Quote:
Originally Posted by sch19lks
I don’t want Zary or Pospisil on the fourth line. Even if they’re playing centre
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IMO, this (fan) fear of young players playing on the 4th line is way overdone. Is it ideal? Of course not. But is half a season, or one season, playing 4th line so they can focus on a particular development need, going to dampen their offensive growth prospects? Highly doubtful, IMO.
Do you want to see a 19 year old like Honzek on the 4th line, getting 4 minutes a game? Absolutely not. But would it be detrimental to Zary to play 12 minutes a night, focusing on playing C, getting better matchups than he would get if he were centering the 2nd or 3rd line? I just don't see the problem. If it is for a reason (as opposed to the old-school, right-of-passage mentality), then it is developmentally positive, not negative.
Just put him on the 2nd PP unit, and he is going to get more offensive touches than he would playing full time 2nd line minutes, 5 on 5.