I would love to see a lineup like:
Gaudreau - Bennett - Kylington - very fast line
Tkachuk - Monahan - Lucic - heavier line
Lindholm - Backlund - Markstrom - defensive line (goalies are the best defenders)
Leivo - Nordstrom - Simon - the new guys line - won't detract the chemistry from everyone else
Giordano - Rittich (again, goalies are your best defence)
Valimaki - Robinson (Robinson is the large, stay at home type to give Valimaki the freedom)
Ryan - Andersson - they looked good together last year on PP2
Tanev (Great Save Tanev is the obvious choice for starting goalie)
Dube (decent size and quick)
Mangiapane (complete throwback to the 80's style goalies that the other NHL teams won't be ready for).
Is it just me, or when other people read some line combos they barely make any more sense than what I just wrote? At least I bothered to write down my rationalization - I like reading lineups, and I find it interesting to hear WHY people want particular players slotted where.
Bennett is no longer a centre on this Flames' team in my mind. I do think that he deserved a long look as the third line centre. However, with Lindholm switching to centre this year, Bennett becomes a top 9 winger in my mind. He is not going to develop as a centre playing on the 4th line in irregular minutes (hard to get going) with players who aren't able to provide offence (or make strong plays with the puck). Let that be Ryan's role - short term and long term it makes sense, as Ryan is a UFA and already fully developed.
I can understand people wanting to split up the Gaudreau - Monahan pairing, but Gaudreau is a guy that always wants to carry the puck. I think he would work best with Bennett as they are both quick and are the Flames two fastest players carrying the puck in (Calgary's skills competition, for instance), but just like the paragraph above, I would actually put him on Backlund's wing.
Tkachuk - Lindholm - Dube
Mangiapane - Monahan - Leivo
Gaudreau - Backlund - Bennett
Lucic - Ryan - Simon/Nordstrom
Line 1: can attack with speed, and can all make strong plays with the puck with their passing and shooting.
Line 2: Mangiapane is a strong 5on5 player, and Monahan will get the responsiblity of lugging the puck up the ice - something I think he is good at, but defers to Gaudreau 'just because', and Leivo is just filler there.
Line 3: Gaudreau is a bit useless right now other than the PP. Know what he used to be good at? Backchecking pressure. Put him on the most defensive line and get him useful again. Backlund is incredibly awesome at his 2 way play, and Bennett provides speed, snarl, and a willingness to attack the net, plus can take draws when Backlund is waived.
Line 4: This is really just 'whatever's left'. Ryan is Backlund-lite in my mind - Slower, smaller, less physical, a bit less defensive and offensive, but still a strong 2-way player with really good F/O skills.
The one thing that we can all take away is that there are a lot of options for the Flames in terms of lineups. I wouldn't be so concerned with who is playing where for now. I do worry about Ward's judgment at times, like when he kept insisting on Backlund being the 1st line RWer for a LONG time when it was obviously not working - that was way too long of an experiment, and thus I worry about any other experiments.
In two weeks (give or take) we will see what happens when the dust settles, and players get their timings back, and develop chemistry with one another.
I don't mind the notion that Gaudreau and Monahan are being buried in OZ% starts right now - they are not generating any offence 5on5, so make them contribute in a different way. I don't think that they are poor defensive players when they are tasked with it, but it does make their offence evaporate (that's why Backlund is a GOD). I think if they want to keep them together, and Leivo doesn't end up working out with them (which is tough to gauge right now - Leivo is not only new to the team and will take a bit of time to develop chemistry with them, but he was out with his injury and rehab for a very long time), then I would like a stronger 5on5 player on their wing, like Mangiapane. I worry that they will be too slow with him there, but he is a strong producer 5on5. Try Dube after that. Go and try Bennett after. Simon should really be a last resort - seems like he has limited offence, but I am open to just about anything to get Gaudreau and Monahan going again.
I think I want to see Gio-Tanev and Hanifin - Andersson on defence, but I am fine with giving last game's pairings some rope to see how they look.
Like I said in the PGT, it is tough to figure out what lines are working and not working, and even what much of the system is. Roster turnover + shortened camp + not up to game speed/timing = this type of hockey. I think that 5 day break + a few games to reinforce the system will lead to us being better able to dissect this team. I am basically ok with almost anything that Ward tries right now.
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