The Kingslayer
Registered User
Did he? He went back to the long ass stick he was using prior to Sakic getting a hold of him?BTW, everyone knows Duchene went back to his old stick, right?
Did he? He went back to the long ass stick he was using prior to Sakic getting a hold of him?BTW, everyone knows Duchene went back to his old stick, right?
I just remember him scoring a bunch for us.
Did he? He went back to the long ass stick he was using prior to Sakic getting a hold of him?
Who’s he playing with tonight?
Third line with Bellemare and Kaut.
Ah I’d like to see what he can do with some talent on the first line. Any PP time expected?
Nichushkin | ||
MacKinnon | Namestnikov | Rantanen |
Makar |
Landeskog | ||
Kadri | Donskoi | Burakovsky |
Graves |
Eeeeeeehhhhhh I wouldn't put Graves back there. Dude has a heavy shot but he struggles at times to get it through traffic, which leads to turnovers and breaks the other way. Also, he's not nearly good enough with the puck to really QB a power play.
I get that Sammy doesn't have a great shot but he's still the best option for the 2nd unit until Byram or Timmins is ready.
The power play proved last night what it needs to do to be successful (and thankfully the league's worst penalty kill obliged). Get shots from in-close, quit relying so much on one-timers and snipes from distance. And above everything else, get more movement. Too often the bumper is scurrying around and everyone else just stands there.
Eeeeeeehhhhhh I wouldn't put Graves back there. Dude has a heavy shot but he struggles at times to get it through traffic, which leads to turnovers and breaks the other way. Also, he's not nearly good enough with the puck to really QB a power play.
I get that Sammy doesn't have a great shot but he's still the best option for the 2nd unit until Byram or Timmins is ready.
The power play proved last night what it needs to do to be successful (and thankfully the league's worst penalty kill obliged). Get shots from in-close, quit relying so much on one-timers and snipes from distance. And above everything else, get more movement. Too often the bumper is scurrying around and everyone else just stands there.
Following up on what some others have said, here's my ideal PP lineup once everyone is healthy:
PP1:
I feel like Nuke is our best net-front presence/puck retrieval guy, and Rantanen is the best from that wall. If Namaste is as advertised he should be ideal for the bumper spot.[TBODY] [/TBODY]
Nichushkin MacKinnon Namestnikov Rantanen Makar
I honestly hate Kadri in the bumper spot, and feel like he's the only guy outside of MacKinnon who can reliably score from outside the faceoff dot. - he doesn't even need a one-timer to do it. Graves is there for his shot, which I think gives this PP a more threatening look than if it had Girard. Bura and Donny can carry the puck into the zone, and Landy and Donny can rotate around a lot depending on which side the puck is on, so someone is always available for a one-timer in the bumper position. Plus, if you really need a goal, leave MacKinnon on in place of Graves (yeah, 5 forwards when he need a goal is something I would totally do).[TBODY] [/TBODY]
Landeskog Kadri Donskoi Burakovsky Graves
Not good enough on the faceoffs for pp1. We should take Makar off pp1 and have him be the primary weapon on his own pp. It might hurt his numbers but overall help the team.
Makar needs to be on PP1 because the Avs sometimes don't even use PP2, and I don't want to see an entire 2 minute powerplay go by without Makar.
Also, we don't know if Namaste can take faceoffs. I agree though faceoffs might be an issue there. You could flip Landy and Nuke if it became an issue.
I really think we need to get rid of the idea that the defenseman needs to "QB" the powerplay. Who is the QB on the top unit? If you answered Makar you're wrong - it's clearly MacKinnon. On the powerplays I posted, Kadri or Burakovsky would be the QB. Graves would just stand at one of the points and be ready to one-time bombs - he wouldn't even carry it in; Bura and Donskoi can do that.
Yeah, he tends to get his shot blocked, but so does nearly every defender in the league at 5-on-5. We've never seen Graves try to shoot on the powerplay. Plus I think his puck skills are underrated. I don't really think he'd be a problem on PP2. That being said, I don't think either he or Sammy are ideal there. We're all just waiting for Timmins and/or Byram to get here.
I really think we need to get rid of the idea that the defenseman needs to "QB" the powerplay. Who is the QB on the top unit? If you answered Makar you're wrong - it's clearly MacKinnon. On the powerplays I posted, Kadri or Burakovsky would be the QB. Graves would just stand at one of the points and be ready to one-time bombs - he wouldn't even carry it in; Bura and Donskoi can do that.
Yeah, he tends to get his shot blocked, but so does nearly every defender in the league at 5-on-5. We've never seen Graves try to shoot on the powerplay. Plus I think his puck skills are underrated. I don't really think he'd be a problem on PP2. That being said, I don't think either he or Sammy are ideal there. We're all just waiting for Timmins and/or Byram to get here.
Watched the game last night he is using a longer stick but still not as long as the one he used when he broke in.Pretty sure he did. I'm fairly certain there's an Athletic article about it. I mean, he was good with the first stick until he got hurt the first time, so...
Aaaaand you lost me.
MacK handles the puck about as much as Makar maybe but one is dictating the flow more than the other.
I really think we need to get rid of the idea that the defenseman needs to "QB" the powerplay. Who is the QB on the top unit? If you answered Makar you're wrong - it's clearly MacKinnon. On the powerplays I posted, Kadri or Burakovsky would be the QB. Graves would just stand at one of the points and be ready to one-time bombs - he wouldn't even carry it in; Bura and Donskoi can do that.
Yeah, he tends to get his shot blocked, but so does nearly every defender in the league at 5-on-5. We've never seen Graves try to shoot on the powerplay. Plus I think his puck skills are underrated. I don't really think he'd be a problem on PP2. That being said, I don't think either he or Sammy are ideal there. We're all just waiting for Timmins and/or Byram to get here.
We can use last season's PP as an example for what he's saying. MacK was definitely the primary one pulling the strings for that unit, with Mikko & Barrie both being secondary QBs as well as shooting threats. So he's right that that guy doesn't need to be the primary PPQB...where he loses me is that that last guy needs to be able to be a secondary PP QB if they aren't the primary one.
It may function fine with MacK pulling the strings but imo Makar got more comfortable with that <1 month into the season and has been the more active PPQB since.
I love me some T-boobs but pretty much his sole function was getting the puck to MacK, for either the shot or cross-ice pass to Mikko. Cale is much more active in moving the PKers around and manipulating lanes and space.
If I were running the PP I’d have MacK and Makar out as much as they’re able, keeping them out for when the fresh second unit joins them has looked really promising. They stayed on while G joined part way through the PP a game or two ago and the three of them looked as dangerous as any other PP combo we’ve had this year.