Line combos

[loosecannon3]

I’ve been a little busy the start of this hockey year with work and my attention on the Flames has gone way down. I’ve watched bits and pieces of the first three games and I see D. Sutter has significantly altered the line combos from what we have been used to seeing over the years (Monahan playing with Lucic!). I wanted to ask Flames fans what they think about the current lines. In favour or no? Dune as a centre? Good or bad? Things like that. Happy to hear all views. What are some early season observations?

[GranteedEV]

- I think Tkachuk and Gaudreau on the same line is a dangerous combo, with Lindholm being the finisher, but I just feel Lindholm is slotted too high and his offense will dry up when checking gets tighter. I think Lindholm's better-suited to a 2C or a RW role personally.

- Coleman-Backlund-Pitlick are a tough minutes "2A" line but I don't know if Pitlick can really contribute enough offensively.

- I love Dube's dynamic speed and on paper he's well-suited to the center position. But he wasn't great in his lone stint so far. I'd give it some time, and experiment with his RW. Right now Mangiapane is head-and-shoulders better than his linemates which is concerning. Ritchie is definitely out of place here, but it'd be cool if we could sign Coronato in a sort of Cole Caufield situation and plop him here down the stretch.

Lucic fed Monahan on a breakaway last game, so I can imagine some sort of chemistry between these two. The main issue is that with Trevor Lewis at RW the ceiling for this line is pretty limited offensively. Even Ritchie is probably more skilled. I'm hopeful Monahan starts scoring. He's useful when he's scoring.

Personally I would like to see something like:

Gaudreau - Dube - Lindholm
Tkachuk - Backlund - Mangiapane
Lucic - Monahan - Coleman
Ritchie - Richardson - Pitlick (or.. something... it's the spare part 4th line and ideally we can add depth here since I don't know what to expect at Richardson's age. Or maybe Ruzicka gets another shot. I know Ritchie isn't a LW so this is all a jumble)

I know Dube isn't a "1C" talent but he has the speed and Lindholm has the faceoff, board, and two-way ability that it could work similar to the old Tampa Bay Triplets Line (Palat-Johnson-Kucherov)

Tkachuk- Backlund - Mangiapane is proven. The chemistry is there and the two-way play is there.

The 2B line with Monahan and Coleman IMO could work really well, but who knows.

Of course, assuming Dube is part of an Eichel package.. I'd rearrange this once more to:

Gaudreau - Eichel - Mangiapane
Tkachuk - Backlund - Lindholm

That would give Backlund a second option on D zone faceoffs and a first option on offensive zone faceoffs.

As far as the D pairings go, I liked the top 6 Sutter tossed out in Game 3:

Hanifin - Andersson
Kylington - Tanev
Valimaki - Gudbranson

What I didn't love on the other hand was how they were utilized in terms of zone starts. Tanev and Kylington should be getting a lot of defensive zone starts so they can transition the puck forward, and Hanifin and Andersson should be getting a lot of offensive zone starts so they can keep sustained O zone possession, as that's their strongest asset as a pair. Sutter just has no trust in Kylington so the biggest improvement is just for Sutter to lengthen Kylington's leash and start giving him more defensive zone responsibility, because this pair should be able to execute picturesque breakouts if given a chance.

As far as the third pair, Valimaki-Gudbranson is okay, and until they aren't, should be given the spot. Valimaki-Stone is okay too IMO. Zadorov needs to play markedly better, and I'm not sure we have a partner suited for him. Maybe Zadorov-Valimaki?

[DoubleK]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

As far as the third pair, Valimaki-Gudbranson is okay, and until they aren't, should be given the spot. Valimaki-Stone is okay too IMO. Zadorov needs to play markedly better, and I'm not sure we have a partner suited for him. Maybe Zadorov-Valimaki?

With the caveat Kylington plays like he did in the last two periods in Detroit for the rest of the season, this is the rotation.

