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Originally Posted by activeStick

I'd assume that Neal has the second line spot locked down to start the year given his veteran status and his history of being a producer, despite last season.

Tkachuk, Backlund and Neal actually sounds like it'd be a good line, so we'll see if Neal can find his game with them. Pretty much everyone that's been tried up with Backlund has benefitted.

I wonder if it might be in the best interests of the team to just keep Frolik and play him with Backlund and Neal? You get the two most responsible forwards to compensate for Neal's lack of footspeed and defensive deficiencies. No winger has failed playing with both Frolik and Backlund.

Then you stick Tkachuk with Jankowski and Bennett. Those two played their best with a way past his prime Jagr. They might benefit from playing with a mini Jagr in Tkachuk.