Kopecky & Draper each change positions

Tomas Kopecky moved from wing to center while veteran Kris Draper went from center to left wing.

Kopecky will center the fourth line with Kirk Maltby and Dallas Drake as his wingers. Kopecky practiced taking faceoffs all summer while working out with other NHL players from Slovakia in Trencin. You might recognize some of the names: Zdeno Chara, Marian Hossa, Pavol Demitra, Marcel Hossa, and Marian Gaborik. He still has some learning to do with his new position and responsibilities, but Draper and Dan Cleary are doing their best to help him make the adjustment.

"I like it," said Kopecky. "You always have your head on the swivel to make plays. Right now, we've played two (scrimmage) games and I'm trying to get comfortable. I have to learn a lot ... the draws and to be good defensively. Basically, I watch guys like Hank (Zetterberg), Pav (Datsyuk) and see what they're doing in practices. I'm very excited."

Draper was promoted to the third line by becoming a wing instead of his usual center duties. He will play with Dan Cleary and Valterri Filppula. I like the move and look forward to see Draper cause some turnovers with his speed and dish it off to a playmaker like Filppula.

"Right now today, Drapes is at wing, but I see him switching between wing and center," Holland said. "Mike has the final say. Whatever he thinks will benefit the team the most is what will be. One thing everybody knows about Drapes: He's one of the premiere checkers in the league and we don't want to sacrifice that part of his game. Wherever he plays, he'll still be doing a lot of checking."