2023-24 opening night lineup

[maplepred]

I think Kemell and Gurianov both will make the opening night lineup. I also predict carrier is the 7th defenseman. I am really in love with these lines for opening night,

Forsberg Parssinen Evangelista

Novak ROR Tomasino

Nyquist Glass Kemell

Gurianov Sissons Trenin

X

Sherwood/Jankowski



Josi Fabbro

McDonagh Barrie

Lauzon Schenn

X

Carrier/Livingstone



Saros

Lankinen


What do we think? I actually quite like this roster if all the young guys can build on last season, that would be amazing!

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[Scoresberg]

I do agree that one surprising (or not so surprising) name will make the opening lineup. Be it Afanasyev, Kemell or whoever.

Here's what I envision as the opening night lineup:

Forsberg - O'Reilly - Pärssinen
Nyquist - Glass - Tomasino
Sherwood - Novak - Evangelista
Trenin - Sissons - Afanasyev
Gurianov, Smith

Josi - Schenn
McDonagh - Barrie
Lauzon - Fabbro
Carrier - Livingstone

I think they want to re-unite Pärssinen and Forsberg as they had clear chemistry last year and IIRC Forsberg mentioned enjoying playing with Pärssinen. ROR as the 1C can shelter the kids and while I don't agree Pärssinen going to the wing, it's just how I see it shaking out. It could also be Evangelista with ROR and Forsberg, giving Pärssinen his own line to center and moving Novak to the wing.

As mentioned multiple times on this forum, Tomasino needs to play with speed as the experiments with him on the wing of Johansen and other slower players did not work out. I think Glass is the perfect center for him on this team, and mixing it up with some veteran presence in Nyquist rounds out that line pretty well.

The bottom-six's last spot I see is still up for grabs. Gurianov may have the most experience for that, but him being the new guy in I don't see it as a given for him. Someone could very well surprise at Camp, but I see Afanasyev being the closest to grabbing that spot. Given how the rest of the forward lines shake out, I don't see Sherwood's spot being clear, either.

In terms of defense, I don't think we'll see all that much until one of the vets is traded. Schenn will get the first look with Josi, as Trotz mentioned over the summer. McD and Barrie formed a decent 2nd pair last year, but I could see the 2RHD spot going to Fabbro or Carrier, depending on who outplays who at Camp.

Lauzon is the clear 3LHD, but his partner is still a bit in the air. I'd love for Livingstone to come in and grab a spot, but as a waiver-exempt player next year, he's the logical d-man to move to Milwaukee.

 

[herzausstein]

I think Kemell and Gurianov both will make the opening night lineup. I also predict carrier is the 7th defenseman. I am really in love with these lines for opening night,

Forsberg Parssinen Evangelista

Novak ROR Tomasino

Nyquist Glass Kemell

Gurianov Sissons Trenin

X

Sherwood/Jankowski



Josi Fabbro

McDonagh Barrie

Lauzon Schenn

X

Carrier/Livingstone



Saros

Lankinen


What do we think? I actually quite like this roster if all the young guys can build on last season, that would be amazing!

Not sure about gurianov on the 4th line.i think kemell ends up in the ahl and gurianov ends up in his spot on your lineup roster and maybe jankowski, sherwood, or smith on the 4th. Trotz has said something about not rushing players. I know kemell looked great in the ahl but i think he will atleast start there. He may end up with the big club after the deadline though.

 

[triggrman]

Brunette made mention he has a top 12, not lines 1-4.

 

[Armourboy]

I think Kemell will start in Milwaukee especially after Trotz's comments about letting guys cook a bit. I think Gurianov will probably make the opening night roster unless he just stinks in camp simply because they will want to see what he can do. I think he could quickly find himself on the bench or waived pretty quickly though if he doesn't do much.

When it comes to D pairings I have no idea. We have at least one solid Dman that is going to be on the bench and who knows what the combos will look like.

 

[wmupreds]

I would be shocked if Kemmel made the roster. Not because he won't necessarily deserve it but it would just be so un-Pred like.

I wish there was a way to get Lauzon pushed into the 7D role but I doubt that too.

 

[triggrman]

I would be shocked if Kemmel made the roster. Not because he won't necessarily deserve it but it would just be so un-Pred like.

I wish there was a way to get Lauzon pushed into the 7D role but I doubt that too.

UnPoile like, we have no idea what Trotz will do yet.

 

[herzausstein]

Brunette made mention he has a top 12, not lines 1-4.

Would be neat to have 4 capable lines instead of a 4th line of pure grindfest.

I would be shocked if Kemmel made the roster. Not because he won't necessarily deserve it but it would just be so un-Pred like.

I wish there was a way to get Lauzon pushed into the 7D role but I doubt that too.

