Full Healthy Lineup and Lines

[Beesfan]

Interested to see how people think the lines will shape up with the full healthy roster. It's been so long I honestly had a hard time remembering all the players on our roster, but here is what I've got:

Marchand/Bergeron/Pastrnak
DeBrusk/Krejci/Kase
Ritchie/Coyle/Bjork
Nordstrom/Kuraly/Wagner
Lindholm, Khulman

Chara - McAvoy
Krug - Carlo
Grzelcyk - Moore
Lauzon - Clifton

Rask
Halak
Vladar
Legace

Notes:

I think Khulman will slide up very quickly into Line 2 or 3 if Kase or Bjork struggles.

Lindholm may start at C on the fourth line, Kuraly to wing, and Nordy out.

Outside chance they plug Lauzon back in next to Grz on 3rd D pair, as that was the direction they were going prior to injury. Lauzon is definitely first D in on either side if replacement is needed.

Click to read more...

 

[scorpiorising]

Looks aboot right.

I'm not quite sure what to expect from Ritchie and Kase.

What about Kevan Miller? Is he 100% out if its a long playoff run?

 

[cheg1349]

I keep forgetting Kase is on the team

 

[LSCII]

Looks aboot right.

I'm not quite sure what to expect from Ritchie and Kase.

What about Kevan Miller? Is he 100% out if its a long playoff run?

Why even bother mentioning him at this point? Give the guy credit for attempting to continue, but it's been nothing but setback after setback. I think his body is trying to tell him this ship has sailed. Even if he were to get healthy, what can you possibly expect out of the guy? He hasn't played a meaningful minute of NHL hockey in years.

 

[BruinDust]

It's hard to predict because Kase and Ritchie didn't really get a chance to integrate themselves as a fixture on a particular line. Especially Kase who you could tell was playing catch-up coming off an injury before the trade.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if Ritchie ends up alongside Debrusk/Krejci and Kase with Coyle/Bjork, but in the early going there will be some mixing and matching among all 4 wingers with Krejci or Coyle, so unless a trio gets hot, the Bruins will likely need to rely on the Bergeron line and the 1st PP unit heavily in the first round.

 

[ON3M4N]

Your middle 6 lines played almost no time together. Seems like a bad idea to start in the playoffs.

 

[Aussie Bruin]

Your middle 6 lines played almost no time together. Seems like a bad idea to start in the playoffs.

What middle 6 could we put on the ice that has played a lot of time together? That issue was never solved prior to the season being suspended. We saw Krejci with the 2 Ducks boys, Coyle with DeBrusk and Bjork, Coyle with Ritchie, Kuhlman spent a little time on both lines, Kuraly played some on the 3rd, and we even saw a short trial of Pasta with Krej and Kase in his place on the top line, which actually worked ok. Probably the lines we saw most post the deadline were Ritchie-Krejci-Kase and DeBrusk-Coyle-Bjork. The latter looked good, but the former never really gelled and I'm sceptical that it ever would.

At least keeping Jake with Krej and Charlie with Bjork you have two familiar pairs to build on. But I think the bottom line is we don't know yet what the best combos are on those lines and Cassidy doesn't either. He's going to have the training camp plus the round robin to sort it out, and I think the no. 1 factor that will determine whether the Bruins are going to have a legit shot at this tournament is going to be whether or not he can.

 

[Aussie Bruin]

Interested to see how people think the lines will shape up with the full healthy roster. It's been so long I honestly had a hard time remembering all the players on our roster, but here is what I've got:

Marchand/Bergeron/Pastrnak
DeBrusk/Krejci/Kase
Ritchie/Coyle/Bjork
Nordstrom/Kuraly/Wagner
Lindholm, Khulman

Chara - McAvoy
Krug - Carlo
Grzelcyk - Moore
Lauzon - Clifton

Rask
Halak
Vladar
Legace

Notes:

I think Khulman will slide up very quickly into Line 2 or 3 if Kase or Bjork struggles.

