Quote:
Originally Posted by Macho0978
I'm only talking this year. Way too much could happen in the next 2-3 years.
Klapka could be a surprise, but we might find out he isn't that good
Pospisil might end up being a 4th liner
Honzek may never make it
The Dallas stars is your example, but they are a contender to win it all.
Flames are still building, hard to know who can bring what to the table without playing. Isn't this what the conservation has been? rolling 4 lines equally and playing everyone less leads to a lot of players being unhappy with ice time? Then you add in, only Huska has control of that ice, he's coaching to win and push comes to shove Backlund is elite vs elite players and Frost and Kadri are awful. Close game and other team star is in the ice, Backlund will be option #1. So no, he will not be our 4th line center. We don't even have 4 true centers.
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Sure, as I said, you never know. And it sounds like you agree with me.
If Huska wants to win then having a 4th line full of tweeners an AHL guys like Kirkland really doesn’t move the needle, so if a rookie looks better why wouldn’t he put Pospisil or that rookie or whoever might be “above” 4th line minutes there and give the 4th line more minutes/take pressure off the other lines?
Dallas being a contender just backs my position. We don’t have the top end talent Dallas does and yet they still roll 4 lines and give their 4th line decent minutes and actual responsibility. If they can do it, surely the Calgary Flames top 10 players are not so incredible that a couple of them can’t play on the 4th line and make room for a rookie who outplays them. As you said, we don’t even have 4 true centers, so should one emerge from the rookies they’ll make room. Team wants to win after all.
If Backlund is your sticking point then keep him on the third line and make the 4th line a 3b scoring line. Problem solved, and just semantics for what I was proposing anyway.