We’re now only about two weeks away from hockey returning and with that comes the qualifying round series between the New York Islanders and Florida Panthers. The one edge the Panthers have is their offense, so what line combinations will the Islanders counter with up front?
Well, there isn’t much to wonder about for the top line, as Mathew Barzal will center Anders Lee and Jordan Eberle. With Casey Cizikas and Cal Clutterbuck healthy, we can also assume the fourth line will consist of the classic Martin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck combination.
But there are still some questions as to what the second and third lines could look like. The most likely option for the second line is probably Brock Nelson centering Anthony Beauvillier and Josh Bailey. Then with Jean-Gabriel Pageau centering the third line and Derick Brassard on the wing, this means there’s one spot remaining, which is likely to go to Leo Komarov.
I really don’t like Komarov playing in the top-nine but I don’t see it going a different way. Michael Dal Colle couldn’t put it together this season, Andrew Ladd was in the AHL for the majority of the year, Ross Johnston and Tom Kuhnhackl aren’t good options and I don’t see Barry Trotz taking a gamble on Kieffer Bellows or Oliver Wahlstrom.
Personally, I don’t mind the idea of playing Bellows on the third line, bumping Komarov to the fourth line and scratching Martin, considering the ‘identity line’ wasn’t overly effective when together this season (though it was a limited sample size), but the chances of that happening are slim to none.
So I’d imagine the forward group for the playoffs will look like this:
Lee - Barzal - Eberle
Beauvillier - Nelson - Bailey
Komarov - Pageau - Brassard
Martin - Cizikas - Clutterbuck
I will say there’s a chance that Brassard could be moved up to play in the top-six. He was very effective as a winger on the second line early in the season and by moving either Josh Bailey or Anthony Beauvillier down to the third line, it creates more evenly balanced lines for scoring. I’d probably bet against this, but it's a possibility.
There’s also an interesting question as to who would be the first spare to play if there was an injury and I’d imagine that’s Andrew Ladd, especially if the injury is higher in the lineup. I see Trotz turning to a veteran if needed, rather than betting on a rookie or Dal Colle.
There will likely be a close eye on every single player on the team to see how they look in training camp, before making decisions about who gets what role. The Islanders don’t have the advantage up front, but the line combinations they go with could end up having a large impact on the series.
***NOTE: We've launched a HockeyBuzz Islanders Twitter account! For anyone interested, you can follow @HB_Islanders for updates on articles, Islanders news, etc. We're starting right from scratch, so any followers would be appreciated!***
Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
Do you think either Anthony Beauvillier or Josh Bailey will play on the third line with Jean-Gabriel Pageau in an effort to spread out scoring?
New York Islanders Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»