PREGAME READ: Tortorella keeping watchful eye on forwards vs Penguins

With great depth comes great responsibility.
Or, in other words, it's up to Blue Jackets forwards to keep themselves in the active lineup now that coach John Tortorella feels there are more legitimate options in the talent pool.
Columbus hosts the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday at Nationwide Arena (7 p.m., Fox Sports Go, 1460 ESPN Radio), in a dress rehearsal of sorts for both teams, and Tortorella is looking forward to seeing things play out.
"I'm not sure what the lines are going to be yet [for the start of the season]," he said, after the Jackets' morning skate. "I'm still trying to make decisions on what the lines are. We're going to let it play out here. A lot of these guys won't play in Chicago [on Saturday], but I want to see 'em play tonight and we'll make more decisions on the lines then."

In other words, the Penguins are bringing most of their NHL roster, so it's a great chance to see how things stack up for a playing group that could wind up being very close to what the Jackets put on the ice for the season-opener Oct. 4 in Detroit.
Tortorella doesn't sound thrilled with the way camp has gone for some of his more established NHL players, particularly up front, so he wants to start seeing more out of them - or else. The fact he's able to add an "or else," to his thoughts this season is a good indicator of the Jackets' wealth of NHL-caliber talent.
"I'm looking at a couple of guys [tonight] that I'm hoping are going to be really good, and I wish their camp were better," Tortorella said. "So, I'm going to keep a close eye on it. There's some guys that I'm just going to have a short leash. It's not about talking to [the media] about it and complaining about it … I'll just change the lines, because that's one thing that I think I'm going to be able to do."
The initial names that come to mind are guys like center Lukas Sedlak and forward Markus Hannikainen, who each have NHL experience, but neither is slated to play against Pittsburgh - ticketed instead for the final preseason game Saturday in Chicago.
Tortorella also has his eye on guys playing Friday and it could potentially be any forward from the fourth line up. What players have done in the past isn't of concern to Tortorella now, as he peers down the line into the near future.
There's more depth this year in camp, with the emergence of rookies such as center Kevin Stenlund and speedy forward Jonathan Davidsson, and Tortorella isn't going to be shy about using it.
"I'm going to be able to move some different things around, where … is it a first line, second line, third line, fourth line [team] or is it a first line and then three lines?" he said. "I don't know where it all sits. It depends on the play of players, but I am not going to be overly patient with guys that I've seen play enough and know they need to give. If they don't give, then I'm going to try different people."
It starts Friday night in the seventh game of the preseason, a prime opportunity for those who might be on the bubble to seize control of their spot.
"We're still not certain on what our lineup is when I put 20 [guys] out there, as far as where they all sit - and we're not sure with the depth that we're going to keep here," Tortorella said. "It's still up in the air."
NEWS AND NOTES
Sergei Bobrovsky will start in net and get the entire game, just as he did Sunday in a 5-1 home loss to the St. Louis Blues. Bobrovsky is 0-2-0 with a 4.59 goals-against average and .837 save percentage in two preseason appearances, allowing seven goals on 43 shots in 91 minutes, 33 seconds of ice time.
Backup Joonas Koripsalo has also played the entire game in his past two preseason appearances, in Pittsburgh last week and Tuesday against the Buffalo Sabres in Clinton, N.Y. - a 4-2 win in the Kraft Hockeyville USA game.
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Zach Werenski will make his preseason debut, which will be his first game action since having surgery May 3 to repair a torn labrum and damaged rotator cuff in his left shoulder. Tortorella will pair Markus Nutivaara with Werenski to start out, with Nutivaara getting the first look at playing in Seth Jones's spot.
Jones, who sustained a Grade 2 tear in the MCL of his right knee Tuesday in New York, is out 4-to-6 weeks.
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The Blue Jackets were pleased with the way they skated Tuesday against the Sabres, which Tortorella took as an indication their legs are feeling better after a grueling week of conditioning.
Facing a full Penguins lineup that includes Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and others will be a bigger test - which Tortorella is eager to see.
"It will be good for both teams," he said. "I'm not sure if it's their last one or whatever it is, but it's late [in the preseason], it's really the one game that I'm going to play our [NHL] team and you get to look at different things against a really good team. Tonight's a really good work night for us."
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Sedlak appears to be on the outside of the four forward lines going into the season-opener next week, after going through a down year last season. Tortorella said Sedlak has been good in the second half of camp but didn't laud his performance in the first half.
"I think I had a decent camp," he said. "I tried hard in practices, tried hard in games and that's all I can do right now. Obviously, you want to be in this lineup [against Pittsburgh]. You know we're probably going to start like that during the season, so obviously, I'm a little disappointed - but it is what it is right now."
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Riley Nash, who will center the fourth line against Pittsburgh, on whether he's got some built-in dislike for the Penguins - the Jackets' biggest rival:
"It's in there, yeah," he said. "We played against each other quite a bit when I was in Carolina. It wasn't much of a rivalry, but you develop some angst and some feelings. So, it's in there."
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Here is the Blue Jackets' projected lineup against the Penguins:
FORWARDS
Artemi Panarin - Pierre-Luc Dubois - Cam Atkinson
Nick Foligno - Alex Wennberg - Oliver Bjorkstrand
Boone Jenner - Brandon Dubinsky - Josh Anderson
Anthony Duclair - Riley Nash - Sonny Milano
DEFENSE
Zach Werenski - Markus Nutivaara
Dean Kukan - David Savard
Gabriel Carlsson - Scott Harrington
GOALIES
Sergei Bobrovsky
Joonas Korpisalo