Quote:
Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan
Those lines are a continuation of last year's pairs without any real attempt to realign the lineup with the new additions. Lots of placeholders (Balcers on the top line? Yeah, right) and none of those lines will see opening day. Here's how I see it:
Tkachuk-Barkov-Duclair (Reinhart or White as placeholder for Duclair's injury)
Verhaeghe-Bennett-Reinhart
Cousins-Lundell-White
Lomberg/Balcers-Luotsarinen/E. Staal-Hornqvist
Forsberg-Ekblad
Montour-Gudas
Carlsson/Del Zotto-M. Staal
Bobrovsky/Knight
It doesn't look so bad when you put the lines together right. I do think they need a proper top 4 defender though. Both Montour and Gudas are playing a little too high for my liking. Pushing either of them down in the lineup will help even things out.
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Problem being they are $3.3M over the cap right now with 13 forwards, 7 dmen, and 2 goalies.
Even if Duclair can go on LTIR they have to drop one more of the players to be cap complaint at $300k over.
But really the need to clear about $4M-$5M in salary to be able to add Duclair once he’s healthy and have a full 23 man roster.
Pretty much need to find a taker for Hornqvist, which is easier said than done especially with no firsts.
And even if they can do that I don’t really like their 2nd and 3rd d-pairings, or their bottom 6 outside of Lundell. Their depth compared to last year has really taken a big hit and that’s a big part of why they were so successful. Combine that with the downgrade from Coach Q to Maurice and I think they will be in a battle with Ottawa in that division.