So the Offensive Lines Will Be???

Postby **Freddy Rumsen** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 1:26 pm

Dupuis Crosby Hornquist
Perron Malkin Kessel
Kunitz Sutter ????

YouTube · Postby **mikey** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 1:28 pm

Postby **Freddy Rumsen** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 1:28 pm

The Semin report is fake.

YouTube · Postby **mikey** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 1:29 pm

Damn. I don't know what Molinari's twitter is...

Postby **Freddy Rumsen** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 1:30 pm

Shelly Anderson ‏@_ShellyAnderson 53s54 seconds ago
Semin tweet was fake Dave Molinari account.

Postby **Jim** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 2:38 pm

Dupuis Crosby Hornquist
Perron Malkin Kessel
Kunitz Sutter ????

This is where I go as of right now.

Postby **Dickie Dunn** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 2:52 pm

Who are the other forward pieces at this point? We're still expecting Plotnikov. Bennett, Farnham, Wilson, Sundqvist, Rust? Is Sprong given a longer than expected look due to the circumstances?

Postby **count2infinity** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 2:55 pm

Who Cares- Crosby-Kessel
Perron-Malkin-Hornqvuist
Kunitz-Sutter-Dupuis
AHL guys hungry to make the line-up

YouTube · Postby **mikey** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 3:07 pm

No Sprong is not.

Postby **Avyran** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 3:07 pm

Add Plotnikov to that list now.

YouTube · Postby **mikey** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 3:13 pm

Plotnikov takes Spaling's spot.

Postby **thehockeyguru** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 3:16 pm

Perron - Crosby - Kessel
Plotnikov - Malkin - Hornqvist
Kunitz - Sutter - Dupuis
xxx - Sundqvist - Bennett

Postby **thehockeyguru** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 3:18 pm

I think that is subject to change, GMJR was on TSN saying they want a 4th Line Center and another winger.

Postby **cadams** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 11:32 pm

Perron - Crosby - Kessel
Plotnikov - Malkin - Hornqvist
Kunitz - Sutter - Dupuis
xxx - Sundqvist - Bennett

That's my top 9 right now and add in Wilson and Biggs to 4th line candidates.

Still need a PK center for the 4th line. Lapierre would still fit, is Derek Roy still out there?

Postby **MR25** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 11:50 pm

I highly doubt Biggs even sniffs the top 6 of WBS next year, let alone the 4th line in the NHL

Postby **MalkinIsMyHomeboy** » Thu Jul 02, 2015 12:02 am

Not sure, but Vasquez will definitely be starting at tackle

Postby **blackjack68** » Thu Jul 02, 2015 1:18 am

Perron - Crosby - Kessel
Plotnikov - Malkin - Hornqvist
Kunitz - Sutter - Dupuis
xxx - Sundqvist - Bennett

This would be my choice as of now.

Postby **shmenguin** » Thu Jul 02, 2015 6:06 am

Malkin and hornqvist on the ice together isn't any less of a disaster than it was a day ago. Hope we don't see that out of the gate.

Postby **columbia** » Thu Jul 02, 2015 6:23 am

^^^ Correct...but $100 on that being what we see.

Postby **cadams** » Thu Jul 02, 2015 6:59 am

Depends on the LW too. Did we ever see those two together though when both were healthy? Could be why they didn't look to mesh.

But if it looks like Kessel and Sid click fast and can get each other to 100+ point season, sorry Horny and Geno. Deal with it.

Postby **MalkinIsMyHomeboy** » Thu Jul 02, 2015 8:50 pm

Can't Horny play both wings?

I think having him in front of the net with Sid feeding Kessel bombs would be a recipe for a thousand combined points

YouTube · Postby **mikey** » Thu Jul 02, 2015 9:28 pm

No, Hornqvist cannot play LW.

The deal is that you can maybe afford to have shooters and puck-carrying d-man playing their off-side, but not the unskilled players. Hornqvist is not going to dance past anyone, he's not going to score from distance. He needs to be on the right wing, so he can have the right wing boards, so he can be on his forehand to win board battles. He's played that position is whole life. Let's not go all Iginla here.

If there's one player that could go against his own grain - could - is Kessel. If we use him as James Neal and take away a little bit of his ability to be a two or three zone carrier. I don't think that's how it will shake out, but that's a better option.

Look at last season with Scuderi-Despres. Despres is a natural LD, he's a LHS. Despres has no regard for his own body or others, he just goes and plays. He doesn't really think about it or debate about it, you stick him in any situation and he'll figure it out by being a competent hockey player and a good athlete. So he plays his wrong side to accommodate our lineup. But to accommodate for that, we stuck Scuderi far in the left corner (our left, not opposing attack left) and let Despres have the middle of the ice on the breakouts to give him more buffer room (and Scuderi less room, as he has two speeds: "not out" and "icing"). What we didn't see a lot of was Despres fooling around with the puck at the attack line. That's probably a lot of coaching right there, knowing that if Despres gets into trouble, especially along the boards, he's at a natural disadvantage because these board battles have to be handled on his backhand. So he got the puck and almost immediately spanked it on net.

Scuderi needs to play the left because he lacks puck skills. He needs glass and out. If he doesn't have glass and out and he's facing the inside of the ice, he has: a) a longer wind up and way to go to get to the glass b) his stick is now facing the middle of the ice, which means your eyes face the middle of the ice, which means Scuderi is going to making passes up the middle of the ice. So I know we don't want that. So he is a lock to play LD.

So you can't get too crazy with taking players out of their element and putting them in a position to fail or be disadvantaged. I don't know how it will shake out exactly yet. I don't know what the roster will look like yet. But players without talent, generally play on their side because it's much easier. Skilled players can play their off-side because they can make something out of it.

Postby **columbia** » Thu Jul 02, 2015 9:33 pm

That last sentence speaks to why Semin could be employed at LW (and that's not even touching on the common practice of off wing play in the Russian tradition).

YouTube · Postby **mikey** » Thu Jul 02, 2015 9:41 pm

That's absolutely correct. Semin was 2LW for the Caps for quite some time, in fact. Semin, who may have just about the league's best shot and release, would be a great guy to have his stick in the middle of the ice as opposed to the outside. His stick blade will see more net than his eyes could. And yes, this is very typical of Russians/Soviets. Almost all players on those Soviet teams that dominated were LHS. By use of advanced offensive tactics and high-end skill, they were not limited.

Postby **Freddy Rumsen** » Thu Jul 02, 2015 9:46 pm

I get the impression that 4LC is Oskar's to lose and that a 4LW is still on the radar and they do not have much faith in existing WBS guys to fill that role.