the flames are in a good spot right now as far as their pairs, the core of the team is in 5 pairs, it would be perfect to spread them through 3 of 4 forward lines, and 2 of 3 d lines.
gaudreau - monahan - ferland
frolik - backlund - lazar
tkachuk - bennett - versteeg
stajan - jankowski - brouwer
giordano - hamilton
brodie - hamonic
kulak - stone
great distribution of talent and great core moving forward
first line
gaudreau - monahan - ferland
ferland is figuring it out, and brings a ton of toughness to our top line. gaudreau and monahan are going to stir the drink offensively for a long time. scoring pair.
second line
frolik - backlund - lazar
this gets the right hander lazar waaay more minutes and truly casts him in a defensive mould developmentally, something the team could really use long term. surrendering assets to acquire him means the club obviously feels like he has more to give and you don't get more out of lazar if you play him on your fourth line. frolik slides back to his natural left side and he and backlund continue to be our shut down pair.
third line
tkachuk - bennett - versteeg
we keep thinking of tkachuk as the beneficiary of playing on the 3M line, but he does a lot to drive play on his own. putting him with bennett gives you a duo moving forward that fits with the monahan gaudreau pair, bennett plays with a lot of grit and tkachuck will pull him into the 'fabric of the game.' versteeg has a ton of talent and even though he seems like he would be the softest player on this line, he is renowned for his #### talk. pest pair.
fourth line
stajan - jankowski - brouwer
i don't think it's presumptuous to pencil in jankowski at this point. not a big issue to slide stajan to the wing and gives jankowski a bit of a safety net. brouwer starts at the bottom and plays less minutes because he's earned them. but still has a great opportunity to cycle up to the backlund line if his play picks up.
These lines make a lot of sense, but Hathaway has to be in there too, imo.
