News Article: Forget Top Six-Bottom Six, Embrace "Top-12"

[GoHardSports]

http://gohardsportsblog.wordpress.com/2014/02/10/forget-top-six-bottom-six-embrace-top-12/

Often we hear the “top six” and “bottom six” in the lexicon of the NHL and its fan. This is the popular ideology that the top two lines of a team should be lines predicated on scoring goals, and the third and fourth lines should be lines filled with grind-it-out, aggressive fore-checking, defensively specialized, energy players. Some General Managers, such as former Leafs GM Brian Burke, have explicitly stated that they pursue the top six-bottom six model when building their hockey clubs.

As we take a look at the Toronto Maple Leafs for example, we see the top two lines doing their part and scoring plenty of goals, but the bottom two lines may not be pulling their weight as they’re intended to be. Toronto is ranked 8th in the league in goals for, with the 2nd ranked powerplay. Meanwhile they’re 25th in the league in goals allowed with the 28th ranked penalty kill. The poor defensive numbers cannot be attributed to the goaltending as Bernier and Reimer have combined to rank the Leafs 5th in team save percentage and 11th in the league in save percentage when shorthanded (all numbers courtesy of extraskater.com)...

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[Duffman955]

D'amigo and Ashton have not proven to be any better than Bodie, and that practically looks like our line up right now, I don't know what the author is getting at

 

[Grant]

"Some General Managers, such as former Leafs GM Brian Burke, have explicitly stated that they pursue the top six-bottom six model when building their hockey clubs."

Burke has said in more recent interviews (1-2 year ago now) that as a GM you have to adapt to the NHL and that adaptation is that the NHL is (and has been for a while now) a top 8/9 and bottom 3/4. I definitely see that in our team and have for a while now.

 

[BonMorrison]

Posted this a while back:

I really wish this team treated the fourth line like Anaheim does.

Nick Bonino and Mathieu Perreault swap between being 2nd line and 4th line centres for their team but the the two lines get equal ice time (their 3rd line is the shutdown line).

On any given night, Anaheim's lines look like this:

Penner/Maroon - Getzlaf - Perry
Silfverberg - Bonino/Perreault - Selanne/Palmieri
Cogliano - Koivu - Winnik
Beleskey/Maroon - Bonino/Perreault/Steckel - Palmieri/Jackman

Players that rotate in and out of the line-up depending on the match-ups, and all players that can play to their roles whether it be scoring or grinding. We have the personal to do it too. Designate a shutdown line and then roll the other two lines as role lines dependent on the team that they are facing.

JVR - Bozak - Kessel
Lupul - Kadri/Holland - Clarkson/Leivo
Raymond - Kulemin - Bodie (Bolland when he returns)
Leivo/McLaren - McClement/Holland - D'Amigo/Ashton/Orr

Something based around that. It's a system that is working wonders in Anaheim. We wouldn't have a "fourth" line - we'd have a top line, a shutdown line, and two role lines that can contribute different ways on a nightly basis. And with such a heavy rotation of players, they're keeping the team fresh which is why they're winning so much.

Granted, Anaheim has more depth than we do but I still think we have the appropriate personel to pull it off

 

[My Sweet Shadow]

I like the idea, but I don't see why you wouldn't drop McClement to the 4th line centre / PK specialist role. Ashton has 3 assists in 45 NHL games and it's not like he's a great player in his own end (or a natural centre for that matter).

 

[Baarle*]

Alright, I'll edit my post. Where is McClement? Ashton isn't a good centreman. A word of advice as well, if you want to be taken seriously as a writer you might want to remove all the drug and sex related tweets from the twitter account that you have linked to the blog you're posting here.

 

[Stephen]

Top 9, bottom 3 always made sense even with the Detroit Red Wings. Roll three lines that can all chip in a little of everything, with different combinations for different opponents and playing styles, then a 4th line to go out there and provide energy and wreak havoc.

 

[frankthetank91]

Amateur article. The fact that this guy groups McClement with McLaren and Orr means he knows nothing. Second of all our healthy line up pretty much does look like that except when Carlyle has the occasional brain fart and dresses the goons. Ashton is not a center and Bodie not "Brodie" is better than him anyways right now.

I'd have:

JVR-Bozak-Kessel
Lupul-Kadri-Kulemin/Clarkson
Raymond-Bolland-Kulemin/Clarkson
Smith-McClement-Bodie
D'Amigo/Ashton

As our line up. People are forgetting about Smith the guy was pretty much Bodie when he was up, heart and soul player, goes hard every shift. Just please get rid of Orr and McLaren. At least one of them.

