Quote:
Originally Posted by bigrangy
Everyone who’s come up and played on the 4th line with Rooney has looked like a tweener because playing with Rooney is like being on a permanent penalty kill.
It cannot be overstated how much his usage limits this team.
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Actually you may have over stated!
The Flames have had 7 fourth lines this year, five have had Rooney on it.
Bringing in a sample size hurdle of 20 minutes, that list shrinks to four fourth lines.
One was good ...
Rooney with Lomberg and Kirkland (53.2% xGF)
One was decent ...
Rooney with Pelletier and Lomberg (48.0% xGF)
Two were terrible ...
Rooney with Lomberg and Duehr (32.6% xGF)
Kirkland with Lomberg and Klapka (35.7% xGF).
I'm not sure Rooney is the problem on his own. I think it's two weak fourth line players needing a better third player to prop them up.
And one of those times it was Kirkland who was terrible when he replaced Rooney.
Am I a Rooney fan? Nope ... I think he's over his skiis as this level. But I think it's likely a Lomberg problem as well.
And Duehr and Klapka couldn't fix it.