Projected Lines

[Goriders]

As we get closer to training camp starting and looking at the moves that have been made I’m going to assume that there aren’t going to be any big moves happening between now and then. We still have capspace. But I get the feeling the Eichel deal isn’t happening. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a bottom pairing veteran D or bottom 6 forward signed however.

The guys on 960 were talking about lines this morning. I’ve been thinking about it as well and wondered what everyone else thought.

Here’s what I think will happen assuming no additional trades ect. Question marks besides areas unsure of.

Forwards:

Gaudreau Lindholm Tkachuk
Mangiapane Monahan? Coleman
Lucic? Backlund Dube
Pitlick? Lewis Ritchie

Gallant?, Gawdin?, Froese?, Zary?, Pelletier?, PTO?

I’m assuming they keep the first line per the end of last season as it seemed to work well. From that I’m assuming Monahan gets bumped down to second line C. Not sure about Lucic or Pitlick. Assuming Lucic on 3rd line as he has worked well with Dube before. No idea as to who the extras would be. I would hope they fill those with the farm system.

Defense:

Hanifin Tanev
Zadorov Anderson
Valimaki Stone?

Mackey?, Kylington?, PTO?

Not sure about the bottom few. I’m assuming Mackey will be on the roster. Unknowns to me are Kylington and whether they sign another vet to play as the 6/7. Personally I’d re-sign Stone as I thought he did a good job when Hanifin went down.

Goalies:

Markstrom
Vlader?

Treliving hinted to Vlader being the backup. But there’s also Werner.

The positives I see are that the lineup is definitely tougher than last season which addresses one of the Flames bigger issues and the bottom 6 is more than likely better. At least more experienced.

The negatives I see are that the top two lines remain essentially untouched which is this teams biggest problem in my mind. They also look to be banking on a number of turnaround seasons or next steps for guys like Tkachuk, Monahan, Anderson, Valimaki, Dube ect to improve the team. Maybe a valid plan. But probably more of a gamble in reality. Now that Monahan is seperated from Gaudreau he’s very hard to slot in the lineup. What is he now? He used to be a triggerman. Now I have no idea.

I feel the loss of Gio will not be as bad as you might think on the ice as he dropped off last season and he’s not getting younger. Looks like they are hoping the leadership void will be filled in by guys like Lucic, Coleman, Lewis , Tanev ect. Remains to be seen how that works out.

Thoughts?

[Samonadreau]

Thats probably pretty close to openning night lines

[Dajazz]

Zadorov / Andersson is a scary slow pairing.

Not sure if Valimaki is ready to step up though.

[Fighting Banana Slug]

I would try:

Gaudreau Lindholm Tkachuk - First Line is a lock, at least to start
Mangiapane Backlund Coleman - More energy and defensively aware without Monahan
Pitlick Monahan Dube - Monahan is hard to slot, but maybe more offensive starts will help
Lucic Lewis Ritchie - Probably too slow, but there can be a revolving door for Ritchie.

Edit: If Pelletier could fit in on the third line, that would help.

[1qqaaz]

I'm still hoping that they can find something better than Lewis for the 4th line. And it would be nice if they found something better than Stone for the #6.

[Harry Lime]

The only changes to your lines that I would make are Valimaki/Andersson as a pair, and Zadorov/(Mackey or Kylington) as the second/third pair. Stone as the extra.

Also, Ritchie would be the extra for me. One of the rookies steps up.

But it is a Sutter team, so Stone and Ritchie play, just like your lines.

[Bingo]

Would be nice to see a Pelletier or Zary push. Those are always the best pre seasons. One of those guys forces their way on to a third line and things look a little better.

I'm with most though, hoping more change is coming with that cap space.

[VilleN]

I think they might try the following D pairings, since Sutter mentioned that he thought Hanifin was ready to carry his own:

Hanifin-Andersson
Valimaki-Tanev
Zadorov-Mackey(Kylington,Stone)

[gvitaly]

If Monahan is back to his old self, then I can see Gaudreau-Monahan-Coleman. I think that’s also plan B if Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk doesn’t work out. Another option I like is going with:
Gaudreau-Lindholm-Coleman
Tkachuk-Backlund-Pelletier/Mangiapane
Dube-Monahan-Mangiapane/Pitlick
Lucic-Pitlick-Ritchie

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Would be nice to see a Pelletier or Zary push. Those are always the best pre seasons. One of those guys forces their way on to a third line and things look a little better.

I'm with most though, hoping more change is coming with that cap space.

It would be nice and is sorely needed but I don't see much cap space available once Mackey, Dube and Gawdin are signed.

These lines and pairings look mainly blah outside of the the first line and top pairing, and the bottom 6 is downright awful. $4Mish in this world doesn't get you much unless your GM is will to actually part with someone significant upfront.

This seems highly unlikely at this point as he's had the better part of the last two seasons to do so and seems shockingly content to continue to double or triple down on players like Monahan and Guadreau to get back to career type seasons (which is the only path for this roster to be a legitimate contender).

