Confirmed with Link: Training Camp Thread

[Mobiandi]

At least the Oilers ran a Russell/Barrie pairing today. That will get exposed

Feels like every Canadian team is pretty spotty defensively

 

[Zirakzigil]

Death, taxes, and Gaudreau+Monahan stapled together

(I know it's only the first day of camp)

Im gunna puke. Just fire that 2nd line to the moon and be done with it. If Simon is a regular in the lineup, let alone playing with those 2, Im going to need a new tv before the season is done.

 

[Flameshomer]

Im gunna puke. Just fire that 2nd line to the moon and be done with it. If Simon is a regular in the lineup, let alone playing with those 2, Im going to need a new tv before the season is done.

IMO Simon is a placeholder on that Line. It looks to me like the only spot that a camp tryout will have opportunity to break in on, and Pelletier will be coming in Hot. I am intrigued.

 

[Flameshomer]

I think

Didn't know you had it in you!

 

[Zirakzigil]

IMO Simon is a placeholder on that Line. It looks to me like the only spot that a camp tryout will have opportunity to break in on, and Pelletier will be coming in Hot. I am intrigued.

Hopefully, but for some reason Im not holding by breath. I was hoping Leivo would get a shot there personally.

 

[Flameshomer]

Hopefully, but for some reason Im not holding by breath. I was hoping Leivo would get a shot there personally.

I thought that would be the case too, but I like the creation of a defacto 2nd 1st line in Tkachuk-Lindholm-Leivo, and it achieves one of my long time goals of setting Backlund into 3C matchups again.

 

[super6646]

Im gunna puke. Just fire that 2nd line to the moon and be done with it. If Simon is a regular in the lineup, let alone playing with those 2, Im going to need a new tv before the season is done.

Flames are still down one top 6 winger and it shows. The centre depth looks good but I’m not seeing a star fwd there either.

 

[Mazatt]

Flames fans the day before camp: I want to see lines but we're not going to put much stock into them

Flames fans the 1st day of camp: Flames are f***ed, Simon isn't a top 6er and we're playing Monahan and Gaudreau together still? Bennett no centre? Season is ruined

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Didn't know you had it in you!

And I didn't know you were still active on HF, you know after you ghosted the armchair GM thread as soon as I countered your nonsense with data. Welcome back!

Still waiting for your response to the below, btw. Would love an explanation for why Monahan gets owned at 5v5 without Gaudreau, yet somehow its Gaudreau that is the problem...

Gaudreau has always been the problem in the Monahan-Gaudreau pairing. Monahan plays way better without him.

Sure.

 

[User1996]

IMO Simon is a placeholder on that Line. It looks to me like the only spot that a camp tryout will have opportunity to break in on, and Pelletier will be coming in Hot. I am intrigued.

I would hope so, but the camp tryout is rumoured to be Ritchie which would be horrible there. Pelletier jumping straight to the Gaudreau line may be a stretch too.

I genuinely think they want to see Simon there because he played with Crosby. Hope that’s not the case as he’s probably our 13th or 14th best forward of we’re being honest.

 

[Fig]

Centres questions:

Monahan - To wing? Or 1c/2c?
Lindholm - To wing? Or 1c/2c?

Who is 3C? Bennett or Backlund?
Who is 4C? Loser of the 3C question, Monahan to wing, or Ryan to RW?

Who else is going to play C for us?

 

[Khrox]

I would hope so, but the camp tryout is rumoured to be Ritchie which would be horrible there. Pelletier jumping straight to the Gaudreau line may be a stretch too.

I genuinely think they want to see Simon there because he played with Crosby. Hope that’s not the case as he’s probably our 13th or 14th best forward of we’re being honest.

I honestly think Leivo probably gets the spot. I think they go with the Tkachuk-Lindy-Mangi line (but Mangi is in the other group I believe).

 

[Mazatt]

The Giordano - Tanev pairing is together since they'll be a PK pairing, according to Ward so the doom and gloom about that isn't really warranted here. Literally thing only thing you can take from today is "They started Lindholm at centre." He could just as easily be moved over, or they're going to move Monahan to the wing. They could've been seeing if Monahan and Gaudreau were able to mesh day one and would put that in the back pocket if the lineup doesn't work out. There is no long-term use to analying these lines and treating them seriously, at least give it a few days of camp to see if there's a developing trend

 

[Fig]

One thing to note is that ward isn’t shy in trying things. I think he will definitely mix up pairings to make sure he doesn’t miss any chemistries no matter how big and how small.