I dont think lauzon gets pushed to 7d since his contract is 3 more seasons. Im hoping Schenn can teach him a few things about being a good role player. Schenn looked like he was on his way out of the league before a resurgence.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

I don't see any way to truly "predict" what the opening night lines will be. Who knows what the new coaching staff will do. Last year, even knowing the team, even seeing the same players play, Hynes did some totally nutbar things out of training camp. I imagine the new coach will have new ideas too... let's hope they are better ones.

But I'd be happy with:

Forsberg - Parssinen - Tomasino (I like Parssinen & Forsberg together)
Novak - O'Reilly - Evangelista (I like Novak and Evangelista together, Novak and O'Reilly can split center duties)
Nyquist - Glass - Trenin (I like Nyquist sheltering Glass, the other winger is TBD, but pumping up Trenin may pay off at the TDL)
Smith - Sissons - Sherwood
X1 - X2

Josi - Fabbro
McDonagh - Barrie
Carrier - Schenn
Lauzon

Saros
Lankinen

... I don't really care who X1 and X2 are... whoever earns it in camp or who they think brings the most as a spare, amongst Jankowski, McCarron, and Gurianov. I don't like Gurianov as a player, I don't see him bringing the traits I would prefer as a spare, putting him on the Glass line is an option, but I hope they don't do that, I'd rather see Sherwood hustling his ass off and doing more with less talent. I'm also ok with continuing to use Smith, he's alright as a checker, although I would certainly shed no tears if he was bumped to a spare role.

Obviously on D, my preferences mean nothing... Schenn will be with Josi, and Lauzon will be in the lineup, so it's probably going to be Fabbro or Carrier sitting.

I think with all the talk about "overcooking", I'm not going to expect any younger players to break camp with the team. But hopefully Afanseyev has a hot start in Milwaukee and then he can bump Smith, and if Kemell keeps going, that would give Glass the winger to finish his passes. So if we finish out the season trading Barrie and having Afanseyev and Kemell make the jump after the TDL, then a better look by the end could be:
Forsberg - Parssinen - Tomasino
Novak - O'Reilly - Evangelista
Nyquist - Glass - Kemell
Afanseyev - Sissons - Trenin
Sherwood

Josi - Fabbro
McDonagh - Carrier
Stastney - Schenn
Lauzon

 

[herzausstein]

New coaching staff with a head coach that is pretty new to being a head coach. This is gonna be really interesting. Several looks this team can have. Only really sure of 4 positions right now. Forsberg is 1LW, Josi is 1LHD, Saros is starting goalie, Lankinen is backup goalie.

Forsberg - Novak - Parssinen
Nyquist - Glass - Evangelista
Gurianov- ROR - Tomasino
Trenin - sissons - sherwood/Afanaseyev

Josi - Fabbro
McDonagh - Barrie/Carrier
Lauzon - Schenn

Saros
Lankinen

 

[Predsanddead24]

No idea how the lines will shake out but for sake of argument among our forwards I see:

Forsberg-O'Reilly-Evangelista
Nyquist-Novak-Tomasino
X-Glass-Parsinnen
Trenin-Sissons-Y

Essentially 3 scoring lines and then Herd 4.0 or whatever version we're on now.

I think X is a battle between Sherwood/Gurianov/Kemell for a scoring line role. I suspect Sherwood wins it out of camp but would love to see Kemell take it. Gurianov is a wild card but he has scored 20 goals in a season before so I wouldn't necessarily count him out. I wouldn't be happy about it but Parsinnen, Evangelista, and Tomasino could have an outside shot of losing their scoring line spots too.

I think Y is a battle between Smith/Jankowski/McCarron for the 4th line/PKer role. Afanasyev could potentially fit here too, but he hasn't played PK at all in the NHL (anyone know if he did in the AHL?) so I don't think he gets it.

 

[glenngineer]

As long as Smith isn’t in the top 12 I’ll be somewhat happy.

 

[Olderfan]

UnPoile like, we have no idea what Trotz will do yet.

No, we don’t know yet. But I’m worried about some his old tendencies. I hope he has new tendencies on players, especially forwards. Preds have so many good looking prospects.

 

[triggrman]

No, we don’t know yet. But I’m worried about some his old tendencies. I hope he has new tendencies on players, especially forwards. Preds have so many good looking prospects.

Well he said he wants more skill, he can find grinders every day, he wanted more skill

 

[Olderfan]

Well he said he wants more skill, he can find grinders every day, he wanted more skill

Say and do are 2 different things. But I remain a believer trusting his words come true.

 

[triggrman]

Say and do are 2 different things. But I remain a believer trusting his words come true.