[Toonage]

The only things I see as certain are

Lindholm as 1C
Zadorov won't be on the 3rd pairing
Markstrom will start
Sutter will be perpetually annoyed

[Flamesfan05]

Time for Pelletier or Zary to make the team, especially Pelletier

Monahan will be back with Johnny. Take that to the bank

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus

It would be nice and is sorely needed but I don't see much cap space available once Mackey, Dube and Gawdin are signed.

These lines and pairings look mainly blah outside of the the first line and top pairing, and the bottom 6 is downright awful. $4Mish in this world doesn't get you much unless your GM is will to actually part with someone significant upfront.

This seems highly unlikely at this point as he's had the better part of the last two seasons to do so and seems shockingly content to continue to double or triple down on players like Monahan and Guadreau to get back to career type seasons (which is the only path for this roster to be a legitimate contender).

Don't think Mackey and Gawdin have much to do with it.

The Flames have 11 or 12 pretty much guaranteed forwards that will make the team. I say 11 because maybe a guy like Ritchie gets pushed out for someone else. Either way if they carry 23 players, it comes down to Pelletier's salary vs say Gawdin, not both of them on the roster.

Pelletier at $863 and Zary at $894 aren't going to make a dent vs the other 13th forward salary of say $750

[Goriders]

Originally Posted by Flamesfan05

Time for Pelletier or Zary to make the team, especially Pelletier

Monahan will be back with Johnny. Take that to the bank

I hope not. Other teams have figured them out when they are together. Pairing Johnny with Monahan essentially neuters Gaudreau now.

Gaudreau needs players to help him. He’s shown from the first half of last season that he can’t carry a line. But if you give him something to work with he can do a lot of damage.

[Flamesfan05]

Originally Posted by Goriders

I hope not. Other teams have figured them out when they are together. Pairing Johnny with Monahan essentially neuters Gaudreau now.

Gaudreau needs players to help him. He’s shown from the first half of last season that he can’t carry a line. But if you give him something to work with he can do a lot of damage.

If Monahan returns to form then he belongs with Johnny

If Monahan doesn’t return to form, they need him with Johnny to savage whatever value he has left for trade. They can’t have a 6.5M bottom 6.

I see few other options , plus that’s their go to option for 5 yrs.

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by VilleN

I think they might try the following D pairings, since Sutter mentioned that he thought Hanifin was ready to carry his own:

Hanifin-Andersson
Valimaki-Tanev
Zadorov-Mackey(Kylington,Stone)

I'd say you need to have a legit top pair to carry the weight. This roster is going to need a lot of help and trying to spread the talent around on D is likely just going to dilute the effectiveness. I'd go with:

Hanifin - Tanev
Valimaki - Andersson
Mackey - Zadorov
Kylington

Andersson should bounce back nicely in a second pairing role and Zadorov would be a nice 3rd pairing guy to let Mackey have some freedom.

[Goriders]

Originally Posted by Flamesfan05

If Monahan returns to form then he belongs with Johnny

If Monahan doesn’t return to form, they need him with Johnny to savage whatever value he has left for trade. They can’t have a 6.5M bottom 6.

I see few other options , plus that’s their go to option for 5 yrs.

If Monahan doesn’t return to form they need to get rid of him. But at that point he’s probably untradeable. Unless you’re bringing in someone else's dead cap space.

[Goriders]

Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus

I'd say you need to have a legit top pair to carry the weight. This roster is going to need a lot of help and trying to spread the talent around on D is likely just going to dilute the effectiveness. I'd go with:

Hanifin - Tanev
Valimaki - Andersson
Mackey - Zadorov
Kylington

Andersson should bounce back nicely in a second pairing role and Zadorov would be a nice 3rd pairing guy to let Mackey have some freedom.

I think Zadorov is better than Valimaki at this point if you are weighting pairings.

[Enoch Root]

I also suspect Monahan and Gaudreau will be back together. Assuming so:

Gaudreau - Monahan - Coleman
Tkachuk - Lindholm - Mangiapane
Dube - Backlund - Pitlick
Lucic - Lewis - Ritchie/Pelletier

if not...

Gaudreau - Lindholm - Tkachuk
Mangiapane - Monahan - Coleman
Dube - Backlund - Pitlick
Lucic - Lewis - Ritchie/Pelletier

[Royle9]

I'd like to see both Zary and Pelletier get a shot but with Daryl at the helm they'll have to have the best camp they've ever had to get a shot. Daryl like's a big rough bottom 6 and neither of these 2 guys fit that bill so I don't seem room for them there.

Likely a long shot they make it unfortunately.

With that said Zary did look good in the AHL last year, first time underage playing with pro's and he didn't look out of place much at all. Made a lot happen which was great to see.

Pelletier has a solid game, kind of reminds of me of what Mangiapane looked like before coming into the pro's but maybe a bit more pedigree.

Either way I'd like to see them get a fair look, but I think the bottom is is locked in with the Lewis/Pitlick acquisitions etc. and no room in the top 6 at all.

My guess to start:

Gaudreau - Monahan - Coleman
Tkachuk - Lindholm - Mangiapane
Dube - Backlund - Lucic
Ritchie - Lewis - Pitlick