Line Combos: Lucic - McDavid - Draisaitl

nabob

Big Daddy Kane
Aug 3, 2005
34,479
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Or how about we try something that has shown flashes of greatness every time it happens accidentally

RNH - McDavid - Who cares
Who Cares - Draisaitl - Puljujarvi

RNH - McDavid - Slepy
Aberg - Drai - Puljujarvi

Play top 6 talents in the top 6. Play bottom 6 talents in the bottom six. Maybe toss Kassian a cookie and give him some of those winger minutes if the other guys are dogging it and the team needs an energy injection.
 
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Mez

Registered User
Nov 16, 2017
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I'm pretty disappointed I didn't get any credit for putting Biosteel in the picture. That and the Oilers logo, pucks as fish food, were a few hours of work!
that'll do donkey, that'll do.
 

Mez

Registered User
Nov 16, 2017
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RNH - McDavid - Slepy
Aberg - Drai - Puljujarvi

Play top 6 talents in the top 6. Play bottom 6 talents in the bottom six. Maybe toss Kassian a cookie and give him some of those winger minutes if the other guys are dogging it and the team needs an energy injection.
Slepy and Aberg are top 6 talents?
 
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LTIR

Registered User
Nov 8, 2013
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Slepy and Aberg are top 6 talents?
does McDavid really need top 6 talent on each wing?
He and Drai kinda gave away that right when they signed the big contracts.
 

nabob

Big Daddy Kane
Aug 3, 2005
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Slepy and Aberg are top 6 talents?

Unproven ones at the NHL level. But then again they've never had a chance to prove it.

I guess you can keep Lucic and Cammy up there instead if you want. We all know how many goals they've scored with prime ice time in the last few months. Maybe with just a few more months in the top 6 they'll start to develop.
 

Mez

Registered User
Nov 16, 2017
11,188
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No, they didnt give away that right. Their contracts are reasonable considering how good they are. You dont need 8 million dollar wingers but Slepy and Aberg (at this point) should not be top 6.
 

nabob

Big Daddy Kane
Aug 3, 2005
34,479
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No, they didnt give away that right. Their contracts are reasonable considering how good they are. You dont need 8 million dollar wingers but Slepy and Aberg (at this point) should not be top 6.
Who do you suggest to be in the top 6 in the two other winger spots at this point in a lost season?
 

GameChanger

Registered User
Jun 29, 2016
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I read this line has a GF% of less than 45%. I hate how McDavid and Drai are totally wasted here if the 1st line actually produces less goals than gets scored around. Well I guess TM doesn't worry about this kind of things.
 

SaltNPeca

Registered User
Jan 9, 2017
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How is it that countless fans, people in the media local and otherwise, question this nonsense and nothing gets changed? despite the horrific season, horrific mistakes, they keep playing the same god damn lineup.

Lucic is a complementary player. He never focused on scoring, but scoring happened as a result of what hes doing out there in terms of physical play or getting in front of the net where he is hard to move. Hes never been a first line player and should never be treated as such. Let him flourish in a secondary role where hes not the main focus and criticism will decline and his game will improve with less warts showing.

You feed the old slow guy prime minutes, you feed the old slow guy who's 35 and not resigning here, but not your young under contract players that need development time?

What in the holy Eakins is this?
It's called tanking with class. We're playing all the top salaries, so can't be accused of tanking while actually tanking. When we get Dahlin, then destroy him, you'll understand the masterplan here.
 
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Joey Moss

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Aug 29, 2008
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That play last night where McDavid floated a pass to Lucic at the point and he completely missed it while standing still is exactly why he has no business playing on this line.
 

FlameChampion

Registered User
Jul 13, 2011
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I really wonder whos idea it is to play Lucic with McDavid. It doesnt work.

McClellan? Chiarelli? Players? Its really confusing.
 

Joey Moss

Registered User
Aug 29, 2008
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I really wonder whos idea it is to play Lucic with McDavid. It doesnt work.

McClellan? Chiarelli? Players? Its really confusing.
I feel like McLellan assumes that Lucic will eventually get his confidence back being stapled to McDavid.

But he also plays him on the first unit PP as well as when we have the goalie pulled. It's perplexing how this coaching staff doesn't see he is a liability.
 

FlameChampion

Registered User
Jul 13, 2011
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I feel like McLellan assumes that Lucic will eventually get his confidence back being stapled to McDavid.

But he also plays him on the first unit PP as well as when we have the goalie pulled. It's perplexing how this coaching staff doesn't see he is a liability.

Yeah I really dont get him on the PP. He cant handle the puck.
 

GameChanger

Registered User
Jun 29, 2016
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Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't quite get this line. Their GF% is now 41.7, so they've let more goals against than scored. Lucic's current form plays a part in this, but I think this is not the best possible line defensively either.

They have two elite players and they're not getting enough good out of them like this. As the special teams are bad right now it means the 2nd-4th lines have to be better in order for the team to get points.

I don't know if McLellan doesn't pay attention to these things or if he just doesn't care as long as Lucic keeps scoring in every 30th game or so.

