Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperMatt18
That really nails it on the head - fans have unreal standards for what a 1st line or 2nd line player should be.
40 forwards had more than 60 points last year - that means on average a team's first line is only made up of 2 60 point forwards in the best case scenario.
135 forwards had between 35-60 points. So pretty much means that the average team would have 4 35-60 point forwards in their top 6.
So if you look at it that way really strong teams would have:
2: 60+ Point Forwards
4-5: 35+ Point Forwards
The top four scoring teams in the league last year were Dallas, Washington, Pittsburgh, & San Jose.
Dallas (6 forwards above 35 points)
Benn-89 pts
Seguin-73 pts
Spezza- 63 pts
Sharp - 55 pts
Hemsky - 39 pts
Eakin - 35 pts
Washington (8 forwards above 35 points)
Kuznetsov - 77 pts
Ovechkin - 71 pts
Backstrom - 70 pts
Williams - 52 pts
Oshie - 51 pts
Johansson - 46 pts
Chimera - 40 pts
Burakovsky - 38 points
Pittsburgh: (6 above 35 points)
Crosby - 85 pts
Malkin - 58 pts (PPG)
Kessel - 59 pts
Hornqvist - 51 pts
Kunitz - 40 pts
Bonino - 29 (37 over 82GP)
San Jose: (7 above 35 points)
Thornton-82 pts
Pavelski - 78 pts
Marleau - 48 pts
Hertl - 46 pts
Ward - 43 pts
Couture - 36 pts (57 pt pace)
Donskoi - 36 pts
Flames need their young guys to continue to step up and become true offensive superstars - but pieces like Frolik and Brouwer are helping to build that lower end depth.
On the roster we have 4 guys who put up 35+ points for us last year:
Gaudreau: 78 pts
Monahan: 63 pts
Backlund: 47 pts
Bennett: 36 pts
We need 3 others to help us in our top 6/9:
Brouwer: 39 pts (5th among Blues forwards)
Frolik: 32 pts (82 game pace of 41pts - which happens to be pretty much exactly what he did the two seasons prior in Winnipeg)
Tkachuk: 45 pts (NHL Equivlency based on last years OHL season)
Then hopefully a couple of the young guys from the group of Jankowski, Shinkaruk, Pollock, Klimchuk, Mangiapane, Pribyl, or Porier can step up to replace the performance needed from those depth guys when they are ready in 2 to 3 years.
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It also helps that the Flames have 4 D who are capable of 35+ (or even 40+) points, assuming they keep Wideman.