We have 4 lines right now, and only 2 look solid and established. The 1 st line of Scheiffle, Wheeler, and Connor are great, and can dominate play, and score goals, and are good defensively. The 3rd line of Lowry, Tanev and Copp are more of a defensive shut down line, and add some offense as well. I would think nobody would would to change these 2 lines but maybe we should to create 3 -4 solid scoring lines.
Problems- Our 2nd line with Little, Laine, and Ehlers doesn't seem to be clicking. Firstly Little looks like he can't keep up, and is behind the play a lot. He's looking more like a 3rd line center. Maybe his contract could turn out to be a mistake, maybe a bad one ?? I think he'll be a good 3rd line center though.
Laine - is "one dimensional"- and has a rifle shot, and he's a great scorer. Problems with Laine, is he's an unreliable puck handler and often gives the puck away. He cannot drive his own line, and needs guys to feed him to set up his shot. He also is not good at winning any board battles. His speed is getting better, and his weight loss has helped this a lot, but in my mind he's very one dimensional, and needs to play with a talented playmaker, and Littlle doesn't seem to be the answer.
Ehlers -- he's very good, fast, and has a great shot. He's not good at board battles or digging out the puck, but he's more of a white collar player, and can do other things to compensate. He can use his speed for zone entries, but usually Laine and Little are far behind. Ehler's also has a great shot, to go along with his speed, and is quite a bit more versatile than Laine. It may be, the answer is to move Roslovic up to center these 2 young guys, and we'd have to be patient, as they will make mistakes.
Note -- Both Ehlers, and Laine are not good in our defensive end, whereas Little is. This is a problem. Right now, everything is sort of screwed up.
Possible solutions :
1) Move Wheeler down to center the Line of Ehlers and Laine. Wheeler played center last year when Scheiffle was out, and he looks good and competent as a center. This would add experience to the young 2nd line and this may be a real good fit . You could then move Perrault up to play with Scheiffle and Kyle Connor, and I still think they'd be a great scoring line. The addition of Wheeler to this newly formed 2nd line would help settle this line down, and I think you'd see way more scoring from it. Considering Wheeler was one of the top assist men in the NHL last year, is "proof" he's a good playmaker, this he'd be a great center.
You'd then move Little down to center a 3rd or 4th line between Roslovic, and someone like Dano, or Lemieux. I think this kind of idea is where the answer lies. Right now we'll do OK with the way we're playing, but really we are limited to just 2 solid dependable lines -- being the 1st line ( C,S, W) and the 3rd ( C,L,T) Right now our real 3rd line is Copp, Lowryand Tanev. If Roslovic was moved to a new 4 th line--he would center Dano and maybe Little-- lot's of options here.
This is just one idea that I've had and thought of quite a bit, to balance out our talent base, and optimize the scoring ability of our hockey club. You could even try moving Copp, or Tanev up to that 1st line, and put Connor on the 2nd line.There are many things you can do.
I think it would be interesting to see what fellow posters think of this ?? --do we just go along with what we have, or do we shake things up to better the hockey club ?? Can we win the Stanley Cup with the way we're running our lines right now ?? I do wonder about that, although we'd still be a good team.
I'd like to see some suggestions from fellow posters on how we can get that 2nd line going ?? It may mean trading a valuable piece like Ehlers for a talented young centerman, or trading one of our defenseman for a centerman. I don't like the idea of trading, as I think the talent is here, and is developing, but that 2nd line needs to be adjusted in my opinion.
What do you all think ?? --am I the only one who thinks like this -- write down your suggestions, and how you think we can improve the 2nd line, and get better results from the hockey club.
Problems- Our 2nd line with Little, Laine, and Ehlers doesn't seem to be clicking. Firstly Little looks like he can't keep up, and is behind the play a lot. He's looking more like a 3rd line center. Maybe his contract could turn out to be a mistake, maybe a bad one ?? I think he'll be a good 3rd line center though.
Laine - is "one dimensional"- and has a rifle shot, and he's a great scorer. Problems with Laine, is he's an unreliable puck handler and often gives the puck away. He cannot drive his own line, and needs guys to feed him to set up his shot. He also is not good at winning any board battles. His speed is getting better, and his weight loss has helped this a lot, but in my mind he's very one dimensional, and needs to play with a talented playmaker, and Littlle doesn't seem to be the answer.
Ehlers -- he's very good, fast, and has a great shot. He's not good at board battles or digging out the puck, but he's more of a white collar player, and can do other things to compensate. He can use his speed for zone entries, but usually Laine and Little are far behind. Ehler's also has a great shot, to go along with his speed, and is quite a bit more versatile than Laine. It may be, the answer is to move Roslovic up to center these 2 young guys, and we'd have to be patient, as they will make mistakes.
Note -- Both Ehlers, and Laine are not good in our defensive end, whereas Little is. This is a problem. Right now, everything is sort of screwed up.
Possible solutions :
1) Move Wheeler down to center the Line of Ehlers and Laine. Wheeler played center last year when Scheiffle was out, and he looks good and competent as a center. This would add experience to the young 2nd line and this may be a real good fit . You could then move Perrault up to play with Scheiffle and Kyle Connor, and I still think they'd be a great scoring line. The addition of Wheeler to this newly formed 2nd line would help settle this line down, and I think you'd see way more scoring from it. Considering Wheeler was one of the top assist men in the NHL last year, is "proof" he's a good playmaker, this he'd be a great center.
You'd then move Little down to center a 3rd or 4th line between Roslovic, and someone like Dano, or Lemieux. I think this kind of idea is where the answer lies. Right now we'll do OK with the way we're playing, but really we are limited to just 2 solid dependable lines -- being the 1st line ( C,S, W) and the 3rd ( C,L,T) Right now our real 3rd line is Copp, Lowryand Tanev. If Roslovic was moved to a new 4 th line--he would center Dano and maybe Little-- lot's of options here.
This is just one idea that I've had and thought of quite a bit, to balance out our talent base, and optimize the scoring ability of our hockey club. You could even try moving Copp, or Tanev up to that 1st line, and put Connor on the 2nd line.There are many things you can do.
I think it would be interesting to see what fellow posters think of this ?? --do we just go along with what we have, or do we shake things up to better the hockey club ?? Can we win the Stanley Cup with the way we're running our lines right now ?? I do wonder about that, although we'd still be a good team.
I'd like to see some suggestions from fellow posters on how we can get that 2nd line going ?? It may mean trading a valuable piece like Ehlers for a talented young centerman, or trading one of our defenseman for a centerman. I don't like the idea of trading, as I think the talent is here, and is developing, but that 2nd line needs to be adjusted in my opinion.
What do you all think ?? --am I the only one who thinks like this -- write down your suggestions, and how you think we can improve the 2nd line, and get better results from the hockey club.
