Quote:
Originally Posted by genetic_phreek
One of the things I think is highly underrated and underappreciated with defenseman is being able to get the puck to the net through defenders which I think Gustafsson is really great at. I'm looking forward to see him do this.
Most people might think I'm crazy to suggest this and I understand it's not conventional to bring a 4th line up to 1st line but one thing I'd like to see is Jankowski in Monahans role for a few games. Here's my justification:
Jankowski is big like Monahan, speed is similar, has a great shot, has shown the ability to score playing on the bottom 6 but I don't ever recall him getting a look on the top 6. What I think he excels vs Monahan is he's better defensively. He already has ice-time with Lindholm on the PK as well. Also this would be another way to see if Monahan could drive his own line. If that works, we could possibly have a decent mix.
Gaudreau - Jankowski - Lindholm
Tkachuk - Backlund - Mangiapane
Bennett - Monahan - Dube
Lucic - Ryan - Rieder
|
Jankowski does deserve more opportunity to play with skilled players when he is scoring. Backlund assisted Janko's first two goals of this year, how many times they were put on same line? Last year he scored many short hand goals, maybe it's due to he only got the chance to play with skilled players such as Lindholm on PK?
I do like the Janko / Reider line, they are both good on PK, so no reason they can't do it as a checking line vs other teams top line on 5 on 5 .