I think _____ is gonna have a big year!
- Nucker101

he better. otherwise we're fuked

i think a few of those guys might be abit redundant. at least in terms of the amount of help they give and the type of players they are in relation to what we'd have to pay.

id scratch vrbata, jokinen and even grabovski off that list immediately.
penner, while he would help and has the tools to be a guy we could use, doesnt really have that every night effort we crave so much.

winnik, kulemin, downie and bolland jump out at me first. all gritty guys that can float on the 2nd and 3rd lines, can play defence, and chip in offensively abit. as far as bolland, he wont come cheap.

end of the day. it's a big summer for mact and this franchise. another failure like this year and i see those kids looking for the door and another rebuild on the horizon
- hugefemale dog77

Either way I like our chances at a better forward group than last year. If we look at the st. Louis model we could have that or at least something close to it as far as forwards go

Hall gagner yak
Penner nuge Eberle
Perron Goc/Bolland/Ott downie/stempniak/Kulemin/Winnik
Hendricks Gordon Pitlick.

Looking at that group you have a lot of guys who can play with just about anyone.

Eakins always says ice time will be earned so if a guy like Penner isn't working you have plentyof options. Moving up Perron double shifting hall, move up a guy like Kulemin to line 1 and putting yak in penners spot. I like versatility and think this that three forwards of the players I mentioned give us that. No we don't have a lucic like we want but they also aren't available. Especially cause any deal to get a guy like that would likely involve the pieces we'd rather spend on a dman

Also that 4th line wouldn't be a typical 4th it would be more of a shut down line which plays PK and takes crucial Dzone starts.

my ideal 2014/15 lineup

___, nuge, eberle
hall, ___, yakupov
perron, Gordon, ___
hendricks, lander, pitlick

___, petry
___, schultz
marincin, ference
klefbom

fasth
scrivens


tall order

handedness of d has no bearing on my post. i just meant a top pairing guy. and if possible another second pairing guy
- hugefemale dog77

I'd have Perron in the top 6, he's a 40+ point player on pace for a career year with 58 points. You'll very rarely get 40+ points out of third line wingers even on the best teams they wouldn't get more than 35 points.

To fill that 3LW spot I'd be trying hard for Kulemin.

I'd have Perron in the top 6, he's a 40+ point player on pace for a career year with 58 points. You'll very rarely get 40+ points out of third line wingers even on the best teams they wouldn't get more than 35 points.

To fill that 3LW spot I'd be trying hard for Kulemin.
- rathagor

depth

they can float. whoever's going gets the minutes. its not a set in stone lineup. basically we're talking a 1A, 1B and 2. all need to play reasonable defence and score abit.
both perron and kulemin can fill either role admirably. while kulemin size is an asset along side the smaller ebs, nuge etc. while perron adds scoring to the 3rd.
im not a fan of pigeon holing talent into one set role.
plus it's far tougher to matchup against when uve got 3 scoring lines that can also play defence

depth

they can float. whoever's going gets the minutes. its not a set in stone lineup. basically we're talking a 1A, 1B and 2. all need to play reasonable defence and score abit.
both perron and kulemin can fill either role admirably. while kulemin size is an asset along side the smaller ebs, nuge etc. while perron adds scoring to the 3rd.
im not a fan of pigeon holing talent into one set role.
plus it's far tougher to matchup against when uve got 3 scoring lines that can also play defence
- hugefemale dog77

While I agree players will move up and down the line up as needed or for certain situations, there will be a place where they spend most of their time and I believe in the case of Perron that should be the 2nd line.

If the expectation from your line up was to have Perron playing mostly 3rd line minutes then it should also be expected that he won't be putting up the points he is currently.

I think _____ is gonna have a big year!
- Nucker101

Really? I can see _______ struggle a bit, IMO.

While I agree players will move up and down the line up as needed or for certain situations, there will be a place where they spend most of their time and I believe in the case of Perron that should be the 2nd line.

If the expectation from your line up was to have Perron playing mostly 3rd line minutes then it should also be expected that he won't be putting up the points he is currently.
- rathagor

i think our focus absolutely needs to be stopping more goals rather than scoring more.

and while i love perrons grit and style of play, it just ends up being all for naught alot of the time. when hall and perron are depended on for your only source of physical pressure, grit etc. u have a real problem.
im fine with perron on any line. and happy to have him in the top 6. but he/they need to have some size and strength alongside them.

i think we're a much better team with a big bodies winger in the top 6, than we currently are with the offensive prowess we have. but without alot of functiona; pushback. and neither alot of defensive acumen.

bottom line. the group we have in that top 6 is NOT the answer.

depth

they can float. whoever's going gets the minutes. its not a set in stone lineup. basically we're talking a 1A, 1B and 2. all need to play reasonable defence and score abit.
both perron and kulemin can fill either role admirably. while kulemin size is an asset along side the smaller ebs, nuge etc. while perron adds scoring to the 3rd.
im not a fan of pigeon holing talent into one set role.
plus it's far tougher to matchup against when uve got 3 scoring lines that can also play defence
- hugefemale dog77

Yeah, depending on who we ask, we've got at least 5 top 9 guys right now (Hall, Eberle, Perron, Nuge and Yak). I'd look for those last 4 guys and just see what kind of lines form. I think MacT is aiming at the kind of model where there won't really be a dropoff between lines 2 and 3 exactly.

Unless you're an amazing trio you rarely see lines staying together for years and years anyhow

my ideal 2014/15 lineup

___, nuge, eberle
hall, ___, yakupov
perron, Gordon, ___
hendricks, lander, pitlick

___, petry
___, schultz
marincin, ference
klefbom

fasth
scrivens


tall order

handedness of d has no bearing on my post. i just meant a top pairing guy. and if possible another second pairing guy
- hugefemale dog77

I'll give this a (realistic) shot:
Kulemin-Nuge-Eberle
Hall-Arcobello-Yakupov
Perron-Gordon-Moss
Hendricks-Lander-Pitlick

Coburn-Schultz
Marincin-Petry
Niktin-Ference

Fasth
Scrivens

Coburn comes in on some sort of deal (Gagner is conspicuously absent). At this point I've also got a Smyth boner though so I'd be game to replace Moss with him. I'd investigate a 4C that wasn't Lander. Truly fixing 2C is about a year away, if we fix D this summer.

i think our focus absolutely needs to be stopping more goals rather than scoring more.

and while i love perrons grit and style of play, it just ends up being all for naught alot of the time. when hall and perron are depended on for your only source of physical pressure, grit etc. u have a real problem.
im fine with perron on any line. and happy to have him in the top 6. but he/they need to have some size and strength alongside them.

i think we're a much better team with a big bodies winger in the top 6, than we currently are with the offensive prowess we have. but without alot of functiona; pushback. and neither alot of defensive acumen.

bottom line. the group we have in that top 6 is NOT the answer.
- hugefemale dog77

I do agree that the size in the top 6 is an issue, however like I said earlier before trading away a piece like Eberle and Yakupov, you need to replace Gagner and get the proper systems in place.

I do think we potentially helped our size issue with the removal of Hemsky as now we don't have him getting top 6 minutes.

Where I think we will find problems is for our top 6 guys to be at least decent defensively which another reason why getting rid of Gagner and Hemsky is helpful.

I think _____ is gonna have a big year!
- Nucker101