dress 11F and 7D

[coffeyland]

With the expansion of TV timeouts, it seems like 4th line players are being limited to 4-5 min a game.

What are people's thoughts on dressing 11 forwards? It could allow the coach some discretion to double shift the best player on the ice that night. It would allow for a 7th defenceman to be rolled out for an important penalty kill or to rest a player or two? That 7th dman could also be a younger player who gets a few minutes to get acclamated to the speed of the NHL game. Thoughts?

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[McDeathbyCheerios*]

With the expansion of TV timeouts, it seems like 4th line players are being limited to 4-5 min a game.

What are people's thoughts on dressing 11 forwards? It could allow the coach some discretion to double shift the best player on the ice that night. It would allow for a 7th defenceman to be rolled out for an important penalty kill or to rest a player or two? That 7th dman could also be a younger player who gets a few minutes to get acclamated to the speed of the NHL game. Thoughts?

The team seems to want a solid 4th line for shut down purposes so they will see more then that each game.

 

[Spawn]

I think the only reason to do it is if you think your 7th D is significantly better than your 12 F. I don't think that is the case with Aulie.

 

[coffeyland]

I think the only reason to do it is if you think your 7th D is significantly better than your 12 F. I don't think that is the case with Aulie.

I could see Aulie as the 7th dman. I'm not too crazy about giving him 10-12 min a game just yet. Aulie had a great Jr. And AHL career but he's never lived up to NHL expectations (esp. With TO). I'd like to really see him develop with less minutes/ giving him every opportunity to impress us for more ice time.

 

[Roof Daddy]

Not a fan of this idea. I think MacT wants to duplicate the Boston model - 4th line shutdown/energy line, 3 balanced scoring lines. I also think it's a very effective model (though there's a huge discrepancy between the two way game of Boston's forwards vs ours).

What I'd like to do is acquire Jay Beagle from Washington to complete the 4th line. Hendricks-Gordon-Beagle were a unit for a short period of time in Washington, looked pretty effective when I saw them play together. All 3 guys are good on the dot, so we could cheat like crazy on draws.

 

[thadd]

Dressing Aulie in most games to keep Lander or Gazdic out of the line-up?

I don't know. It's an option. As people in this thread have said before, they want that 4th line to be playing serious shutdown minutes.

The more I think about that the more I think it means that Hopkins will center the superhero line, Acrobello will center a secondary scoring line that will be expected to put up numbers, Gordon will center that shutdown line and LD could very well end up centring a scoring line that plays sheltered minutes.

Without LD in the line-up I honestly can't see how we're going to have a full roster of forwards. Without LD I can't even imagine who our 13th forward would be.

Hall-Hopkins-Eberle
Perron-Acrobello-Yakupov
Hendricks-Gordon-Lander
Pouliot-LD-Purcell

I don't see any lines here playing 10 minutes a night. Line 3 and 4 are played in specific situations, while line 1 and 2 regularly play a lot of minutes. Who knows. Yakupov could get switched with Purcell.

 

[skorf]

Only way I'd consider it, is if we were playing a team that we didn't need Gazdic for and it's early in the year, and we are giving Nurse 9 games before sending him back to juniors.

Petry, Schultz, Ference, Marincin, Fayne, Nurse, Niktin

So first 9 we may be able to sit Gazdic for Arizona, Tampa, Washington, Carolina

And we'd have to sit one of the 7 D for Calgary, LA, Vancouver x2, Montreal

-Other than that, we definitely shouldn't.
All of Petry, Schultz, Ference, Marincin, Fayle, Niktin can play 15 minutes a game easily and likely all could put in 20 a night as well (don't need to hide a PP specialist or sometihng like some teams), why dress a 7th D who likely gets 5 or 6 minutes... even if one of the 6 gets injured, we'd have those minutes covered.
Now if we have 11 F and someone gets injured, it's harder to have those minutes covered.

