[News] Treliving: This is deepest group since I’ve been here

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Czarnik was 3rd in AHL scoring last year. It's time to graduate to the bigs full time, and show what he can do - whether that's sink or swim. They signed him precisely for that purpose. Obviously he'll still have to show well in camp and earn his spot, and nothing's set in stone, but it's probably his to lose right now. I'd pencil him in as well.

I'd also point this out, from Bruins blog Stanley Cup of Chowder after the signing was made:

4. Had he stayed with the Bruins, do you think Czarnik would’ve been an NHLer in 2018-19?

If all the moves Boston made and didn’t make happened exactly as they did this year? He’d be the frontrunner for the 3rd line Center. No bones about it. The forward depth of the B’s and what they did specifically for each line (and especially the fact that none of them outright sucked) meant he was kind of locked in as a good replacement option but never a full-time player.

5. Given what you’ve seen from his development, what do you think a realistic projection for him is at the NHL level? What do you think his ceiling could be as well?

A realistic projection is probably a bottom-six player who could make a real fun 3rd line. He has plenty of tools to succeed on a team that wants to be speedy and skilled and honestly, if given the right opportunity, he could find himself in the middle six. Which line? You decide.

Originally Posted by heep223

Top six is set and looks great. Only concern I have is that the top line is pillowy soft with Lindholm on the right.

Nothing is set. Camp hasn't started. The coaching staff doesn't know (most of) the players. For all we know Lindholm will play at 3C.

[heep223]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Nothing is set. Camp hasn't started. The coaching staff doesn't know (most of) the players. For all we know Lindholm will play at 3C.

Thanks. I will preface everything with “in my opinion” from here on out :/

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by New Era

Interesting lineup, but I have some questions.


What gives you the idea that Derek Ryan is a defensively responsible player? I would suggest the numbers indicate otherwise. He didn't kill penalties and he was a 60% offensive zone start player. That third line actually scares the bejezus out of me because there is no one on it that has any proven defensive awareness. That could be an "outscoring" black hole. Also, I'd like to see Ryan earn this role with his new team. I'd be concerned about this line getting physically dominated, with a small center and an even smaller winger.

Single biggest issue with Stajan gone in my mind. Who is the other center that gets buried to give the offensive opportunities to Monahan (skill) and the line that needs to be sheltered.

This isn't an issue if say Frolik playing with Bennett and Jankowski remove the need to be sheltered, but that's an if, and certainly an issue with lining Czarnik up there as you said.

One of Ryan or Jankowski have to be able to dig themselves out or Backlund's line will literally start 100% of their shifts in the soup.

[SportsJunky]

Isn't Ryan a top 10 faceoff player in the entire league? I'd say that will go a long way to helping his defensive numbers. that's assuming he gets more defensive starts in Calgary.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Single biggest issue with Stajan gone in my mind. Who is the other center that gets buried to give the offensive opportunities to Monahan (skill) and the line that needs to be sheltered.

This isn't an issue if say Frolik playing with Bennett and Jankowski remove the need to be sheltered, but that's an if, and certainly an issue with lining Czarnik up there as you said.

One of Ryan or Jankowski have to be able to dig themselves out or Backlund's line will literally start 100% of their shifts in the soup.

IMO, this isn't much of a question at all.

I don't think they signed Ryan to play 10 minutes a game at 3.1 per season.

Janko either blows the doors off offensively or he's playing 11 minutes a night with Lazar.

The top of the lineup additions are a pretty significant indicator of how Tre views bottom of the roster players like Bennett and Janko. I think both those players could really be in tough this year to get minutes barring significant injuries.

[GreatWhiteEbola]

Originally Posted by SportsJunky

Isn't Ryan a top 10 faceoff player in the entire league? I'd say that will go a long way to helping his defensive numbers. that's assuming he gets more defensive starts in Calgary.

Eighth (56.5 per cent) among players that had taken 900 or more draws last season.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

IMO, this isn't much of a question at all.

