Quote:
Originally Posted by Bingo
I certainly haven't looked around the whole league, but I just don't know if any teams are rolling four lines to that extent.
It looks good on paper, but if you get into a special teams game you end up with some pretty strange utilization.
I could be wrong though ...
Assuming I'm right, then you have to go back to the top nine again, and that's where it gets sticky.
Lindholm, Tkachuk, Monahan, Gaudreau, Backlund, Mangiapane all have to be there ... that's 6
Dube, Lucic and Bennett are my next three if you can find a way to get them onto the the three lines and I think that's the challenge.
Tkachuk - Lindholm - X
Gaudreau - Monahan - X
Lucic - Backlund - Mangiapane
I'm all for trying Bennett with Tkachuk and Lindholm, I didn't like Dube there.
Then you have a fourth line that hopefully can all kill penalties. Nordstrom is already doing it, can Simon?
And Leivo is the forgotten man in this case (he's been a healthy scratch any way).
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I don't know at 5v5 teams average about 44-48 minutes per game and really we've rolled 4 lines all of the last two seasons when Ryan has been healthy, so it's nothing new.
So far this year the Flames have averaged ~46 minutes at 5V5, with the top three centers playing:
Lindholm is playing 13:22 TOI/GP
Monahan is playing 12:50 TOI/GP
Backlund is playing 11:53 TOI/GP
Thats about 38 minutes of TOI between those three, which leaves 8 minutes for the 4th line.
So really if you want to balance it out that means one fewer shift per game for each of Lindholm, Monahan, Backlund to give the Bennett line more time.
Lindholm: 12:30 TOI/GP
Monahan: 12:00 TOI/GP
Backlund: 11:30 TOI/GP
Bennett: 10:00 TOI/GP
That's 46 minutes of TOI at 5v5 per game distributed between the four lines. As I mentioned it's one fewer shift through the rotation for Lindholm, Monahan, and Backlund on average vs what they are playing today.
And with this roster set up it's pretty easy to see how you could shorten the bench in the third when you need a goal.
You start with:
Tkachuk-Lindholm-?
Gaudreau-Monahan-?
Mangiapane - Lindholm - ?
Lucic- Bennett - Dube
Then if you want to get the top 9 more time you can shorten the bench and go with:
Gaudreau-Monahan-Lindholm
Tkachuk-Backlund-Mangiapane
Lucic - Bennett - Dube
And the three ?'s sit on the bench in the third.