Been spending some time in the HFVancouver forums and I was being civil. Ended up saying this yesterday.
Originally Posted by DJJones 
Flames Homer here, not going to take it to personally if I'm ignored but whatever, few misconceptions I've seen here.
The defense is weird here. Obviously losing Gio hurt but putting Engellend with Brodie somehow solved the third line problem. Engellend and Diaz/Smid/Potter were a hot mess that hurt me to watch. Might be confidence I don't know, but allowing Engellend to play as a stay at home with Brodie dealing with most of the passing and offense has allowed him to find a comfort zone. Every once in a while he throws up a terrible give away but for the most part he's playing a solid positional game. Shlemko and Diaz(Hurt too, sucks he was playing well) have been a gigantic upgrade on the 3rd pairing. Having Brody on the 2nd line has also allowed Hartley to double shift him as necessary to fill holes when they comes. So ya, the Brodie/Gio line isn't as good but the 3rd line is way better so it has almost evened out. I thought we were done when Gio went down.
The Ferland/Stajan/Jones line is the x factor for us. Last 20 games they've been our second best line. Very sound defensively and are our most physical line. I wouldn't be surprised if they get put out there against your second line. Stajan has been playing the best hockey he's played in years lately. I hope Bennett plays over Raymond. He can't cycle worth a damn. If the Stajan line can take over some defensive responsibility. A Bennett/Backlund/Colbourne line can put up points.
Losing Bouma is a huge loss for us but thankfully Jooris is healthy now. I'm hoping Byron gets back because Jooris/Granlund/Byron would be our fastest line. Most likely Shore is in for Byron though. Not really expecting to much from that line. Jooris is always a threat with his speed but Granlund hasn't done much lately.
So then we have Bollig and Raymond on the bench to replace whoever isn't working. Shore and Granlund are probably the biggest threat to get sat.
Little drunk, so forgive me for being cocky but I usually don't nail it on the head like that
|