Old GTA boys line together tonight if all goes as planned.
Thornton-Spezza-Simmonds
I kind of like it...and it could work. Cycle game will be their strong suit. All big bodies that hang on to the puck well. Anyone else notice that Thornton seems to be more aggressive the last couple of games? At least to my eye test he's been laying the body, I don't know the actual stats. Maybe he is feeling the heat of maybe losing his job. But I think a veteran like him will be valuable come playoff time. Same goes for Simmonds. Their real value will show in the playoffs when push comes to shove. Even Spezza (been great all year) dropped the gloves last playoff series. Robertson has looked great, but at full health I think they have a hard time sitting Thornton
The unfortunate thing about that line is that when Keefe limits their ice time and he will, Spezza gets painted with the same brush. Spezza could still play top six minutes the way he’s been playing. Thornton and Simmons have basically both done nothing since both have come back. Nash and Foligno should theoretically push out Thornton and Simmonds.
Neither do what Nash and Foligno do and we need the acquisitions all round play killing penalties and hard forchecking more than we need two guys that do nothing. They do nothing. I personally would prefer the defense awareness attributes and physical play replacing these two guys. It seemed like a good idea and we all agreed on Simmonds at least. Unfortunately both aren’t contributing much.
Spezza does not have to ever come out unless he requests it because he’s dealing with something and it gets prospect in for a look or something. Anyways Spezza will lose ice time with these guys. It’s Keefes way of taking them out of the lineup without actually taking them out of the lineup. 9 minutes per game tops could be likely.