And lastly, is Aulie really that much more valuable than a guy like Lander or Gazdic or Joensuu? I don't think so

 

[syz]

The Oilers 4th line won't be seeing 4-5 minutes a game.

The only guy who would is Gazdic, and that can be solved by just dressing a better forward.

 

[coffeyland]

The Oilers 4th line won't be seeing 4-5 minutes a game.

The only guy who would is Gazdic, and that can be solved by just dressing a better forward.

I'd like to see the following lines, which are controversial but I'll explain my madness. I think that players like Hall, RNH, Eberle and even Perron make the players around them better. Putting them on the same line (with the exception of the PP) only constrains how good they are. These skilled guys also need the opportunity to touch the puck instead of sharing it (corsi). I'd also like to see a little more toughness on each line. Watching the Oilers over the last 3-4 years, we can all agree they have been too small to take the pounding of an NHL season or even an NHL game. It also seems to me that the Oilers scoring is concentrated on one or two lines. If they are shut down, we have difficulty scoring. I love the idea of a shut down fourth line but we don't have veteran guys who are defensively responsible. So I'd run the following:

So my first line is Hall-Hopkins-Purcell. People will say that Purcell isn't a top 6 forward. I would agree. But Purcell brings some sandpaper in the corner and his corsi is high, meaning he will eventually dish the puck to either Nuge or Hall. Purcell is also a big body that can provide some more ice for Hall and RNH. I also NEVER want to see Hall or RNH fighting again. IMO, they are the two untouchables on this team. Because it's a scoring line, my two Dmen are Ference (who is shut down) and likely Schultz, who can rush the puck better than the rest.

My second line is a bigger line with some serious skill sets. At left, I have Pouliot who is a big body with some scoring touch. Right now, Draisatl is the number two centre on this team and likely for no other reason that we have no depth up the middle (which is a massive problem). Draisatl will open up some ice while gaining some much needed experience from the back end guys. On right wing, I'd play Eberle. Ebs is a great puck moving playmaker who makes this line a lot better than it is. On the back end, I would have Fayne (a shut down guy) and Nikitin (who is capable of moving the puck). Both are also big players which make this line tougher than you'd expect over the course of a season.

My third line is a grinding and mean line with a skill set. On left wing, I love Perron. He will agitate and get in people's face. He's going to the net and he'll be a playmaker as well. At centre, Gordon and Arcobello can fight it out as to who is the better face off guy (with one of them always in the press box on a rotation). On right wing, I like Gazdik. He's a big body who will get physical. He needs more minutes not less. Perron will make this line a keeper. On D, I like Nurse and Petry (whose minutes will be sheltered somewhat) so they limit their mistakes but provide some puck movement up the ice to Perron, who can eat ice time.

With no fourth line, Gadzik could be replaced by fresh bodies. OR you could use a fourth/ less utilized line which could comprise of two fresh wingers (Lander and Hendricks come to mind) who can be centred by whichever centre is hot that night. It allows for A LOT of flexibility for the coaching staff and keeps a fourth line (who realistically only get 5-8 min per game) fresh while keeping 3 great forward lines on the ice.

This also allows us to dress a 7th defenceman in Aulie. It will limit his ice time and now we have more fresh players on the ice to protect our GA which is the biggest problem for this team IMO. Our GF-GA differential is so bad, we need to look at more unique solutions. I'd like to run four lines like every other NHL club but we are terrible defensively and we need to protect our young goaltenders. I still think our bottom 3 forwards aren't as good as they should be defensively. That being said, I'd dress the 7th Dman to keep someone fresh at the end of periods and during long stretches.

 

[McDNicks17]

The Oilers 4th line won't be seeing 4-5 minutes a game.

The only guy who would is Gazdic, and that can be solved by just dressing a better forward.

You could dress him and throw a few extra shifts to Hall/Perron/Pouliot too.

