Lineup tweaks for Sharks

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Programming note: Sharks-Blues Game 1 coverage begins today at 4 p.m. and the puck drops with Randy Hahn and Drew Remenda in St. Louis at 4:30 p.m. on CSN California!

ST. LOUIS -- The Sharks will perform two small lineup tweaks for Game 1 of their Western Conference opening series. Whether it becomes a matter of great import remains to be seen.Torrey Mitchell will return and play right wing on the Dominic Moore line, with Daniel Winnik being bumped down (or up, depending on how you enumerate the San Jose lines) to the Andrew Desjardins-Tommy Wingels unit.In addition, Jason Demers returns to replace Colin White on the third defensive pairing with Justin Braun.The rest of the morning skate was devoted to long discussions about the value and mythology of experience, with a side tour of Todd McLellans cranium, or as he calls it, My coconut.McLellan says he still gets headaches later in the day, which may either be lingering effects from being hit with the stick of Minnesota player Marco Scandella February 26, or a more recent conking, from the stick of Joe Thornton. That second skulling did not result in a concussion, as the first one did, but reminded him yet again of the vagaries of head injuries.We were in a game and the same thing happened, a collision in front of the bench although I didnt get hit by both guys, but Jumbo turned and whacked me. I was bugging him afterwards about (Nashvilles Alexander) Radulov earlier in the year in Russia. Maybe that was Jumbo sending me a message.That was the second one. It wasnt nearly as hard and didnt knock me out or anything like that. I dont know if youd even call it a concussion but I just got hit again is all.Now I have a better feel for what players go through, he said. Before, it was more when a guy got hit in the head, you just knew they would be out. But now I have a greater appreciation for what they go through.Ray Ratto is a columnist for CSNBayArea.com

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