Line Combos: 2019/2020 Lineup

[bert]

I think Brownneeds to play 40 + games and establish himself this year. Otherwise he is moving in to bust territory.

Batherson will play the full year with the big club imo

You know how he will really bust its by rushing him before he is ready thats how he becomes a true bust. But no he is not close to bust territory he just finished his first pro season... He is 21 years old. Big players always take longer to develop I just do not see the rush.

I am expecting these to be the 13 forwards barring injury to start the season with the lineup looking something like this.

Tkachuk-White-Batherson
Ryan-Tierney-Duclair
Anisimov-Pageau-Brown (shut down may lead the team in icetime)
Paul-Ennis-Balcers
Boedker

Chabot-Demelo
Wolanin - Zaitsev
Hainsey - Jaros
Boro

Andy
Nilsson

 

[Micklebot]

I'm not sure I understand why people are putting Anisimov in a top 6, or even top 9, role, ahead of either Pageau or Tierney.

Anisimov is a contract we had to take back. In an ideal world, he wouldn't even be on the team, and at 31, with his reputation and one year left on his deal, his value will not get any higher. Ideally, he'd go on LTIR at some point...

Pageau, on the other hand, is an upcoming UFA who already holds value because of his versatility and defensive play. If you put him in an offensive situation and he has ~30-35 points at the deadline? You might be able to get a 1st round pick, or at least a 2nd + decent prospect.

Tierney is 24, plays center and is an upcoming RFA. If he puts up a 50+ point season, he'll have good value at the draft.

Tkachuk - White - Ryan
Balcers - Tierney - Batherson
C.Brown - Pageau - Duclair
Paul/Boedker - Anisimov - Ennis

I was listening to the radio yesterday on the way home. Mendes had Brent Wallace on with him, and they were discussing Ottawa's center depth.

Mendes actually suggested that Anisimov might be Ottawa's #1 center...

Needless to say, there seems to be a pretty wide range in opinions on who Anisimov is.

I'm not overly optimistic about him. I loved his game back when he was with NYR, but I feel he's slowed down to the point that bottom six is where he belongs.

 

[TkachukNorris79]

I was listening to the radio yesterday on the way home. Mendes had Brent Wallace on with him, and they were discussing Ottawa's center depth.

Mendes actually suggested that Anisimov might be Ottawa's #1 center...

Needless to say, there seems to be a pretty wide range in opinions on who Anisimov is.

I'm not overly optimistic about him. I loved his game back when he was with NYR, but I feel he's slowed down to the point that bottom six is where he belongs.

I already love that trade. Smith was kind of becoming an anchor. Anisimov had 37 points, which isn't bad, but he was averaging 16 minutes of ice time. He'll probably get around 19 or 20 here, so he should be around 45 points. Plus PP time if he gets any, which he should. He averaged 1:25 of PP ice time, which was good for 7th among Hawks forwards.

The added ice time should improve his numbers. But he is 31, so maybe he can't play more than 16 good minutes and isn't good enough for the PP. But on this team, he should be. I guess we'll have to wait and see!

 

[DaveMatthew]

I already love that trade. Smith was kind of becoming an anchor. Anisimov had 37 points, which isn't bad, but he was averaging 16 minutes of ice time. He'll probably get around 19 or 20 here, so he should be around 45 points. Plus PP time if he gets any, which he should. He averaged 1:25 of PP ice time, which was good for 7th among Hawks forwards.

The added ice time should improve his numbers. But he is 31, so maybe he can't play more than 16 good minutes and isn't good enough for the PP. But on this team, he should be. I guess we'll have to wait and see!

My problem with the trade is that it might push Tierney and Pageau down the depth chart (and they could be great trade chips if we give them prime offensive minutes in the first 55 games), and it puts up a roadblock for Brown.

I would've preferred to just buy out Smith.

 

[Micklebot]

The added ice time should improve his numbers. But he is 31, so maybe he can't play more than 16 good minutes and isn't good enough for the PP. But on this team, he should be. I guess we'll have to wait and see!