If it's not you need to throw him into that rotation and let them battle it out, with Zadorov and Kylington rotating in and out of the top 4 and then the five of them rotating through the bottom pairing to see what works.

[DeluxeMoustache]

I thought that actually getting a top 6 RW, it’d be nice to see 13 and 23 with Coleman

These guys have been given lots of ill fitting wingers from Chris Stewart through Ritchie, and even Ferland who probably had the most opportunity was really not a good fit skill wise

They finally get an actual natural position RW and break them up

[loosecannon3]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

-
Lucic fed Monahan on a breakaway last game, so I can imagine some sort of chemistry between these two. The main issue is that with Trevor Lewis at RW the ceiling for this line is pretty limited offensively. Even Ritchie is probably more skilled. I'm hopeful Monahan starts scoring. He's useful when he's scoring

How did Sean Monahan, our top centre for years fall to playing with Lucic and Lewis?

[Harry Lime]

I think that they have some pairs who are working on the forward corps, and they just need to find that complementary piece for each. Below are the pairs I think should stick, and who I think would be a good third player in brackets.

Gaudreau - Lindholm - (Coleman)
Tkachuk - Monahan - (Pitlick)
Dube - (Backlund) - Mangiapane
Lucic - (Richardson) - Ritchie or Lewis

On the few times they have been paired together, I think that Tkachuk and Monahan were very good. I'm going to start advocating that, so that it never happens in real life. I also think that the two primary playmakers in Gaudreau and Tkachuk should be split up.

That third line could eat up lesser competition, or shut down higher. I actually like Dube at centre, but don't see a path to keeping him there with the other three ahead of him on the depth chart.

[Harry Lime]

I think that Tkachuk - Dube - Mangiapane could be an incredible second line, and that's what I'd like to see, but that would make either Backlund or Monahan the fourth line centre, and I can't see that happening.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by loosecannon3

How did Sean Monahan, our top centre for years fall to playing with Lucic and Lewis?

I believe Sutter is easing him back in with the recovery from surgery

[timbit]

Isn’t it great that Darryl, who knows how to nurture and build up a Championship team, makes the decisions on players’ ice time?

[NegativeSpace]

Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache

I believe Sutter is easing him back in with the recovery from surgery

They were saying on the radio that he was fifth in ice time for forwards. Maybe not easing him in too much.

[gilligans_off]

Idk after watching the no-goods up north so far, it tells me one thing we’re missing… elite talent. Not saying we don’t have skill, but any of the Cup favourites have at least one guy that could single-handedly win a series. Not something that comes around very often though.

[NegativeSpace]

Originally Posted by gilligans_off

Idk after watching the no-goods up north so far, it tells me one thing we’re missing… elite talent. Not saying we don’t have skill, but any of the Cup favourites have at least one guy that could single-handedly win a series. Not something that comes around very often though.

Don’t tell me you think they have the winning recipe? Barely hanging on and hoping your power play is the difference is not how teams win championships. This team is winning despite itself.

[gilligans_off]

I’m not saying Edmonton has a sustainable recipe for success, I’m just saying that they have elite talent. Special teams are often the difference between winning and losing. Elite talent helps with it.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

They have elite talent because they were one of the worst teams in all of professional sport in North America for about a decade. And even then had to fluke out to get McDavid. And their team is still seriously flawed.

Draisaitl was a great draft pick. McDavid was a fluke. That's pretty much their entire team. But yes, they do have some elite talent.

[gilligans_off]

Look at Tampa though. They’ve won two Cups in a row and are eyeing a third.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by gilligans_off

Look at Tampa though. They’ve won two Cups in a row and are eyeing a third.

Yes, Tampa have elite talent and have won back to back cups.

Meanwhile, the Oilers have elite talent and have won 1 playoff series in McDavid's entire career.

So maybe there is a bit more to building winning teams than having some elite talent.

[Harry Lime]

You can win regular season games with elite talent on the first line, but you win a Cup by having an elite third line.