Quote:
Originally Posted by transplant99
So....Gio is a 3rd pairing dman ( Norris winner 18 months ago) Sam Bennett is a 2nd line C (was on pace for fewer points than Rinaldo last season) and Valimaki is the PP QB on the 1st unit without ever proving he can play that role at this level?
OK then.
|
Jesus man, can you read?
The whole point behind this lineup was so that we weren't handcuffed to the 1st line 2nd line 3rd line mind set and be able to roll all the lines.
Gio is playing with Kylington to help him along and balance the pairs. That doesn't mean he's going to play 6 minutes a night. He's the first guy to get extra shifts plus he's going to be a fixture on the pk. Valimaki playing with Tanev who has proven to be a good partner for young skilled rookies. Plus I literally said you could just switch them.
Plus Hanifin has a bad game guess who the first person to move up is? Uhh Gio duh. give your head a shake. same with Valimaki.
And for Bennett, its more so about the idea of splitting up Gaudreau and Monahan which leaves really only one option for his centre in Bennett since him and Backlund's offensive game are too similar in that they both need to be the primary puck carrier. The speed tenacity and physicality of Bennett and Dube, in theory, should give Gaudreau more space to work with.
The point is to be able to play the top three forward lines and all three pairs at nearly equal TOI at 5on5 and have special teams be the difference in players ice times.
And the pp qb is up for grabs but it didn't work too well with Gio or Hanifin so that leaves Andersson or Valimaki and if Valimaki is as good as he looks then we are going to need to find opportunities for him to prove it and break out.