Richards and Carter: Linemates?

Mike Richards and Jeff Carter have seen some time together on the same line.  I’m not sure if I like this combination, so let’s weigh the pro’s and cons:

Pro’s:

• An extra center on the ice in case on gets tossed from the face-off circle
• Two highly skilled guys that can score
• Richards has a bonafide sniper to pass to
• Other lines will face weaker defense pairs

Cons:

• Both play better as centers than wings, each needs to control the puck to be effective
• Line depth significantly weaker
• Teams with better defensive depth can potentially shut them both down at once

I guess there is a strong case for both sides, but I remain against keeping them together unless it is late in the game and a goal is needed, or on powerplays.  I understand injuries are forcing Coach Stevens to get creative, but in general I’d prefer the following pairs together: Richards-Gagne, Carter-Hartnell, Giroux-Briere, with the third many on each line rotated as necessary.

Thanks for reading.

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