I don't think they signed Ryan to play 10 minutes a game at 3.1 per season.

Janko either blows the doors off offensively or he's playing 11 minutes a night with Lazar.

The top of the lineup additions are a pretty significant indicator of how Tre views bottom of the roster players like Bennett and Janko. I think both those players could really be in tough this year to get minutes barring significant injuries.

Agreed, but that's not specifically what I'm talking about.

I'm not suggesting Ryan is a fourth line center or taking Stajan's role, but someone needs to shoulder some of that defensive zone face off role or the Backlund line will be buried and with that hampered offensively.

If Ryan is the man, he can still take offensive zone faceoffs and push his ice time up while shouldering a bunch of the load in his own zone.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Agreed, but that's not specifically what I'm talking about.

I'm not suggesting Ryan is a fourth line center or taking Stajan's role, but someone needs to shoulder some of that defensive zone face off role or the Backlund line will be buried and with that hampered offensively.

If Ryan is the man, he can still take offensive zone faceoffs and push his ice time up while shouldering a bunch of the load in his own zone.

Agree.

I think last year the team had a couple of lines that needed sheltering, and then had a couple of lines that could score.

This year I think there are two lines that can score, a third line that can play and a fourth line that won't need sheltering so much as they will be getting the remaining minutes.

The overall quality improvement of the forward roster in a season I think is pretty admirable. I know it's an unpopular opinion, but I don't think many posters on CP truly understand just how bad the roster was last year.

This year, the top 3 lines are more or less set IMO, and Ryan was brought in as a firewall between those three lines and the 4th.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

Agree.

I think last year the team had a couple of lines that needed sheltering, and then had a couple of lines that could score.

This year I think there are two lines that can score, a third line that can play and a fourth line that won't need sheltering so much as they will be getting the remaining minutes.

The overall quality improvement of the forward roster in a season I think is pretty admirable. I know it's an unpopular opinion, but I don't think many posters on CP truly understand just how bad the roster was last year.

This year, the top 3 lines are more or less set IMO, and Ryan was brought in as a firewall between those three lines and the 4th.

Did some math on ice time last year.

Backlund took 45 more defensive zone faceoffs than his share of ice time would dictate.
Monahan took 12 less
Jankowski took 53 less
Stajan took 20 more

That balance will interesting to look into this year.

Does Jankowski get sheltered less with Frolik helping him? If so you can negate that Stajan impact as a non issue.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Did some math on ice time last year.

Backlund took 45 more defensive zone faceoffs than his share of ice time would dictate.
Monahan took 12 less
Jankowski took 53 less
Stajan took 20 more

That balance will interesting to look into this year.

Does Jankowski get sheltered less with Frolik helping him? If so you can negate that Stajan impact as a non issue.

Where is the assumption that Frolik will play with Janko?

In my mind, the lineup is shaking out to have Janko/Bennett/Lazar/Hathaway/Dube/Foo/Whoever on the 4th line.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

Where is the assumption that Frolik will play with Janko?

In my mind, the lineup is shaking out to have Janko/Bennett/Lazar/Hathaway/Dube/Foo/Whoever on the 4th line.

Well, if you want more offense out of two young players you need to give them opportunity and quality line mates. Bennett and Janko have the opportunity to play with one of 3 quality wingers who all can help them boost their offense.
One of Neal, Lindholm or Frolik or even Ryan and perhaps to a lesser extent simply because he is a big unknown outside of Boston Czarnik can all help boost their offensive output.

I also don't believe right ow that Dube or Foo will crack this roster but will be valuable depth options when the injuries occur. And I also do not think Hathaway makes the team as it is built today.

A lot of folks write Lazar off too and he may not make the team either.

However the line are deployed, I think Bennett and Janko make up 2/3rds of a 2b line. Not a 4th. They're not that bad not that far off from actually being consistent offensive contributors if Peters give them fair opportunity.