Also with the line up I posted is it possible to fit that line up under the cap next season? Can both Raymond AND Kulemin be re-signed?

 

[GoHardSports]

Do we not agree that Ashton has shown that he can bring more offence to his game than McClement? McClement, in significantly more ice time (Yes, I know most of that ice team is in defensive situations, which I outlined in the article), has compiled only 3 goals (1 empty net goal) with 4 assists.

Its not like McClement has boosted the defensive play of the team either. We are 25th in goals against and have the 28th ranked penalty. Bolland can accomplish the same tasks that McClement is assigned with more offence. IMO we don't need McClement and we dont need to re-sign him this offseason. We can bring up a Marlie to play the 4th line centre and use the savings to improve in other areas.

 

[GoHardSports]

Amateur article. The fact that this guy groups McClement with McLaren and Orr means he knows nothing. Second of all our healthy line up pretty much does look like that except when Carlyle has the occasional brain fart and dresses the goons. Ashton is not a center and Bodie not "Brodie" is better than him anyways right now.

I'd have:

JVR-Bozak-Kessel
Lupul-Kadri-Kulemin/Clarkson
Raymond-Bolland-Kulemin/Clarkson
Smith-McClement-Bodie
D'Amigo/Ashton

As our line up. People are forgetting about Smith the guy was pretty much Bodie when he was up, heart and soul player, goes hard every shift. Just please get rid of Orr and McLaren. At least one of them.

Also with the line up I posted is it possible to fit that line up under the cap next season? Can both Raymond AND Kulemin be re-signed?

I appreciate the feedback and criticism, but I don't think we need personal attacks. This applies to both the poster quoted and Baarle.

Also I had spelled his name correctly in the article but misspelled it in the lineup, my apologies.

 

[Baarle*]

Do we not agree that Ashton has shown that he can bring more offence to his game than McClement? McClement, in significantly more ice time (Yes, I know most of that ice team is in defensive situations, which I outlined in the article), has compiled only 3 goals (1 empty net goal) with 4 assists.

Its not like McClement has boosted the defensive play of the team either. We are 25th in goals against and have the 28th ranked penalty. Bolland can accomplish the same tasks that McClement is assigned with more offence. IMO we don't need McClement and we dont need to re-sign him this offseason. We can bring up a Marlie to play the 4th line centre and use the savings to improve in other areas.

McClement only struggled when he was on the fourth line matched up against the other top lines AND playing heavy PK minutes. He's a great penalty killer, not a great defensive player like some seem to confuse him for. If I remember correctly, he makes around 1.5M. An Ahl'er would make at least 750K so there is basically no savings to be had.

 

[Quares27]

Do we not agree that Ashton has shown that he can bring more offence to his game than McClement? McClement, in significantly more ice time (Yes, I know most of that ice team is in defensive situations, which I outlined in the article), has compiled only 3 goals (1 empty net goal) with 4 assists.

Its not like McClement has boosted the defensive play of the team either. We are 25th in goals against and have the 28th ranked penalty. Bolland can accomplish the same tasks that McClement is assigned with more offence. IMO we don't need McClement and we dont need to re-sign him this offseason. We can bring up a Marlie to play the 4th line centre and use the savings to improve in other areas.

When has Ashton ever shown he can provide any offense? he has 0 goals 3 assists in 45 games in the NHL. That's worse than Mclaren.

 

[frankthetank91]

Do we not agree that Ashton has shown that he can bring more offence to his game than McClement? McClement, in significantly more ice time (Yes, I know most of that ice team is in defensive situations, which I outlined in the article), has compiled only 3 goals (1 empty net goal) with 4 assists.

Its not like McClement has boosted the defensive play of the team either. We are 25th in goals against and have the 28th ranked penalty. Bolland can accomplish the same tasks that McClement is assigned with more offence. IMO we don't need McClement and we dont need to re-sign him this offseason. We can bring up a Marlie to play the 4th line centre and use the savings to improve in other areas.

3 goals and 4 assists> 3 career NHL points.

 

[Baarle*]

Amateur article. The fact that this guy groups McClement with McLaren and Orr means he knows nothing. Second of all our healthy line up pretty much does look like that except when Carlyle has the occasional brain fart and dresses the goons. Ashton is not a center and Bodie not "Brodie" is better than him anyways right now.