I think you are asking for a lot. He won't have Kane and Saad as his wingers here. Its like expecting Greening or michalek to produce more without Spezza

 

[TkachukNorris79]

My problem with the trade is that it might push Tierney and Pageau down the depth chart (and they could be great trade chips if we give them prime offensive minutes in the first 55 games), and it puts up a roadblock for Brown.

I would've preferred to just buy out Smith.

I think you are asking for a lot. He won't have Kane and Saad as his wingers here. Its like expecting Greening or michalek to produce more without Spezza

Definitely fair, but he'll also get to play a backup goalie every night. I think he can have a good year and will undoubtedly will be worth more than Smith by the time we trade him.

His faceoff percentage was bad, and we have tons of centre depth. Wouldn't mind him at LW.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/nhl-off-season-ottawa-senators-1.5264145

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Yup

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

Yup

If he's as bad as he was last year, there's no use for him at all. Might as well toss him on waivers and bury him if we can.

 

[Cosmix]

If he's as bad as he was last year, there's no use for him at all. Might as well toss him on waivers and bury him if we can.

I agree to putting him on waivers as I doubt any team would want him unless they wanted to dump another non-performing asset.
I suspect if he is put on waivers, no team will take him; however, I doubt that the Senators will demote him to the AHL as he has a guaranteed contract and replacing him with another player would increase salary costs. So he will be a fixture on the 3rd or 4th line or sitting in the gallery watching games.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

I agree to putting him on waivers as I doubt any team would want him unless they wanted to dump another non-performing asset.
I suspect if he is put on waivers, no team will take him; however, I doubt that the Senators will demote him to the AHL as he has a guaranteed contract and replacing him with another player would increase salary costs. So he will be a fixture on the 3rd or 4th line or sitting in the gallery watching games.

I agree yours is the most likely outcome. No team would take him at his salary, and the team won't bury him because it costs more in salary.

Only one more year of watching him plug it up. One things for sure, he won't be matching Hoff's 36g/70p season from last year.

 

[MatchesMalone]

Lineup I would like to see:

Balcers-Anisimiv-Batherson
Duclair-Tierney-Ryan
Tkachuk-White-Brown
Boedker-Pageau-Veronneau
Ennis

Chabot-DeMelo
Wolanin-Zaitsev
Hainsey-Jaros
Borowiecki

Of course the centers would be mostly interchangeable, but I like those combinations of wingers. Actually might be best to put Pageau between Balcers and Batherson for a defensive conscience, but with someone like Anisimov or Tierney who can work down low, that could be a solid offensive zone possession line.

I fully expect Logan Brown and Brännström to start in the AHL, but both should see some NHL time throughout the season, especially after the trade deadline. Would be encouraging to see 30+, especially for the elder Brown, but as of now it's not even a guarantee they'll be the first call-ups, with Lajoie on defense and Nick Paul and Chlapik at forward. Have to admit, if Brown doesn't get into upwards of 30, I'll start to worry about him. Brännström is still so young, another full season of AHL wouldn't be the worst thing.

Melnyk will be encouraging playing the kids, but if DJ Smith has his long term NHL career in mind, he's gotta have some balls and ice the best possible roster.

I'd like to see on the powerplay:

Tkachuk-Tierney-White
Ryan-Chabot

Chabot on the point, Ryan running the left half-wall, Tkachuk working the slot.

Anisimov-Pageau-Batherson
Wolanin-Jaros/Balcers

And on the PK, the forwards, in order of ice time:

Pageau, Brown, Tierney, Anisimov, White, Balcers

On defense we know Chabot, DeMelo, Hainsey and Zaitsev will be anchors on the PK, for better or worse.

 

[Samsquanch]

Im going to go bold here and say that Logan Brown forces his way into the lineup at training camp.

If actually hes ready, it would be a massively positive statement by the new coaching staff to everyone (players, fans, media) that best players are going to play this year, regardless of their contract.

What a change in culture it would be from what we've seen over the last 20 years.

 

[MatchesMalone]

I thought I'd delve a little deeper, and see if I can work out how the lineup might actually function. Putting together static line combinations and talking in strict line terms is boring and outdated. Sure it is easy, quick, and anyone can do it, so I get why it is still done, but we can do better. Especially for this current Sens team, calling any one of the centers the "4th line center" is silly.