What killed them last year IMO was Hathaways inability to not only keep up but finish a ton of plays those two manufactured.

[The Boy Wonder]

I still think, as great a job as Tre has done getting depth at forward, it doesn't really matter if a. Mike Smith shows his age down the stretch again or, b. Smith gets injured for an extended period of time or c. all of the above like last year.

All the forward depth in the world doesn't help if your goalie is playing .900 hockey like our starters did for the better part of last season... and especially when the games mattered down the stretch

[EVERLAST]

Originally Posted by The Boy Wonder

I still think, as great a job as Tre has done getting depth at forward, it doesn't really matter if a. Mike Smith shows his age down the stretch again or, b. Smith gets injured for an extended period of time or c. all of the above like last year.

All the forward depth in the world doesn't help if your goalie is playing .900 hockey like our starters did for the better part of last season... and especially when the games mattered down the stretch

When the team checks out for whatever reason and doesn't backcheck , play a full 60 then any goalie looks bad.

See Price in Montreal .

If we buy in this year we don't need superman playing goal ......just a steady performance .

Kipper was awesome yes but it didn't hurt when the guys in front were playing well.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by The Boy Wonder

I still think, as great a job as Tre has done getting depth at forward, it doesn't really matter if a. Mike Smith shows his age down the stretch again or, b. Smith gets injured for an extended period of time or c. all of the above like last year.

All the forward depth in the world doesn't help if your goalie is playing .900 hockey like our starters did for the better part of last season... and especially when the games mattered down the stretch

I wasn't sold on Mike Smith when we acquired him, but until he went down with injury, he was probably the team MVP for a large portion of the season. But another year older and the possibility of an injury again scares me.

I imagine Treliving has his feelers out for a 1B type of back-up still, but it isn't extremely urgent.

[NewFan]

I like these lines:

Gaudreau-Monahan-Neal - Real scoring line
Tkachuk-Jankowski-Lindholm - Against lesser lines
Bennett-Backlund-Frolik - Heavy shut down line and can score
Lazar/Rychel-Ryan-Czarnik/Foo -Effective 4th line

[Vinny01]

Makes sense this is the deepest team he has had since he came here. The team is capped out, there currently zero heinously bad contracts on the books, and there are still some young high upside players on cheap or ELC. Lastly without having a player making more than 6.75 per the money can be spread around more evenly.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

With Ryan being, likely, the top PK center, it's hard to think he'll be at 10 minutes a night even if he is the 4th line C. Even more so if he sees some PP2 time. And frankly, even just having him take the vast majority of defensive zone draws and play a "buried defensive center" role to free up other guys to get cushy minutes seems to me like an excellent way to spend 3.1M against the cap.

[camm13]

"With Ryan being, likely, the top PK center". Um, Backlund? Ryan was not brought in to be a pp specialist, he's didn't play that much time on the PK in Carolina.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by The Boy Wonder

...All the forward depth in the world doesn't help if your goalie is playing .900 hockey like our starters did for the better part of last season... and especially when the games mattered down the stretch

Yes, down the stretch the Flames goalies were simply not god enough, but Smith and Rittich both did play play at a +0.915 SP level for 60 games between Oct–Feb. I interpret "the better part of the season to be well over the first half, and this most certainly qualifies.

I am a firm believer that with better management of Smith's time in games 1–50, he will be better off in games 51–82 and into the playoffs. I also think that Rittich showed last season that he is able to come in, play, and win his starts in a 4:1 rotation. It seems perfectly reasonable to expect that Flames goalies will be fine with a little more balanced workload.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by camm13

"With Ryan being, likely, the top PK center". Um, Backlund? Ryan was not brought in to be a pp specialist, he's didn't play that much time on the PK in Carolina.

Yeah he was 6th in Carolina for ice time by a forward last year, and it wasn't particularly close.

He would have been 7th in Calgary tied with Lazar in PK time.

Derek Ryan was not brought in to kill penalties.