I’d rather have Backes on the 4th line playing less minutes than Acciari. He should be fine conditioning wise.here is something that I think would be a lot of fun to try... and could quite possibly prove to be hugely successful. the main concept here is resting Chara and Backes (and Rask) frequently. when Krug comes back, Grzelcyk can tag out (and back in fairly often). there are too many great defensemen, so it would be all about watching for relative minuses back there and plucking even the captain and/or top powerplay specialist based on "temperature," rest stagnation, matchups. Bjork's success is crucial to this concept, up front. Marchand does fine on the right as needed, so I would use callups on their best side on the first line, a luxury that top-line partnership allows for through extremely strong defensive play. hate away -- I don't mind and none of us get to make these decisions anyway.
MAR/BER/BJO
DeB/KRE/PAS
HEI/WAG/DON
NOR/KUR/ACC(BAC)
VAA(CHA)/McA
MOO/MIL
GRZ/CAR
HAL(RAS)
I would like to see this with Cehlarik replacing Nordstrom. Not sure if that lineup has enough PK but the depth would be impressive. This would rely on a strong start in Providence but Cehlarik looked very good this preseason, I thought he looked worthy of a shot.It would be great if JFK can pull off what Heinen did last year. get sent down, tear up the AHL, get called back up and never look back.
Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak
Debrusk-Krejci-Donato
Heinen-JFK-Bjork
Nordstrom-Kuraly-Backes
Wagner, Accairi
Chara-McAvoy
Moore-Carlo
Krug-Miller
Gryz
Two main questions to answer are
1) Who is the 3C by December.
2) Who is the best placeholder until that time.
The bottom 6 as currently constructed won't get it done all year
I would like to see this with Cehlarik replacing Nordstrom. Not sure if that lineup has enough PK but the depth would be impressive. This would rely on a strong start in Providence but Cehlarik looked very good this preseason, I thought he looked worthy of a shot.
I think every time Backes played center, it was in the top 6. In the 3C roll he should be fine. It’s a much better option than Kuraly or Acciari, the third line actually looks like it could produce offense now.The bottom 6 is so bad. Still don't understand why Kuraly was given the 3rd line center, and Acciari the 4th. Made no sense to me then, and still doesn't. Give another 1-2 weeks and I wouldn't be surprised if they call up Frederic or JFK to try the 3rd line, and slide Kuraly back at 4th line center duties.
Heinen-JFK/Frederic-Backes
Nordstrom-Kuraly-Acciari
x-Wagner
*Bjork being sent to ahl (if he's not playing top 9 role, then he should be in providence right now).
**Edit:
Didn't see the practice lines (post above). I'm on board with that, but how many times have they tried Backes at center for 1-2 games and then abandoned it for whatever reason?
Backes at center?!?