Further to my previous post, you can't just throw the best group of forwards on the ice and rank them line 1-4 according to how good they are. This isn't NHL13, that's not how you build a hockey team. Generally speaking NHL lines work as follows:
Line 1 - Top scoring line. These are the guys that are relied on to score the majority of the team's goals. You need a good play making centre on this line along with two high offence wingers. If you can't find that play making centre, get a pure goal scorer and ensure one of the wingers can drive the play. Guys that you want to play on this line are the likes of Crosby, Malkin, Toews, Kane, Sedins and Iginla (during his prime). Those players are the best of the best obviously, so if you can't get those players on your team, a good system and some 30+ goal wingers and 50-60 point centre can work. With that said, the guys in our current line-up that can potentially play here are Cammalleri, Glencross and possibly Hudler. This is where this team needs the most help in my opinion. As you can see, we don't have a centre that comes close to being good enough to play here. Stajan? definitely not, Backlund? Probably not (at least not yet), Horak? No way. Begin? haha.
Line 2 - Secondary scoring line. Similary to the top line, except with less skill. This is ideally where you want the 20-30 goal scorers. This team has tons of these guys. Guys like Backlund, Stajan, Stempniak, Tanguay, Hudler, Cervanka, even Cammalleri and Glencross all belong here. I see no reason for this team to acquire any more of these guys honestly.
Line 3 - This line is actually used differently on different teams. Some teams use their third line as a shut down line of sorts. So think of heavy hitters that can skate like the wind, are good in their zone, can win face offs and can chip in once in a while on offence. Guys like Prust and Clutterbuck are perfect for this role. On the other hand, some teams use this line to develop their young goal scorers. This is the direction I would like the Flames to go in. Guys like Baertschi, Horak, Gaudreau, Barkov/MacKinnon/Drouin should be the guys playing here. Maybe throw in a vet with them to help them out as well. If the team is going in this direction, I would like to see the second line be a bit more of a shut down line than most teams.
Line 4 - This is where you want your goons, your pests, your enforcers, your heavy hitters to play. These guys don't necessary have to skate well. They don't necessarily have to score either. These guys are supposed to play 5-8 hard minutes per game. Make the opposition's life hell and keep them in line. I honestly think, this is where the Flames have gotten it right this year. Jackman-Begin-MacGrattan are an excellent 4th line and I would like the team to have a similar looking 4th line going forward.
With all that said, I think our top 4 goal scoring wingers are the following:
Cammalleri, Glencross, Hudler, Stempniak
The top Centres are Backlund & Stajan.
The players I would like the Flames to develop on the third line are:
Baertschi, Horak and MacKinnon (assuming that's who we draft)
The fourth line I would like to see contains:
MacGrattan, Bouma and Jackman/Begin
So going into next season, our top 12 forwards look like:
Cammalleri-Backlund-Hudler
Glencross-Stajan-Stempniak
Baertschi-MacKinnon-Horak
MacGrattan-Bouma-Jackman
Bagin/Aliu
That means Tanguay and Cervenka are the odd men out. So trade, demote or buy out Tanguay and let Cervenka walk. Also, the first line looks horrible, however, with a proper system in place, I actually don't think this line-up is all that bad. The question then becomes, is Hartley the right guy to coach this group?
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