Curtis McKenzie will get his first NHL action tonight against the Flyers. According to the projected lineups he's going to start out with Horcoff and Fiddler. I've been banging on recently about getting him into the action and was hoping he could line up with one of the top 2 lines but game action is game action. And since Ruff will juggle lines if need be maybe he will get a shot with Benn and Seguin or Spezza and Hemsky.
The projected lineup from Mark Stepneski
Benn - Seguin - Eaves
Cole - Spezza - Hemsky
Roussel - Eakin - Garbutt
Horcoff - Fiddler - McKenzie
Goligoski - Daley
Benn - Dillon
Connauton - Nemeth
Lehtonen
Sceviour and Oleksiak are the scratches. That's four out of five where Oleksiak has been scratched which further re-enforces that he's only there as injury insurance or to draw in to let Nemeth or Connauton rest. Once Gonchar is back I would expect Oleksiak will be headed back down to Cedar Park. At least he gets to work with and against NHL talent in practice and gets coaching from Ruff and his staff. Still the time back in the AHL will be the best for his long-term development.