Quote:
Originally Posted by Vinny01
In your opinion who is more critical that they play him at center
Bennett or Lindholm?
I thought both were effective in their time up the middle last year but I feel it is more critical for Bennett to get that spot. Having said that I want him in the top 9 and don’t really want him buried on the 4th line.
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Tough call. I agree with you on Bennett, and could really see the team being good with either one on W.
I really liked Bennett at C but also he had consistent and quality linemates. Tough to decouple the influence of factors of position and linemates
Lindholm is good at C, and having said that, had a career year as a winger. Stepped from a mid 40ish point Center to a 78 point winger. That’s in a role where Ferland was a 40 point guy. Marian Hossa had a good career as a defensively strong winger.
Also if Monahan and Lindholm are both C, it bumps Backlund to 3C, and you could make a debate worthy case that he is the best all around C of the 3
I would like to see the Flames get back to the transition game they were playing when the top line was on fire. Mobilize a D man, show them highlights of how quickly they moved the puck, quit deferring to Johnny as puck carrier, and profit.
So yeah, in terms of getting the best mix of the 12 guys, I’d probably want to see the top 9, who will get more minutes, more heavily loaded. It would look a lot like things we saw last year, though.
Gaudreau - Monahan - Lindholm (was one of the top lines in the league a year ago)
Tkachuk - Backlund - Mangiapane (Best line down the stretch)
Lucic - Bennett - Dube (best line in the playoffs)
Simon - Ryan - Leivo (solid new guys with very dependable Derek Ryan)
Nordstrom
That is still rock solid to me, just need to figure out why the top line was flat.
But that doesn’t matter. We know from the camp teams that they want to look at Lindholm at C. So with Johnny/Monny and Tkachuk/Lindholm pairings, and no intermixing of groups, they are dedicating the camp time to trying Simon and Leivo as the wingers on those lines.
It pushes Backs to 3C, and doesn’t lend itself to a situation of C for Bennett, much less paired with Dube.
I just fear moving Lindholm to C gets you a big downgrade in the top line wing, pushes your arguably best Center to the third line, leaves Bennett on W, and rewards guys who are ok career players with spots that the Flames should be filling with the guys they developed
So yeah. I guess my opinion is it’s better for the group of 12 to put Bennett at C over Lindholm. My 2 cents.