Newhook is working well in PP1, but otherwise it is not a great season for him. Playing center does not help as I see him more as a winger and should start developing his game there. Unfortunately, we lack centers. Newhook-Dach-Roy would be a solid 2nd line for next season. Speed - Size - Smart sounds like a great combo.
I do think Slaf is gonna be a good 1st line player
In 3yrs. When he is 22 (barring injury) will be league top 5 LW.
But that's my point, I don't think size really has any meaningful impact on likelihood of injury.
I understand what u r saying, but a team needs to dish it out too, not just play to protect.. CC is not adding any jam to the line, just a scoring threat.. the most effective top lines in the league bring scoring AND punishment.. you get a line of: Slaf-lindstrom-Dach (lindstrom is a C/W like Dach) or CC-Suzuki-Demidov for example.. the same issue arises as Toronto... it doesnt work come playoffs.. never has, never will.
Wingers rarely carry a line. You probably have enough fingers to count to amount of wingers who could carry a line in the last 30 years. Bure, Ovechkin, Pasternak, Jagr, maybe Panarin, Kucherov, Kane, Selanne, maybe Iginla. Slaf gonna be like LeClair minus fight. He'll be a great complement to a skilled center. He'll create lot of space for his center and will be able to do well with skilled smaller 5'10-11 centers. The kind of player Slaf could become you have one every 10-15 years maybe at best. That kind of combination of size and skills and vision is very rare. He's a unicorn. There was risk in drafting him but the reward could be quite high.
On the other hand you could look at Tampa's top 6 during their playoff runs. Point, Kucherov, Stamkos aren't exactly monsters of size.
They are very skilled though. Skilled players instigate fear in other players who will be hesitant in attacking and challenging them. Kucherov and Stamkos will both be a first ballot HOF. Point is very good too. I like Suzuki, Caufield and Slaf but i don't think you are looking at the same amount of skills. They'll need more help.
Lindstrom bring something else though. There's many ways to win a cup. Lot of skills or a combination or skills/size/toughness. Dach, Slaf and Lindstrom would be extremely hard to play against specially with guys like Mailloux and Guhle in the backend. There would be lot of potential there imo.
Built like fire hydrants with a low center of gravity and great balance.
He's not gonna be this size his whole life though. And Cogliano only played at 180, it's not like he was a certified tuna can like Suzuki or Crosby. I think style of play is more important, and I haven't seen him put himself in danger very often.
Very true the elite know how to stay healthy. One guy who always amazed me was Doug Gilmour. Talk about a player who could slip checks
Well Caufield and Suzuki have already shown that they can step it up in the playoffs. I don't remember watching/noticing Dach in the playoffs for Chicago but 6 points in 9 games as a rookie certainly seems promising.
Roy,CC,demidov are soft players.. how can you be satisfied with half the top 6 playing soft? Roy is not going to be a top 6 if he cant bring something more unuque to the lineup.. we have loads of these prototypical decent 3rd liners in our prospect pool.
Newhook is acceptable on the 2nd line as long as he has two elite players with him. Dach is one. I'm hoping the Habs get the other in the draft this year. As for the third line, Habs have players like Roy, Beck, etc that look as though they'll be good NHL regulars. Add in maybe 1 FA signing to fill in a veteran presence. I don't think we really need to go over the future of the fourth line lol. The defence is solidified. They're hoping Jacob Fowler is their future no. 1 G.
Suzuki has done alright in the playoffs. 32 games with 11 goals and 12 assists for 23 points. Decent but not fantastic.
You saying you don't like it when Matheson and Savard chase the forwards to the locker room? lol
