Injury Report: 2016-17 Line Combinations, Roster & Injury Discussion ★

[Kalamazoo Wings]

Gonna be hard to convince me to watch the season if this team decides to not ice its best players in Game #1.

I'm with you on this. Might as well of taken Fabbri, he's about as useful to the Blues as Honka is to the Stars this year by sounds of things.

 

[tofu]

Hitch has chose his top 6 D. Both Heika and Shapiro tweeted out their educational guess, and low and behold, no Honka. The 7th D is unknown, and so are the top 12 forwards.

Lindell-Klingberg
Methot-Oleksiak
Hamhius-Johns

I think I'll genuinely be mad if Hitch doesn't ice Honka from the start.

 

[BrettHullsToe]

I was annoyed for a bit at Hitchcock (probably) not starting Honka. But then I saw someone point out that Hitchcock has been watching Honka a lot this past month. And Hitchcock is the 4th winningest NHL coach of all time, with more playoff appearances than not. Meanwhile, I'm just some random Stars fan, and I haven't seen Honka play since the end of last season, and not very much even then.

So maybe I'll defer to Hitchcock's judgement for the time being - I know I'd be annoyed if I had his pedigree and random jagoffs on the internet where insisting they could run the team better.

 

[Duffeldof]

I don't remember who wrote about it but apparently Hitchcock sees that Honka needs easier minutes in a situation where he can use his offensive side better. So right now he seems to not fit the top 6 in his role but could be first injury call up when needed.

It's better for Honka to play in AHL and be 7th D that way than sitting in pressbox.

I would really like to see Honka start season in NHL but unfortunately I'm not the headcoach

 

[WhatWhat]

I don't remember who wrote about it but apparently Hitchcock sees that Honka needs easier minutes in a situation where he can use his offensive side better. So right now he seems to not fit the top 6 in his role but could be first injury call up when needed.

It's better for Honka to play in AHL and be 7th D that way than sitting in pressbox.

I would really like to see Honka start season in NHL but unfortunately I'm not the headcoach

This is what I dont get. Kid is really good offensive and needs to learn the D side. Play him 3rd pair and 2nd unit PP. That way we can use his PP skill and his 5v5 minutes can hover around 10 per night while he learns NHL D

 

[FirstRowUpperDeck]

What I really don't get is the eye test already says he is very good, yes better skating to the other net than back, but also making nice plays on D, despite his size.

I recall Hitch's last stint. There were a few years when they reset the roster after 20 games in if they were struggling. My guess now is he starts in Austin, but comes in as part of a early season shake up.

 

[WhoahNow]

What I really don't get is the eye test already says he is very good, yes better skating to the other net than back, but also making nice plays on D, despite his size.

I recall Hitch's last stint. There were a few years when they reset the roster after 20 games in if they were struggling. My guess now is he starts in Austin, but comes in as part of a early season shake up.

I totally understand that Honka still has some improvements he needs to make in the defensive end, but is Oleksiak really better than him in that respect. If so is it a larger difference than how much better Honka is at offence? I just think that Honka bring so much more to the table than Oleksiak and has such a better impact on the game, especially on the eye test as you mentioned.

 

[FirstRowUpperDeck]

Maybe JO has implanted a digital video chip of his beautiful toe drag goal last year in Hitch's head, but short answer is yes, Honka is much better at what he does than Jamie is at what he does. Still never see the bone jarring hits, intelligent coverage, etc. as much as Hitch must see it from his level on the ice.

 

[Magic Mittens]

Looks like our opening night lines will be:

Benn - Seguin - Radulov
Janmark - Spezza - Ritchie
Rousell - Hanzal - Shore
Elie - Faksa - Pitlick
Cracknell

Lindell - Klingberg
Methot - Oleksaik
Hamhuis - Johns
Patty

Bishop
Lehts

I think Honka will end up on this roster sooner then later. I do like that Forward group. Wanted to see Dickinson, but there isn't room. Hanzal and Rousell should be a pain to play against

Hurry up Friday!!!