 

[McDeathbyCheerios*]

I'd like to see the following lines, which are controversial but I'll explain my madness. I think that players like Hall, RNH, Eberle and even Perron make the players around them better. Putting them on the same line (with the exception of the PP) only constrains how good they are. These skilled guys also need the opportunity to touch the puck instead of sharing it (corsi). I'd also like to see a little more toughness on each line. Watching the Oilers over the last 3-4 years, we can all agree they have been too small to take the pounding of an NHL season or even an NHL game. It also seems to me that the Oilers scoring is concentrated on one or two lines. If they are shut down, we have difficulty scoring. I love the idea of a shut down fourth line but we don't have veteran guys who are defensively responsible. So I'd run the following:

So my first line is Hall-Hopkins-Purcell. People will say that Purcell isn't a top 6 forward. I would agree. But Purcell brings some sandpaper in the corner and his corsi is high, meaning he will eventually dish the puck to either Nuge or Hall. Purcell is also a big body that can provide some more ice for Hall and RNH. I also NEVER want to see Hall or RNH fighting again. IMO, they are the two untouchables on this team. Because it's a scoring line, my two Dmen are Ference (who is shut down) and likely Schultz, who can rush the puck better than the rest.

My second line is a bigger line with some serious skill sets. At left, I have Pouliot who is a big body with some scoring touch. Right now, Draisatl is the number two centre on this team and likely for no other reason that we have no depth up the middle (which is a massive problem). Draisatl will open up some ice while gaining some much needed experience from the back end guys. On right wing, I'd play Eberle. Ebs is a great puck moving playmaker who makes this line a lot better than it is. On the back end, I would have Fayne (a shut down guy) and Nikitin (who is capable of moving the puck). Both are also big players which make this line tougher than you'd expect over the course of a season.

My third line is a grinding and mean line with a skill set. On left wing, I love Perron. He will agitate and get in people's face. He's going to the net and he'll be a playmaker as well. At centre, Gordon and Arcobello can fight it out as to who is the better face off guy (with one of them always in the press box on a rotation). On right wing, I like Gazdik. He's a big body who will get physical. He needs more minutes not less. Perron will make this line a keeper. On D, I like Nurse and Petry (whose minutes will be sheltered somewhat) so they limit their mistakes but provide some puck movement up the ice to Perron, who can eat ice time.

With no fourth line, Gadzik could be replaced by fresh bodies. OR you could use a fourth/ less utilized line which could comprise of two fresh wingers (Lander and Hendricks come to mind) who can be centred by whichever centre is hot that night. It allows for A LOT of flexibility for the coaching staff and keeps a fourth line (who realistically only get 5-8 min per game) fresh while keeping 3 great forward lines on the ice.

This also allows us to dress a 7th defenceman in Aulie. It will limit his ice time and now we have more fresh players on the ice to protect our GA which is the biggest problem for this team IMO. Our GF-GA differential is so bad, we need to look at more unique solutions. I'd like to run four lines like every other NHL club but we are terrible defensively and we need to protect our young goaltenders. I still think our bottom 3 forwards aren't as good as they should be defensively. That being said, I'd dress the 7th Dman to keep someone fresh at the end of periods and during long stretches.

When you run three scoring lines you still need an absolute top line. And then you essentially have 2 second lines.

Switching up the second and third line is fine but that top line you need a line that can handle the minutes. I'd love if Yak could have a great year and move him up to the top line. I don't see that happening though.

Hall - RNH - Eberle
This line has all the offense you need, couple them with a strong d pairing and they will do fine against the league best.

Perron - Draisaitl - Purcell
Possession Kings with an agitator this line will see some good offensive minutes and be pretty good defensively.

Pouliot - Arcobello - Yak
This line gives Yak some skilled guys to work with but also defensively responsible guys to help him continue to have a positive growth defensively

 

[Oilerglory]

When you run three scoring lines you still need an absolute top line. And then you essentially have 2 second lines.

