AquaticBirdman
Registered User
The team will have quite a different look this season. What are your lineup/combo predictions?
With byslma behind the bench:
Koon Crosby Dupuis
Kobasew Malkin Neal
Bennett Sutter Jokinen
Adams Glass D'ago/Kostopolous
Kostopolous was signed only to an AHL contract, so we won't be seeing him. Also do you really think that DB would be stupid enough to play Kobasew on the 2nd line wing over Bennett?
With byslma behind the bench:
Koon Crosby Dupuis
Kobasew Malkin Neal
Bennett Sutter Jokinen
Adams Glass D'ago/Kostopolous
Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis
Bennett-Malkin-Neal
Jokinen-Sutter-Kobasew
Glass-Adams-Vitale
(Jeffrey/D'Agostini)
No matter what combination you use, that bottom six looks incredibly soft/non-physical. I also don't know if a guy like Jokinen will even be effective in that role, since he tends to look better when he's on a line with skilled guys, not grinders/defensive minded guys. Overall, I'm just not impressed with the make up of the bottom six. Too little grit/size/physicality, IMO.
I don't even want to discuss the top line because I'm sick and tired of seeing it together ("best line in hockey" ... until the games actually matter). The only line I'm looking forward to seeing this season is the Bennett/Malkin/Neal line, and that's only if Bylsma doesn't go all, well, Byslma on us and remove Bennett in favor of some journeyman grinder.
Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis
Bennett-Malkin-Neal
Jokinen-Sutter-Kobasew
Glass-Adams-Vitale
(Jeffrey/D'Agostini)
The 3rd line isn't ideal compared to the style of the previous lines, but that isn't to say it can't be good. Boston, for example, had a 3rd line of Peverly, Kelly, Seguin. That's not exactly smash mouth hockey there. Of course they had a pretty nasty 4th line as well as more grit in the top 6, but you get the point.
Anyway, a 3rd line of Jokinen, Sutter, D'Ags can be a skill line that has defensive responsibility and can provide secondary scoring. With Jokinen feeding Sutter and D'Ags flying around, I see that line being very effective. The problem is that you don't have a ton of size anywhere else in the lineup to make up for the lack of grit on the 3rd line. The 4th line is more of a problem for me.