I'd have:

JVR-Bozak-Kessel
Lupul-Kadri-Kulemin/Clarkson
Raymond-Bolland-Kulemin/Clarkson
Smith-McClement-Bodie
D'Amigo/Ashton

As our line up. People are forgetting about Smith the guy was pretty much Bodie when he was up, heart and soul player, goes hard every shift. Just please get rid of Orr and McLaren. At least one of them.

Also with the line up I posted is it possible to fit that line up under the cap next season? Can both Raymond AND Kulemin be re-signed?

I like Smith, but he seems to only do well when put in an offensive situation. He isn't better than anyone in our healthy top 9 and he's wasted on the fourth line. I don't know where to put him with a fully healthy lineup, but he's a solid injury repalcement.

I appreciate the feedback and criticism, but I don't think we need personal attacks. This applies to both the poster quoted and Baarle.

I didn't attack you in any way, if you want to post articles here you might want to be a little more professional in your work.

 

[GoHardSports]

McClement only struggled when he was on the fourth line matched up against the other top lines AND playing heavy PK minutes. He's a great penalty killer, not a great defensive player like some seem to confuse him for. If I remember correctly, he makes around 1.5M. An Ahl'er would make at least 750K so there is basically no savings to be had.

If McClement is so necessary to the defensive play of the team then why are the defensive statistics of the team so underwhelming?

Although the savings aren't significant, they are the equivalent of an AHLer's contract, which gives us the flexibility to add another body. On top of that McClement could command a raise in salary to be resigned if he deems it necessary (which I think most players enetering UFA status often want).

 

[Baarle*]

If McClement is so necessary to the defensive play of the team then why are the defensive statistics of the team so underwhelming?

Although the savings aren't significant, they are the equivalent of an AHLer's contract, which gives us the flexibility to add another body. On top of that McClement could command a raise in salary to be resigned if he deems it necessary (which I think most players enetering UFA status often want).

Why are you basing the worth of one fourth line player on the defensive statistics of an entire year? It's obvious he was over worked for a significant period and that's when the PK crashed, every since his role has been reduced it's trending upwards again.

 

[GoHardSports]

When has Ashton ever shown he can provide any offense? he has 0 goals 3 assists in 45 games in the NHL. That's worse than Mclaren.

3 goals and 4 assists> 3 career NHL points.

By just watching him play, have we not seen more offensive instincts and prowess from Ashton as opposed to McClement? McClement is anemic in the offensive zone.

 

[frankthetank91]

By just watching him play, have we not seen more offensive instincts and prowess from Ashton as opposed to McClement? McClement is anemic in the offensive zone.

No not really. Not that I think McClement is good offensively because he's pretty bad but Ashton is even worse. I've seen him with prime opportunities, kid has stone hands. At least he uses them to fight though.

 

[GoHardSports]

Why are you basing the worth of one fourth line player on the defensive statistics of an entire year? It's obvious he was over worked for a significant period and that's when the PK crashed, every since his role has been reduced it's trending upwards again.

Because Carlyle plays him as a defensive anchor and yet he hasnt brought up the teams defensive play like he did last year?

 

[GoHardSports]

No not really. Not that I think McClement is good offensively because he's pretty bad but Ashton is even worse. I've seen him with prime opportunities, kid has stone hands. At least he uses them to fight though.

Well I guess we have differing opinions then, which is totally fine. The point is we could be playing someone who brings more to the table then Jay McCLement at 4th line center (like Smith, as another poster stated).

 

[JackJ]

Carlyle will never roll four lines.

 

[showtime8]

Carlyle will never roll four lines.

This will burn the Leafs in the stretch run.

 

[JackJ]

This will burn the Leafs in the stretch run.

Especially once we hit the playoffs. This season we have the personnel, why not use it?

JVR Bozak Kessel
Lupul Kadri Kulemin
Raymond Holland Clarkson
D'Amigo McClement Bodie

 

[showtime8]

I'm not sure what the big attraction to D'Amigo is. He doesn't have the size or grit to play on a 4th line. And yes, I think that Carlyle should fully utilize a 4th line of:

Trevor Smith - Jay McClement - Troy Bodie

Smith can also play centre so you don't feel obligated to line match 100%, has the ability to kill penalties and is a much better skater than anyone currently on that line.

 

[Baarle*]

I'm not sure what the big attraction to D'Amigo is. He doesn't have the size or grit to play on a 4th line. And yes, I think that Carlyle should fully utilize a 4th line of:

Trevor Smith - Jay McClement - Troy Bodie

Smith can also play centre so you don't feel obligated to line match 100%, has the ability to kill penalties and is a much better skater than anyone currently on that line.

I'd be happy with that line actually.