Until he proves otherwise, I’ll trust that what he wants to do. Not everything will bounce perfectly but it sounds good

 

[weeze]

Well he said he wants more skill, he can find grinders every day, he wanted more skill

He had more skill in Duchene and got rid of him. I think BT is who he is. He didn't bring in any skill. ROR isn't skill, at least not any more. I think he is a good player but according to BT he was brought in because of his culture. The other additions are not skill or snippers. BT inherited skill with his other teams he coached, won with and those GM's made those teams.

It just seems like BT has decided to put his mark on the team and to do that he is trying to remove some parts that he feels DP screwed up with. And damn the cost! And he is using "culture" as his reasoning. Because you can't tell me every other team's stars play every minute at 100% and don't take shifts off or whatever reason they are giving for shedding the players BT did. Every team has bad contracts, has bad players or CC types. I think this is BT saying this team is not good/bad so lets kind of break it up while in this situation and do a refresh/rebuild.

I hope this works and the kids are able play as well as they did at the end of last season. Then add Josi and FF9 and a few others and it could be exciting or it could be...

 

[Predsanddead24]

The skill versus grinders quote was about the draft though right? I took that to say I can find role players easily but I need to find the high end forwards in the draft. Not that we are going to have a team that is only skill versus grinders.

Maybe its baseless but I kind of get the feeling that Trotz is trying to build this team like his Cup winning team in Washington. That team definitely had the high end offensive skill but it also had a bunch of key role players (Beagle, Eller, Smith-Pelly).

 

[triggrman]

He had more skill in Duchene and got rid of him. I think BT is who he is. He didn't bring in any skill. ROR isn't skill, at least not any more. I think he is a good player but according to BT he was brought in because of his culture. The other additions are not skill or snippers. BT inherited skill with his other teams he coached, won with and those GM's made those teams.

It just seems like BT has decided to put his mark on the team and to do that he is trying to remove some parts that he feels DP screwed up with. And damn the cost! And he is using "culture" as his reasoning. Because you can't tell me every other team's stars play every minute at 100% and don't take shifts off or whatever reason they are giving for shedding the players BT did. Every team has bad contracts, has bad players or CC types. I think this is BT saying this team is not good/bad so lets kind of break it up while in this situation and do a refresh/rebuild.

I hope this works and the kids are able play as well as they did at the end of last season. Then add Josi and FF9 and a few others and it could be exciting or it could be...

Gurianov isnt' a grinder or 2 way player, he's a skill player and while ROR might not be as skilled as he once was he's better than RyJo at this point.
Duchene was bought out to make room for skilled youngsters, not grinders, and not to make room for ROR. What grinder did Trotz bring in?

The skill versus grinders quote was about the draft though right? I took that to say I can find role players easily but I need to find the high end forwards in the draft. Not that we are going to have a team that is only skill versus grinders.

Maybe its baseless but I kind of get the feeling that Trotz is trying to build this team like his Cup winning team in Washington. That team definitely had the high end offensive skill but it also had a bunch of key role players (Beagle, Eller, Smith-Pelly).

Yes but it speaks to his blueprint.

 

[Armourboy]

When it comes to players taking time off, I'll remind everyone that Washington didn't win one until Ovechkin decided to stop taking plays off, Colorado won because MacKinnon decided not to take plays off and brought the rest of the team with him.

Teams that win Cups don't have star players that take plays off.

 

[Aurinko]

When it comes to players taking time off, I'll remind everyone that Washington didn't win one until Ovechkin decided to stop taking plays off, Colorado won because MacKinnon decided not to take plays off and brought the rest of the team with him.

Teams that win Cups don't have star players that take plays off.

I'm joining the preds believers.

While the older additions are iffy, ejecting Duchene and Johnassen should do wonders, those were not game breaking players and did not seem to play with heart. MacKinnon carried the Av's with his work morale and play, he is unique, but just another proof on how everything can turn in a dime when you get people with the right kind of motivation.

 

[herzausstein]

I'm joining the preds believers.

While the older additions are iffy, ejecting Duchene and Johnassen should do wonders, those were not game breaking players and did not seem to play with heart. MacKinnon carried the Av's with his work morale and play, he is unique, but just another proof on how everything can turn in a dime when you get people with the right kind of motivation.

I secretly hope the timeline continues where duchene shows up at a team and they implode. Watching Dallas self destruct could be fun this year

 

[triggrman]

I secretly hope the timeline continues where duchene shows up at a team and they implode. Watching Dallas self destruct could be fun this year

When has it not happened with him?

 

[glenngineer]

I'm joining the preds believers.

While the older additions are iffy, ejecting Duchene and Johnassen should do wonders, those were not game breaking players and did not seem to play with heart. MacKinnon carried the Av's with his work morale and play, he is unique, but just another proof on how everything can turn in a dime when you get people with the right kind of motivation.

While true, we don't have any player with the talent of a MacKinnon. On the flip side, a team can have many leaders so maybe that's our situation.

 

[BigFatCat999]

Is this team done building their roster?