[Moneyhands23]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

There will never be agreement on this because there are differing views on what the "4th Line" should be.

The "Traditional 4th line": Physical, low event veterans that aren't going to score, and hopefully just don't get scored on. Just go grind the puck in the corner for your 45 second shift and then get off the ice.

vs.

The "Modern 4th Line": Generally a mix of a veteran, and younger skilled players that will play a more sheltered role but might be able to contribute offensively. (Mangiapane-Ryan-Hathaway is a great example of this)

There are pros and cons to each of these options. The traditional 4th line tends to be the safer option, but I think longer them the more modern 4th line is more effective and is better at working young players into the lineup.

And you see examples of both in the league. The Flames are full on traditional 4th line right now. Toronto and Pittsburgh have similar veteran 4th line (although I'd argue both have players much more effective than the players Calgary are leveraging). Tampa, Colorado, Carolina and some others have went with the younger 4th line.

Personally I don't really have an issue with having a veteran 4th line. The issue is more that the guys we have just aren't very good at it. Richardson has been just terrible all season. I don't hate Ritchie but ideally he's your 13th forward and isn't in the line up every night. Lewis plays his role and is a good PKer but isn't great at 5v5. Pitlick has shown nothing and Sutter doesn't seem to like him. Ideally you have one of those guys in your lineup each night, not three of them.

Ideally we could add two more top 9 pieces and then that creates a more effective "Veteran 4th line". Something like:

Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk
Mangiapane - Monahan - (Trade)
(Trade) - Backlund - Coleman
Lucic - Dube - Lewis
Ritchie

I would like to see two of Phillips, Ruzicka, and Pelletier get a shot in those "open" spots for now, and then if you acquire a piece or two at the deadline you can send them back down.

(And to be clear our top 9 seems to be clicking a little better right now, so I wouldn't make the change right now, but maybe down the line again when things dry up)

Pelletier on backlunds left. Toffoli on Monahans right.