Since leaving for their five-game road trip the Nashville Predators have posted a 1-3 record with one more game to be played in Winnipeg.
However, while the results continue to roll in Nashville has been experimenting with its lineup. Partly due to a handful of injuries 12 games into the season.
Head coach Andrew Brunette said on Robby & Rexrode that defenseman Ryan McDonagh could return against the Jets after missing the last two games and center Cody Glass is “real close” to returning having not played since Oct. 19.
Defenseman Luke Schenn is still “a little ways away” from playing Brunette stated on his weekly call into the morning show. A fairly healthy group has maintained to stay together throughout the excursion out west and into Canada.
There is one roadblock coming into the frame as each injured skater inches toward getting back. Nashville has three forwards who have been alternating in and out of the lineup with limited opportunity to showcase their abilities.
Forwards Sam Fagemo, Liam Foudy, and Philip Tomasino have been the ones subject to Brunette’s decisions so far. On the trip, Tomasino has been scratched three times while Fagemo has been twice and Foudy has played in each game.
Foudy has seen an even split playing on the third line and fourth line while away from Nashville rushing up and down the ice. He got on the scoresheet at Calgary assisting on the first goal of the game and then back in Vancouver as Colton Sissons cashed in his fifth goal.
General manager Barry Trotz has to make a decision when forward Cody Glass comes back. Nashville’s roster is at its limit with two players on injured reserve and Trotz was transparent on Tuesday when he joined Stillman & Company when asked about how to handle the dilemma with Tomasino.
“There’s a frustration level with the player ‘I can’t get anything done and my coach doesn’t trust me.’ Now a coach doesn’t because you’re turning the puck over and that’s the time where you have to reset and evaluate and say listen let’s get your game back and find the joy and see you get those minutes that you need so you can get the confidence,” Trotz said.
“There’s no one that can walk over and hand you a bucket of confidence. You would have to go out and create your own confidence. Some of it is on the situation and some of it is on the player. That’s really between the coaching staff, the player, and the agent because they have a really good rapport with their players trying to figure out what’s best for the player.”
In Tomasino’s one game on the trip, he had just north of 11 minutes of playing time on 13 shifts. His three shots this season are just a microcosm of how this campaign has gone for the Mississauga, Canada native.
Willy Daunic said on Caroline, Willy & D-Mase while talking to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on Thursday afternoon that it looks like Philip Tomasino will get back in the lineup against Winnipeg. If so this will be his second game of the road trip.
Tomasino is one of four active players on the roster who can be sent down to the American Hockey League in Milwaukee. Nothing is certain but as Trotz said creating your own confidence is what can come out of the predicament.
Soon enough a tough decision will be made as this roster continues to get back to 100%.
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