So let's crunch the numbers and think about how the TOI might play out. I'm gonna assume we average 4:30 per game each on the powerplay and penalty kill, leaving 51 minutes at even strength.

Duclair-Tierney-Ryan ~ 13:30
Tkachuk-White-Brown ~ 13:30
Balcers-Anisimov-Batherson ~ 12:30
Boedker-Pageau-Veronneau ~ 11:30

ES - PP - SH = TOI

Tierney - 13:30 - 2:00 - 2:00 = 17:30
Tkachuk - 14:30 - 2:45 - 0:15 = 17:30
White - 14:30 - 2:30 - 0:30 = 17:30
Pageau - 14:00 - 1:00 - 2:15 = 17:15
Anisimov - 12:30 - 1:30 - 1:30 = 15:30
Ryan - 13:30 - 2:00 - 0:00 = 15:30
Brown - 12:00 - 0:30 - 2:00 = 14:30
Batherson - 12:30 - 2:00 - 0:00 = 14:30
Balcers - 11:30 - 1:00 - 0:30 = 13:00
Duclair - 11:30 - 0:45 - 0:00 = 12:15
Veronneau - 11:30 - 0:30 - 0:00 = 12:00
Boedker - 11:30 - 0:00 - 0:00 = 11:30

At ES it works out to 49 minutes total on each wing, and 55 minutes at center. Meaning the centers will be doing some double shifting. The way I've went about it here is Pageau spends some time with White-Tkachuk (about 1:30) and some with Anisimov-Batherson (1:00). Both White and Tkachuk do some shifts with Tierney-Ryan (about 1:00 each). All SH mins are accounted for forwards, but PP time has to be calculated as a total with defensemen.

Chabot - 20:00 - 3:00 - 2:00 = 25:00
DeMelo - 18:00 - 0:30 - 2:00 = 20:30
Zaitsev - 17:30 - 0:00 - 2:15 = 19:45
Wolanin - 16:30 - 2:00 - 0:15 = 18:45
Hainsey - 14:30 - 0:00 - 2:15 = 16:45
Jaros - 15:30 - 0:30 - 0:15 = 16:15

This isn't supposed to be specific for a single game or averages for a stretch of games, more just a mental exercise for how things could potentially play out. I'm partly trying to help people break out of and move beyond the old line-position mentality. I have Pageau on the clear fourth line but third in ESTOI and fourth in total TOI among forwards.

 

[Sens]

Im going to go bold here and say that Logan Brown forces his way into the lineup at training camp.

If actually hes ready, it would be a massively positive statement by the new coaching staff to everyone (players, fans, media) that best players are going to play this year, regardless of their contract.

What a change in culture it would be from what we've seen over the last 20 years.

If he’s dominating with his new found conditioning... no way a 6’6 230 lb offensive center is not on the opening lineup... you move a Pageau,Tinery to wing and Balcers starts in Bingo

If Brown is the real deal he’s on the opening night lineup

 

[Sweatred]

If he’s dominating with his new found conditioning... no way a 6’6 230 lb offensive center is not on the opening lineup... you move a Pageau,Tinery to wing and Balcers starts in Bingo

If Brown is the real deal he’s on the opening night lineup

I agree. A youth movement with one rookie doesn’t sound overly youthful.

MV can start in BVegas too.

 

[Sens]

A Pageau-Brown-Batherson line sounds pretty solid as well

Pageau can help Brown out in the center role at the nhl level... Brown can get thrown out the dot with Pageau to cover him... Pageau has tons of speed and good defensive smarts.

 

[stempniaksen]

I know this is an oversimplification, but I'd prefer if we started with all our U24 guys (minus Chabot, Tkachuk and White) in the minors, at least temporarily. Then PD can start to ship out the vets as the season goes in instead of feeling the need to keep them until the deadline. As guys are moved out, rookies come up to fill their spots.