 

[________]

 

[Troy McClure]

Letting the the days go by
Let the water hold me down

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Hey guys, will Spezza be on the first or 2nd PP unit? Same question for Radulov. Thanks!

 

[M88K]

I would think PP1 would be Benn-Seguin-Spezza-Radulov-Klingberg.

 

[Benneguin]

I totally understand that Honka still has some improvements he needs to make in the defensive end, but is Oleksiak really better than him in that respect. If so is it a larger difference than how much better Honka is at offence? I just think that Honka bring so much more to the table than Oleksiak and has such a better impact on the game, especially on the eye test as you mentioned.

When Hitch arrived some seem to think he would adapt to the offensive style of Dallas, but that was never going to happen. He doesn't bend, never has. The players do if they don't learn defense or they get shipped out. So it doesn't surprise me that he favors Oleksiak over Honka and it won't surprise me if Benn, Seguin, Spezza or Klingberg land in his doghouse if they don't up their game on the defensive side.

 

[Satan]

Nemeth waived

 

[Satan]

Curtis McKenzie too

 

[FirstRowUpperDeck]

In the end, no huge surprises, although we hoped not to have 8 D, and some thought Elie would be the 13th forward, not Smith. Both looked good in the pre-season games I saw, glad one of them made it rather than sign another old vet. Thought maybe Cracknell would go, and both would stay.

 

[Magic Mittens]

Surprised with Smith, but have no problem with him making the team. He's a good 4th liner and can play on the PK

Honka will either play or learn from the NHL coaches. Can't see Nill keeping Honka up if he isn't going to play

 

[FirstRowUpperDeck]

Agree, would be worth keeping around as the PP specialist, with lighter D minutes full strength until he is up to Hitch's snuff.

 

[BrettHullsToe]

Honka is just in a weird position - far too good for the AHL with nothing more to learn from offensive opposition that can't challenge him, but he still makes a number of rookie mistakes in the NHL, and according to write-ups of the preseason games, he makes about one egregious error per game that leads to a goal against. Since he's not a PPG player, that leads to a net negative for the team as of now.

I'd imagine he needs about half a season of limited usage and sheltered minutes until he gets enough experience to be trusted to play in +/- 1 goal situations.

 

[FirstRowUpperDeck]

I guess Hitch is making sure he understands nothing is handed to him, and trying to motivate him to get better. However, if each mistake reduces his minutes, while Jamie O is handed a spot, despite some mistakes, it might backfire. At least, we saw how well that worked out for Jamie O and Nemeth last year. Hopefully, he and Wilson handle this year's core of 8 D men a bit better.

 

[WhoahNow]

For some reason I was always reading it as the first 10 games for Honka before they decide, but I just re-read the Hitchcock quote and it's 10 days. I like that much better, although would be curious to really see how much of a difference can be made. Assuming 10 days from the first game today that would be him watching 5 games (Vegas, @STL, Detroit, @NSH, Colorado).

 

[BrettHullsToe]

For some reason I was always reading it as the first 10 games for Honka before they decide, but I just re-read the Hitchcock quote and it's 10 days. I like that much better, although would be curious to really see how much of a difference can be made. Assuming 10 days from the first game today that would be him watching 5 games (Vegas, @STL, Detroit, @NSH, Colorado).

Honka being personally coached is only half of what I imagine Hitch is going to look at in the first 10 days - he's also going to watch Johns and Oleksiak (and maybe even Hamhuis) to see if they deserve their spot or should be traded and replaced with Honka.

 

[Magic Mittens]

No update yet on Hanzals injury. Hopefully just day to day

Cracknell is on waivers, maybe making room for Dickinson

 

[captainmike]

No 0-2 team, with one loss being against an expansion team, has ever gone on to win the Stanley Cup.