tonights loss...Mo ought to come out with the same line up the canes had against Colrado...minus Ruutu...as i as sure the NHL will bench & possibly fine him...even though we all know ruutu would never do anythinglike that on purpose. i wonder if gleason will suit up for the Wild...hmmm..Go Canes !!
Brindy
Fri, 10/23/2009 - 15:48 — GoShelfI like this and am excited to see how this works. It says a lot about a player when he's willing to play whatever position the team needs him to play. I can't see how having 2 centers on our 2nd line will hurt us, it's not like we're having to move a natural winger to center on our 3rd line, Jussi familiar with playing in the middle and should not have any problems adjusting. You have to wonder who will take d-zone faceoffs.