Switching up the second and third line is fine but that top line you need a line that can handle the minutes. I'd love if Yak could have a great year and move him up to the top line. I don't see that happening though.

Hall - RNH - Eberle
This line has all the offense you need, couple them with a strong d pairing and they will do fine against the league best.

Perron - Draisaitl - Purcell
Possession Kings with an agitator this line will see some good offensive minutes and be pretty good defensively.

Pouliot - Arcobello - Yak
This line gives Yak some skilled guys to work with but also defensively responsible guys to help him continue to have a positive growth defensively

Hall-Nuge-Eberle in essence has the make-up of a phenomenal 1st line but playing our 3 $6m
players together doesn't make sense to me. This team lacks depth we can't afford to play our 3 best players together. We need to spread them out a bit. I'm all for Yakupov playing 1st LW.

Yak needs to be put in position to succeed,he was drafted #1 to be our 1st RW he needs to be given the chance to live up to it.

 

[Oilerglory]

With the expansion of TV timeouts, it seems like 4th line players are being limited to 4-5 min a game.

What are people's thoughts on dressing 11 forwards? It could allow the coach some discretion to double shift the best player on the ice that night. It would allow for a 7th defenceman to be rolled out for an important penalty kill or to rest a player or two? That 7th dman could also be a younger player who gets a few minutes to get acclamated to the speed of the NHL game. Thoughts?

I think if we decide to keep Nurse and Aulie looks good in camp this could be an option

 

[joestevens29]

What happens when one forward goes down, now you are playing a game with 10 forwards? Doesn't seem like a smart decision. Probably a reason why no team really does this on a regular basis.

 

[PumpkinBombX]

I would love this.

You have 2 4th liners, and reward someone in your top 6 with extra minutes on that line.
(And it doesn't have to be the same player, it can get each of them a few extra minutes).

It would really help our D out since we only have Schultz and Marincin who are effective above 20 min a game, and Petry barely. (After 22 min /night he starts to bleed goals).

So if you have 4 D playing 15 min a night, and 3 at 20 min i think that would be an ideal scenario for this team.

Edit: Since i know people will claim Schultz cant handle the minutes, he averaged 23/night all year, and in the latter 1/2 was -4, so with a decent goalie, and learning to handle to minutes he did just fine.

 

[Eirhead*]

The reason why I wouldn't do this is because it breaks up the line combinations throughout. You have 1 defenceman who floats around to different pairings, breaking up other pairings, 1 shift he's playing left, next shift he's playing right, mid shift he get's mixed up on what side he's on and overlaps coverage with his partner.

Then you got the forwards... the forwards tend to exhaust a little faster than defencemen because they're covering more distance while fighting off checks, shoves and grabs from opposing d-men. So now these guys are short benched, and you're putting yourself in a situation where you have to double-shift a forward here or there.

I certainly wouldn't start the season like this. But maybe if you find that you'd prefer rolling 3 of the lines for even strength, while keeping the bottom 2 guys on reserve for PK and an occasional energy line... then you can also afford to use a d-man like Schultz exclusively on offensive zone faceoffs, and doubleshifted on powerplays. You need to have a lot of faith in the fitness of your forwards for this to work.

Oh, and lastly, you increase your likelihood of taking bench penalties. Nobody wants a dreaded too many men penalty. It especially looks bad on the coach.

 

[coffeyland]

The reason why I wouldn't do this is because it breaks up the line combinations throughout. You have 1 defenceman who floats around to different pairings, breaking up other pairings, 1 shift he's playing left, next shift he's playing right, mid shift he get's mixed up on what side he's on and overlaps coverage with his partner.

Then you got the forwards... the forwards tend to exhaust a little faster than defencemen because they're covering more distance while fighting off checks, shoves and grabs from opposing d-men. So now these guys are short benched, and you're putting yourself in a situation where you have to double-shift a forward here or there.

