I'm confused by our line up decisions, I'm not an NHL coach but I don't see all the other teams lining up to split up their scoring talent across 3 lines.
Tkachuk - Lindholm - Dube
2 - way line? - Tkachuk is a top 3 offensive player on our team, Lindholm at C and Dube are not.
Gaudreau - Monahan - Simon
Scorers + Anchor? Why? Simon doesn't help either of these players. Everyone keeps saying these guys need someone to go dig out pucks for them. They need someone who can read the play and help on the rush, Hudler style.
Mangi - Backlund - Leivo
Fast defensive line?
Mangi has some offensive chops, wasted with Backlund and Leivo
Lucic - Ryan - Nordstrom
Mediocre two way C + anchors.
We have our top 6 players spread across 3 lines instead of 2.
https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/t...-combinations/
Tampa, Toronto, Colorado..
All of them have their best talent on their top 2 lines.
Gaudreau - Monahan - Tkachuk
Mangi - Backlund - Lindholm
Dube - Bennett - Leivo
Lucic - Ryan - Simon
Or if you really want Lindholm at C
Gaudreau - Monahan - Tkachuk
Mangi - Lindholm - Dube
Bennett - Backlund - Leivo
Lucic - Ryan - Simon
You could swap Monahan and Lindholm if you want but these are lines that all have clear strengths.
Top line has great IQ and positioning.
2nd line has great speed and two way play.
3rd line could be a fantastic shut down line.
4th line is not great.
Anyways it's clear that 5v5 Ward wants to roll 4 lines and hamstring the offense of the top 3 lines.
Combine this with our horrible line matching and refusal to shorten the bench and we are gonna be in for a long frustrating season, where we just can't finish.