 

[Sparky93]

Centres questions:

Monahan - To wing? Or 1c/2c?
Lindholm - To wing? Or 1c/2c?

Who is 3C? Bennett or Backlund?
Who is 4C? Loser of the 3C question, Monahan to wing, or Ryan to RW?

Who else is going to play C for us?

So far it looks pretty simple to me. It appears that the goal is to run 4, hard to play against lines. I actually think this is a pretty strong strategy, given the rigors of the condensed season.
Lucic-Ryan-Dube is all but set in stone for the 4th line.
After that, you start with 3 two man lines.
Mangi-Backlund has the least skill and gets the best of the left over wingers, in Bennett.
Tkachuk-Lindholm have the least amount of playing time and biggest hurdles, with Lindy moving to center, so they get the 2nd best option in Leivo.
Gaudreau-Monahan have basically played their entire careers together and have a history of still competing at a high level with lesser wingers, so they get Simon.
Where it goes from here, who knows, but I wouldn't be shocked to see the season start similar to what we're seeing, unless someone blows their doors off.

 

[Gargyn]

Why not move Dube up in the lineup? He should be on a scoring line. Would love to see him with Tkachuk and Lindholm.

 

[Volica]

This is still super early guys, this will get trimmed up and sorted... you know... not at the first day of camp.

I think Dubé will move up the lineup, in place of a guy like Simon who’s just a simple worker bee.

Disappointed to see Gaudreau and Monahan together, but it is what it is at this point.

I called the Gio-Tanev pairing the second he was signed, it makes too much sense.

 

[Fig]

Why not move Dube up in the lineup? He should be on a scoring line. Would love to see him with Tkachuk and Lindholm.

Earned, not given 2.0?

 

[Sparky93]

Why not move Dube up in the lineup? He should be on a scoring line. Would love to see him with Tkachuk and Lindholm.

I think most would like to see what Dube can provide further up the line up. Unfortunately, for him, he's showen that he can work with Lucic and the goal is to make him look as good as possible, heading into the expansion draft. I fully expect the that they'll be stapled together most of the season and wouldn't be shocked to see them end up playing with Backs, on the 3rd line.
I'm calling......
Mangi-Lindholm-Tkachuk
Gaudreau-Monahan-Simon
Lucic-Backlund-Dube
Bennett-Ryan-Leivo

Hanifin-Ras
Gio-Tanev
Valimaki-Nestrov

 

[Kranix]

Leivo will have an 'A' by the end of camp

 

[Kranix]

Ward is never going to split up Gaudreau and Monahan. But the top two lines in group two look fine. Imagine Simon clicking with Johnny and Monny???

 

[Sparky93]

Ward is never going to split up Gaudreau and Monahan. But the top two lines in group two look fine. Imagine Simon clicking with Johnny and Monny???

I don't think many NHL coaches would. They're clearly better together, than they are apart.

 

[Flameshomer]

I would hope so, but the camp tryout is rumoured to be Ritchie which would be horrible there. Pelletier jumping straight to the Gaudreau line may be a stretch too.

I genuinely think they want to see Simon there because he played with Crosby. Hope that’s not the case as he’s probably our 13th or 14th best forward of we’re being honest.

A guy who put up 28 points in a season while stapled to Crosby is not going to find success on our top line. I don't know why anyone would legit think this. If the coaches think it then they are smoking some wild herbs

 

[Fig]

A guy who put up 28 points in a season while stapled to Crosby is not going to find success on our top line. I don't know why anyone would legit think this. If the coaches think it then they are smoking some wild herbs

Depends...

IF Johnny and Monny are "demoted" to a 1B line (Lindholm + Tkachuk 1A), they can feast on many 2nd lines with Josh Jooris calibre guys like Leivo and Simon. Since we have a logjam, curiousity about a 2nd line with Bennett/Monahan sharing centre duties like Monahan/Lindholm might be interesting too.

If we leave them as the defacto 1st line which is average/lower end... then yeah, we gonna have problems if the 2nd line cannot perform on par as a mid level or lower end 1st lines (ie: prime 3M line).

 

[Mobiandi]

Simon will be a 4th liner at best here. Him and Ryan would be a solid pairing