Quote:
Originally Posted by Macindoc
They added three right-handed centres, two of whom can also play right wing. Last season, the Flames had three right-shooting forwards: Lazar, Hathaway, and Brouwer. This was, of course, the reason for the Brouwerplay, and it was a huge handicap on the powerplay, with or without Brouwer. The Flames are now much more balanced between right and left shots, and they can ice four lines with two players each who can take draws on their strong side on opposite sides of the ice. If a centre goes down to injury, someone else can easily step in with minimal adjustment. By adding three players (including Neal) who can play right wing, Treliving addressed the Flames' biggest positional weakness and turned it into a strength.
This had nothing whatsoever to do with any concerns about Backlund.
This just gave me a thought. I am putting the lines in a bit of a blender, but it would leave each line with a left-shooting and a right-shooting centre so each could take draws on his strong side or could take the faceoff if the other is waved out:
1: Gaudreau - Monahan (L) - Lindholm (R)
2A: Bennett (L) - Ryan (R) - Neal
2B: Tkachuk - Backlund (L) - Czarnik (R)
4: Frolik - Jankowski (L) - Lazar (R)
This lineup should easily put the Flames in the top 5 in the league for faceoff percentage.
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I think it’s more than just having good face off guys, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that all of the Hurricanes centres had high win percentages. I bet Peters practices set face off wins and plays a lot and demands possession off the draw. I bet the wingers will play big roles in helping win the face offs, probably through positioning and or other tricks.
I wouldn’t be shocked if all of Monahan, Backlund, Jankowski and Bennett all record career highs in face off win percentages this year.