Drai is good enough to run his own line if you give him suitable wingers, which way they could actually do some line matching too. But if they absolutely have to keep him and McD together there are better options than Lucic.
 
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Captain Fantastic

Connor McMastadon
Feb 24, 2012
6,517
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I feel like McLellan assumes that Lucic will eventually get his confidence back being stapled to McDavid.

But he also plays him on the first unit PP as well as when we have the goalie pulled. It's perplexing how this coaching staff doesn't see he is a liability.
I think having him on the 1st line is having the opposite effect on his confidence. His mistakes are magnified if anything else. I'd put him on the third line with a simpler role. He can play simple and get confidence from contributing in other ways. Missing perfect passes from McD our Drai has to be brutal on him plus it's the added pressure of being on the first line. Do you hear me Todd??
 

Soundwave

Registered User
Mar 1, 2007
72,159
27,861
I feel like McLellan assumes that Lucic will eventually get his confidence back being stapled to McDavid.

But he also plays him on the first unit PP as well as when we have the goalie pulled. It's perplexing how this coaching staff doesn't see he is a liability.

It's Chia's call I would bet. He is ordering McLellan to get Lucic going, because it reflects reaaaaaaaaaaally bad on a GM if his star $6 million addition is playing this bad. Chia is going to likely at some point have to explain this to Katz.
 

Mr Positive

Cap Crunch Incoming
Nov 20, 2013
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It's Chia's call I would bet. He is ordering McLellan to get Lucic going, because it reflects reaaaaaaaaaaally bad on a GM if his star $6 million addition is playing this bad. Chia is going to likely at some point have to explain this to Katz.
I don't think it's a Chiarelli issue exactly. McLellan wants to put together the best roster to win, and perhaps that job can't exist apart from looking at the salaries. If he can "get Lucic going" then his job becomes much, much easier, assuming that if Lucic is buried in the lineup or a healthy scratch for an extended period, that this will just hurt his stats further, damage his confidence further, and even put in some seeds of resentment. I know this idea is angering to many fans, but the fact is that we can't afford a buyout on him, and that with his NMC and poor play he is virtually untradeable. So this is the hand that Tmac has been dealt, and he's trying to make the most of it.

Personally, I don't think it's a bad thought. There are a lot of fans who put too much stock in "logic". Logic said that the Golden Knights couldn't possibly be a good team. You can make logic prove anything that is convenient to your opinion. Logic says that Lucic is regressing permanently and that the NHL is changing to move away from guys like Lucic. I'm not so sure that either is true.

At the very least, with our season lost, we can try to see what we have in Lucic. It's kind of the same logic as giving ice time to prospects now. If Lucic does get a bit of a breakthrough with McDavid, that would be an amazing gift to this team's future.
 

VainGretzky

Registered User
Jun 4, 2015
13,093
10,603
Just stop with this everything is positive nonsense ^ Here is a better Idea how about finding proper winger for McDavid instead of wasting time with a 11 year veteran to see if he can rediscover a 50 point season game, utter nonsense
 

Soundwave

Registered User
Mar 1, 2007
72,159
27,861
I don't think it's a Chiarelli issue exactly. McLellan wants to put together the best roster to win, and perhaps that job can't exist apart from looking at the salaries. If he can "get Lucic going" then his job becomes much, much easier, assuming that if Lucic is buried in the lineup or a healthy scratch for an extended period, that this will just hurt his stats further, damage his confidence further, and even put in some seeds of resentment. I know this idea is angering to many fans, but the fact is that we can't afford a buyout on him, and that with his NMC and poor play he is virtually untradeable. So this is the hand that Tmac has been dealt, and he's trying to make the most of it.

Personally, I don't think it's a bad thought. There are a lot of fans who put too much stock in "logic". Logic said that the Golden Knights couldn't possibly be a good team. You can make logic prove anything that is convenient to your opinion. Logic says that Lucic is regressing permanently and that the NHL is changing to move away from guys like Lucic. I'm not so sure that either is true.

At the very least, with our season lost, we can try to see what we have in Lucic. It's kind of the same logic as giving ice time to prospects now. If Lucic does get a bit of a breakthrough with McDavid, that would be an amazing gift to this team's future.

I'm sure Todd has known for a while he needs to get results or he is toast, he had no problem playing Lucic on the 2nd/3rd lines for a while there, all of the sudden something changes overnight and he's talking about how he now must get Lucic going and he's been stapled to the first line ever since.

To me this reeks of something happening behind the scenes. I think Chia has been told he is going to be "Oiler audited" (lol) this summer because Katz is not happy, and Chia knows one of the (many) things that doesn't look good on him is that Lucic signing right about now.

Need to get him some gravy points so he can calm the waters on that one.

It was similar to Cammalleri being on the 1st line for like two straight weeks there prior to the trade deadline ... that was an order from Chiarelli as they tried to find a buyer for him (they didn't so the classy thing to say is they weren't shopping him when they obviously were).

We know Todd well enough to know that he will break up basically any combo/line on this team 5-on-5 if goes 2-3 games in a bad way ... Cammalleri being stapled to McDavid/Drai firstly and now Lucic being stapled there despite multiple bad games in a row by them is the GM's handy work.
 

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