Quote:
Originally Posted by GioforPM
You are missing my point. I think he figures the forwards overall aren’t good enough, and that’s true IMO. We’ve all talked about the pairs concept - two better players with a complimentary guy. Lots of teams do this. So he’s looking for a guy who’s not a top 6 player to work with the other two.
IMO there’s only two 3 man lines that have worked really well: Lucic-Backlund-Mangiapane and Lucic-Bennett-Dube, and I have my doubts that the latter is sustainable. So, yeah, he’s cycled guys on the Lindholm and Monahan lines to try and find something that works.
|
Bennett on the top line with Johnny and Mony was working reasonably well, and resulted in Sam getting 2 goals in 4 games despite not getting any powerplay time. Then Ward takes him off that line because... reasons.
He reunites the Lucic-Bennett-Dube line and it yields some results. Meanwhile, he puts freaking Simon
on the top line, resulting in a quick goal against in the last Vancouver game. But ok, at least Sam is on a line with linemates that he seems to click with. Meanwhile, the top line RW is still a rotating door...
Then he randomly buries Bennett on the 4th line because... reasons.
Then Monahan is injured for this game. Sam is put back on the 3rd line, while Dube is promoted to the 1st line. It looks like he has a good lineup plan for this game but then... Hanafin takes out Rittich leading to a goal against, and Sam is suddenly benched for the rest of the game.
Among other things, it seems to me that Ward should decide what his lines are and stick with them, and quit changing them up 100 times per game. Yes Monahan's injury complicated things tonight, but I don't think the constant blender sound is doing this team any good.