Line Combos: Mantha is now on the 4th line

[lomekian]

Lets face it, bar certain combos, its pretty clear Blash doesn't know what he's going to do from game to game, which is part uncertainty and part flexibility. While $5m is too much for a shut-down center, the Nielsen, Helm, Glendenning line has been good most nights...Helm is even +/-, Glendenning is on pace to beat his best points total and Nielsen is on pace for about 20 goals. Its uninspiring, but at least it makes sense.

The rest of the lines? Mix and match, bar Nyquist being stapled to Z regardless of whether he has a good game like the last couple or is invisible for a week.

As for Mantha, after JB called him out, he said all the right things, agreed his game had been off and that he needed to simplify things. Perhaps he then worked his butt off in practice? We don't know what goes on behind the scenes. We do know Blash is a compulsive line juggler...

 

[Winger98]

Lets face it, bar certain combos, its pretty clear Blash doesn't know what he's going to do from game to game, which is part uncertainty and part flexibility. While $5m is too much for a shut-down center, the Nielsen, Helm, Glendenning line has been good most nights...Helm is even +/-, Glendenning is on pace to beat his best points total and Nielsen is on pace for about 20 goals. Its uninspiring, but at least it makes sense.

The rest of the lines? Mix and match, bar Nyquist being stapled to Z regardless of whether he has a good game like the last couple or is invisible for a week.

As for Mantha, after JB called him out, he said all the right things, agreed his game had been off and that he needed to simplify things. Perhaps he then worked his butt off in practice? We don't know what goes on behind the scenes. We do know Blash is a compulsive line juggler...

I think a fair part of the problem with the lines, especially re: Nyquist, is that Blashill is locked into that shut down line. The only other spot for Nyquist is Larkin's wing, but I'm not sure how wonderful that sounds. We also have Tatar, Mantha, AA, Gator. and maybe Frk to be considered for scoring line wing spots.

The crappy part for us is that it might be our best option. It really wastes Nielsen, not just because he's paid $5m but he's paired with guys who don't really take advantage of Nielsen's offensive strengths. He might be on pace for ~20 goals, but he's also on pace for just 32 points. Which would be his lowest total since 12/13 (29 points) when everyone played just 48 games because of the lockout. But do we have the guys to make use of Nielsen on a third scoring line? Maybe not, at least not this year.