I certainly wouldn't start the season like this. But maybe if you find that you'd prefer rolling 3 of the lines for even strength, while keeping the bottom 2 guys on reserve for PK and an occasional energy line... then you can also afford to use a d-man like Schultz exclusively on offensive zone faceoffs, and doubleshifted on powerplays. You need to have a lot of faith in the fitness of your forwards for this to work.

Oh, and lastly, you increase your likelihood of taking bench penalties. Nobody wants a dreaded too many men penalty. It especially looks bad on the coach.

I hear what you are saying - it's controversial to be sure.

But let's imagine the upside - we need a better D and better goaltending. Right now, we're still marginal, even with the pickups in free agency, we need to expect some growing pains. Right now, our 4th line is horrendous and we can't afford to trade for veteran fourth line players. I would suggest that you might be off with how physical the forwards play. Right now, our D are tired. Other clubs know they can hammer our defencemen with no recourse. Should one go down injured, we are in trouble anyways. I am also concerned a guy like Petry and/or Nurse (etc.) will need to have some protected minutes. I also think Aulie is a 7th Dman and may need protected minutes. They aren't top defencemen... yet but I could see them gaining some confidence and playing better. I also believe (based on the discretion of the coaching staff) you could see a big guy like Aulie sit in front of the opposition's net on the PP. Why not for a second PP line? That's a massive body to move (not unlike Chara). I am thinking of height/weight matchups that make us better defensively this year. I don't like the idea of putting Nurse, Aulie or even Petry on an island with 20-25 minutes a night. We saw what happened to Petry last year - he was incredibly inconsistent because he was asked to play far too many minutes. This fills a need - we were something like -80 GF-GA differential; we can't make a playoff run with that kind of a number - it needs to be closer to +5/6. That's a lot of goals to keep out of our net in a one year span.

 

[skorf]

So my first line is Hall-Hopkins-Purcell. People will say that Purcell isn't a top 6 forward. I would agree. But Purcell brings some sandpaper in the corner and his corsi is high, meaning he will eventually dish the puck to either Nuge or Hall. Purcell is also a big body that can provide some more ice for Hall and RNH. I also NEVER want to see Hall or RNH fighting again. IMO, they are the two untouchables on this team. Because it's a scoring line, my two Dmen are Ference (who is shut down) and likely Schultz, who can rush the puck better than the rest.

I just want to point out I don't think Purcell has EVER been in a fight, none are listed on hockeyfights, and he is definitely not a fighter (Nuge may have to drop the gloves to protect him).

As for sandpaper in the corner, Purcell had 13 hits last year and the Tampa board was adamant that he is soft, so I wouldn't be expecting much...

If you want a player that you just described... Perron and Pouliot would be better options than Purcell

 

[coffeyland]

I just want to point out I don't think Purcell has EVER been in a fight, none are listed on hockeyfights, and he is definitely not a fighter (Nuge may have to drop the gloves to protect him).

As for sandpaper in the corner, Purcell had 13 hits last year and the Tampa board was adamant that he is soft, so I wouldn't be expecting much...

If you want a player that you just described... Perron and Pouliot would be better options than Purcell

he's been a softy at 6'4 ... so you're right, I'm hoping he realizes he needs to change his game a little but if Nuge needs to fight, we're in lots of trouble. I nearly bowled him over at a safeway,

 

[joestevens29]

he's been a softy at 6'4 ... so you're right, I'm hoping he realizes he needs to change his game a little but if Nuge needs to fight, we're in lots of trouble. I nearly bowled him over at a safeway,

I hope fans realize he is 28 with 400 games under his belt. He isn't changing.

 

[coffeyland]

I hope fans realize he is 28 with 400 games under his belt. He isn't changing.

You might be right but I can envision his corsi helping out either of the top 2 lines. He's a big body to move and he'll realize how big he can play next to Nuge and Hall or others. I sure hope this guy steps up.