When does McGrattan draw into the line-up?

[ricardodw]

Jones got to play in Mcgrattan's spot last night.

Hartley thought Jones was good enough to play 16 minutes rather than McGrattan's 7 minutes.

Stajan who was pinned to 8 minutes as McGrattan's centre got over 12 minutes with Jones/Bouma playing on his RW

Bollig was the low ice-time forward with just under 10 minutes.

Without McGrattan in the line-up it is sure a lot easier to roll 4 lines.

There was no one on Edmonton (or for that matter Vancouver or most of the league) that McGrattan was going to fight.... honor code and all.

With Glencross (9) , Bollig (8), Bouma (6), Engelland (6) (2 game total hits in brackets).. willing and able to play physically hard (gritty) the need for a nuclear deterrent has declined.

Will McGrattan adapt to be able to make 3-4 hits and play 10 minutes a game? The other option to contribute to the team is to play closer to the edge --- banging and scaring smaller players who would not consider fighting him.... that does not seem in his nature.

If this doesn't happen when and why does he get put into the line-up?

[SuperMatt18]

Not sure, regardless he is a good guy to have in the locker room as the 13th forward if needed.

I actually thought the Bollig-Stajan-McGrattan line was good on Wednesday and that a big reason the lines minutes were so low was that Stajan missed over a period getting stitched up.

IMO you rotate him in when you are playing a bigger team, or a team that has idiots that like to run around.

[Clever_Iggy]

I really like McGrattan, but I hope he sees less than 30 games this year.

[Gaskal]

Whenever we play the following teams:

Vancouver
Anaheim
San Jose
LA
Boston

[RyZ]

Only when the other team has a heavy weight in the line up.

[saillias]

Maybe the next game against the Jets.

[3rd line Grinder]

We got to have him out against Arizona too... For his offensive prowess

[Wastedyouth]

Hopefully never.

[Vulcan]

The writing was on the wall when noted heavyweights failed to get jobs this season. He won't have many to match up against and will receive less starts as he just isn't a good enough hockey player. It also isn't fair to Stajan to not have a decent RW on his line.

[gvitaly]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

Jones got to play in Mcgrattan's spot last night.

Hartley thought Jones was good enough to play 16 minutes rather than McGrattan's 7 minutes.

Stajan who was pinned to 8 minutes as McGrattan's centre got over 12 minutes with Jones/Bouma playing on his RW

Bollig was the low ice-time forward with just under 10 minutes.

Without McGrattan in the line-up it is sure a lot easier to roll 4 lines.

There was no one on Edmonton (or for that matter Vancouver or most of the league) that McGrattan was going to fight.... honor code and all.

With Glencross (9) , Bollig (8), Bouma (6), Engelland (6) (2 game total hits in brackets).. willing and able to play physically hard (gritty) the need for a nuclear deterrent has declined.

Will McGrattan adapt to be able to make 3-4 hits and play 10 minutes a game? The other option to contribute to the team is to play closer to the edge --- banging and scaring smaller players who would not consider fighting him.... that does not seem in his nature.

If this doesn't happen when and why does he get put into the line-up?

Everything is not as simple, Hartley wants the forwards to earn both their spot in the line-up and their minutes on a nightly basis. I personally love the competition for ice time so far.

It is only game 2 and Hartley is experimenting with different options. Bollig for example had a pretty good(and quiet) game against Edmonton. He got so little ice-time(~3 min less than any other forward) because his role is more defined on the team(for now). It seems that Hartley knows exactly what he brings to the table, and he is happy to leave him in that role.

With the rest of the lineup Hartley is experimenting, and trying to create chemistry. It is exactly why he commented about trying Raymond at RW, and now he knows for sure that he is a LW.

As for McGrattan, players in his role are rarely guaranteed a spot in the lineup. Last season he just made it very easy to leave him in the lineup. Finally to answer your question - He will draw into the line-up when he either outperforms 2 of the 14 forwards in practice, the team needs a boost because of losing a few games, or there is a heavy-weight in the lineup for the other team.

[ricardodw]

Originally Posted by gvitaly

Everything is not as simple, Hartley wants the forwards to earn both their spot in the line-up and their minutes on a nightly basis. I personally love the competition for ice time so far.

It is only game 2 and Hartley is experimenting with different options. Bollig for example had a pretty good(and quiet) game against Edmonton. He got so little ice-time(~3 min less than any other forward) because his role is more defined on the team(for now). It seems that Hartley knows exactly what he brings to the table, and he is happy to leave him in that role.

With the rest of the lineup Hartley is experimenting, and trying to create chemistry. It is exactly why he commented about trying Raymond at RW, and now he knows for sure that he is a LW.

As for McGrattan, players in his role are rarely guaranteed a spot in the lineup. Last season he just made it very easy to leave him in the lineup. Finally to answer your question - He will draw into the line-up when he either outperforms 2 of the 14 forwards in practice, the team needs a boost because of losing a few games, or there is a heavy-weight in the lineup for the other team.

If it came to hockey talent there would be at least 6 forwards with better hockey skills that the Flames have in the AHL.

As far as adding a spark he has done that by beating on somebodies Heavy-weight. He hasn't had a lot of shifts where he has initiated contact, crashed the crease or been a general pain in the butt that the opposition has to react to.

As far as the other teams Bollig and Engelland both fight in the Heavy weight division... not as successfully as McGrattan but able to battle guys like Lucic to a draw.

If the Oilers choose to dress Gazdic this years version of the Flames does not have to dress McGrattan for their 2 minute side show.