Start of season

Brady Tkachuk - Colin White - Bobby Ryan
Anthony Duclair - Chris Tierney - Tyler Ennis
Nick Paul - JG Pageau - Connor Brown
Mikkel Boedker - Artem Anisimov - Jack Rodewald
Max Verroneau

Thomas Chabot - Dylan Demelo
Christian Wolanin - Nikita Zaitsev
Mark Borowiecki - Ron Hainsey
Christian Jaros

Craig Anderson
Anders Nilsson

Around Xmas

Brady Tkachuk - Colin White - Bobby Ryan
Nick Paul - Logan Brown - Drake Batherson
Artem Anisimov - JG Pageau - Connor Brown
Anthony Duclair - Chris Tierney - Tyler Ennis
Max Verroneau/Jack Rodewald

Thomas Chabot - Dylan Demelo
Christian Wolanin - Nikita Zaitsev
Erik Brannstrom - Ron Hainsey
Christian Jaros

Anders Nilsson
Craig Anderson

Post deadline

Brady Tkachuk - Colin White - Bobby Ryan
Nick Paul - Logan Brown - Drake Batherson
Rudolfcs Balcers - Chris Tierney - Connor Brown
Max Verroneau - Artem Anisimov - Jonathan Davidsson
Jack Rodewald

Thomas Chabot - Christian Jaros
Christian Wolanin - Nikita Zaitsev
Erik Brannstrom - Dylan Demelo/Nick Ebert
Max Lajoie

Anders Nilsson
Marcus Hogberg

 

[Crosside]

Don t know why you want to trade Duclair

 

[Clayonator]

Tkachuk White Brown

Duclair Anisimov Ryan

Balcers Tierney Batherson

Ennis Pageau Boedker


Chabot DeMelo

Hainsey Zaitsev

Borowiecki Jaros

I’m soft calling Ennis to Edmonton and Hainsey/Boro to Calgary/Columbus
by the deadline. DeMelo trade interest will be strong. But I could see us re-signing him for 2-3 years @2.5 or so. Tierney and Pageau are wildcards, and who knows what’ll happen with Ryan. Could quite easily play out his career with us. Boedker if not cut at camp and loaned to Europe, can be flipped to any number of teams needing speed at 50% retention to hike the pick from a 5th up to a 4th.

 

[stempniaksen]

Don t know why you want to trade Duclair

Pump and dump. Could have substituted Connor Brown, but I figure he'll get re-upped with the DJ connection.

I'm just not convinced the team will want to give Duclair money/term (and he'll have earned it with another good season).

There are obviously other options to trade, but we need to clear 5-6 forward spots in the next year or so so the kids have a spot int he lineup.

 

[Crosside]

Pump and dump. Could have substituted Connor Brown, but I figure he'll get re-upped with the DJ connection.

I'm just not convinced the team will want to give Duclair money/term (and he'll have earned it with another good season).

There are obviously other options to trade, but we need to clear 5-6 forward spots in the next year or so so the kids have a spot int he lineup.

Yeah but we have to make the floor next year. I think we have 32 to spend

 

[stempniaksen]

Yeah but we have to make the floor next year. I think we have 32 to spend

Duclair just doesn't seem like the guy this organization/management group would commit to long-term. I could easily be wrong though.

I also think LW might be kind of crowded moving forward (Tkachuk, Formenton, Balcers, Abramov, Norris/Paul/Chlapik) and that Dorion will prioritize "his guys" over Duclair. It's far from a foregone conclusion, but Duclair seems like the type who could price himself out of here with a good season.

 

[Cosmix]

Duclair just doesn't seem like the guy this organization/management group would commit to long-term. I could easily be wrong though.

I also think LW might be kind of crowded moving forward (Tkachuk, Formenton, Balcers, Abramov, Norris/Paul/Chlapik) and that Dorion will prioritize "his guys" over Duclair. It's far from a foregone conclusion, but Duclair seems like the type who could price himself out of here with a good season.

I liked what I saw of Duclair last season and I hope he continues at that pace. If so, he would be a good addition to the team. Trade the old guys over 30 IMO.

 

[bert]

If he's as bad as he was last year, there's no use for him at all. Might as well toss him on waivers and bury him if we can.

Its incredible the sens gave up the higher pick in the Hoffman deal. That has to be the worst trade an NHL team has made in a long long time. Hoffman had 70 points 35 + goals.