ESPN.com contributors asked players who have switched from forward to defense and defense to forward -- and even those who have never switched at all -- their thoughts on changing positions:

Jon Klemm, D, Chicago Blackhawks

	Klemm

"For me, going from defense to forward was easy, it was going the other way that was tough for me. I thought playing wing was a pretty easy position, especially the way, the type of play, I'm defensive-type player. I wasn't there to score goals or make plays or anything like that, just did my job defensively as a winger and it wasn't that bad. ... Just be strong on the wall and get the puck out every chance you get. ... But going from forward to defense, especially if you've been playing the forward position for awhile, was a lot harder. Just because playing defense is all about timing and if you make a mistake all you have is your goaltender to help you out. So, I had a much tougher time going from forward to defense."

Alexander Mogilny, RW, Toronto Maple Leafs

	Mogilny

"If they want to lose every game, they could put me in goal. Or they could put me on defense and I could give up 2-on-1s or 3-on-1s every shift. You have to know what to do back there, and I don't. ... You have to see Sergei to believe how good he is back there. He's outstanding back there. He's a great guy to run the power play and he doesn't overdo it (offensively). But Sergei didn't play 20 years of hockey so that he can play defense now. I don't know why they did it, but maybe it was Scotty's way to give Sergei more ice time. But he's been awesome at it. ... I don't know another guy in the league that could do that, including me. There's hardly time to make plays. The game's coming at you so much faster when you're coming from behind the net. But he's outstanding at it."

Jeremy Roenick, C, Philadelphia Flyers

	Roenick

"If it's a move that the coach would make in order to better the hockey club, and it meant more ice time for me, I'd have no problem at all with it. But that's as long as it was done with respect and was fair to myself and also to the guys playing on our defense. ... But I've tried it before in practices -- I'm not very good at it."

Jarome Iginla, RW, Calgary Flames

	Iginla

"There's less skating for a defenseman, but more strategy in my opinion. But, still, defensemen need to be great skaters. I know that sounds like a contradiction, but look at Derek Morris here or a Paul Coffey when he was in Edmonton or Ray Bourque during his career. That's why Fedorov is able to make the switch. Most guys couldn't do it. You need a great, fluid skater to make that transition. ... And I'm not sure I'd be all that happy about having to check over my shoulders for guys coming in on me after the puck had been dumped into the corner. ... I don't think I'll switch. I'm happy where I am."

Clarke Wilm, C, Calgary Flames

	Wilm

"It's funny, but my first camp here, Brian (Sutter) threw Travis Brigley and myself back on defense for a week or so. All I can remember are guys whizzing around us. A forward skates backwards maybe once a game. On defense, that's 90 percent of your job. It's almost as if they'd dropped off a spaceship onto another planet! That's how different it felt. ... It's just a totally different job. On defense, you're always having to worry about gaps between yourself and your forwards, between yourself and the other forwards, and worrying about who's coming down your side, pivoting to corners. ... To go from forward to D would be a difficult move for any forward, no question about it."

Hal Gill, D, Boston Bruins

	Gill

"I did that a couple of shifts last year. I don't know, it seems like you just turn off your brain and go if you're a forward. There's a lot more skating, a lot less thinking. I think when you think that's when you get caught as a forward. You stay up and down your wing and you're constantly going. There are quicker shifts. I don't know how I would make the transition. That would be tough. I think it would be harder for a forward to come and play defense. If a forward messes up, it's a turnover but they have to come down and beat three more guys. If a defenseman messes up, it's usually them going in on Byron (Dafoe) and you just have to beat Byron. It's one guy to beat, whereas, if a forward messes up, you still have three."

Sean O'Donnell, D, Boston Bruins

	O'Donnell

"If I could choose, I think I'd be a centerman. Just because it seems like taking draws would be fun. It seems like there's a lot of responsibility. It just seems like a fun position. It seems like you're always in the middle of the action. I think there's more skating up front for sure. There have been a couple of practices where I've skated as a forward and there's a lot more skating. Especially as a defensive defenseman, I don't venture too much past the other team's blue line. I think when you're a forward, the whole rink comes into play a little more than when you're a defenseman."

Brad Lukowich, D, Dallas Stars

	Lukowich

"It's a lot harder than it looks. You want to get to a point out there where you're reacting and not thinking too much, and I can do that on defense. But when I play as a forward, I'm thinking all of the time out there."

Bob Gainey, Dallas Stars general manager
"It's something that can definitely make you deeper as a team. When I played, we didn't have the extra players, so you had to be more versatile as a player, be able to do more things. And with the rosters down to 23 now, we're getting back to that a little more. So a forward who can play a little defense or a defenseman who can move to forward is a valuable thing."

Ken Hitchcock, Dallas Stars coach
On the thought behind switching Lukowich: "You need to have these guys. He can play on the power play on the back end, he can kill penalties as a forward. He can go back to defense if a guy gets injured. We're hopeful that he gets into the position where he can play as a third-line guy."

Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News, George Johnson of the Calgary Herald and Rob Parent of the Delware Co. (Pa.) Times contributed to this report.