Lindholm may start at C on the fourth line, Kuraly to wing, and Nordy out.

Outside chance they plug Lauzon back in next to Grz on 3rd D pair, as that was the direction they were going prior to injury. Lauzon is definitely first D in on either side if replacement is needed.

I agree with most of that but I think Lauzon is highly likely to get first crack with Gryz on the 3rd pair. He made that spot his own in the second half of the season and he compliments Gryz better and adds more with his size and presence to our D than either Moore or Cliffy. Those two will be very capable 7th/8th D, plus Kampfer, but I feel like it's Lauzon's to lose at present.

 

[TwineTickler]

I agree with most of that but I think Lauzon is highly likely to get first crack with Gryz on the 3rd pair. He made that spot his own in the second half of the season and he compliments Gryz better and adds more with his size and presence to our D than either Moore or Cliffy. Those two will be very capable 7th/8th D, plus Kampfer, but I feel like it's Lauzon's to lose at present.

Agreed. Lauzon 100000% should play over Moore and be on that third pair, IMO.

March-Bergy-Pasta
Ritchie-Krejci-Kase
Debrusk-Coyle-Bjork
Nordy-Kuraly-Wags
ex: Lindholm, Kuhlman

I personally didn't think JD and Krejci showed all that well together this year 5v5.. I didn't look at any advanced stats or anything just a I feel I have from watching. I'd let the two new guys who played well together play with Krech, and put that 3rd line together and have them dominate. 4th line starts like that but can mix and match Kuhly and Par...

Chara-Mac
Torey-Carlo
Grz-Lauzon

 

[Beesfan]

Agreed. Lauzon 100000% should play over Moore and be on that third pair, IMO.

March-Bergy-Pasta
Ritchie-Krejci-Kase
Debrusk-Coyle-Bjork
Nordy-Kuraly-Wags
ex: Lindholm, Kuhlman

I personally didn't think JD and Krejci showed all that well together this year 5v5.. I didn't look at any advanced stats or anything just a I feel I have from watching. I'd let the two new guys who played well together play with Krech, and put that 3rd line together and have them dominate. 4th line starts like that but can mix and match Kuhly and Par...

Chara-Mac
Torey-Carlo
Grz-Lauzon

I think this is the other viable option to my OP, but it just feels like we're throwing Krejci away. I don't see how we advance far without Krejci being an impact player. The DeBrusk/Krejci combo goes quiet for stretches, but they have been together for the better part of two years, and both players have managed to be productive in that time.

 

[TwineTickler]

I think this is the other viable option to my OP, but it just feels like we're throwing Krejci away. I don't see how we advance far without Krejci being an impact player. The DeBrusk/Krejci combo goes quiet for stretches, but they have been together for the better part of two years, and both players have managed to be productive in that time.

I don't think this is throwing Krejci away personally... it might be giving him what he needs. Debrusk and Krejci have never been a perfect fit if you ask me. Having that Lucic-type body in Ritchie on his left hand side, and a shooter/scorer in Kase... again two players that had success playing together with Anaheim, could work really well. In turn I think that 3rd line has the chance to create serious match-up problems. Who knows what they decide to do, but that's what I'd do and I hope Bruce starts that way. Can always switch it up.

 

[slim399]

Agreed. Lauzon 100000% should play over Moore and be on that third pair, IMO.

March-Bergy-Pasta
Ritchie-Krejci-Kase
Debrusk-Coyle-Bjork
Nordy-Kuraly-Wags
ex: Lindholm, Kuhlman

I personally didn't think JD and Krejci showed all that well together this year 5v5.. I didn't look at any advanced stats or anything just a I feel I have from watching. I'd let the two new guys who played well together play with Krech, and put that 3rd line together and have them dominate. 4th line starts like that but can mix and match Kuhly and Par...

Chara-Mac
Torey-Carlo
Grz-Lauzon

This is my line up as well. It will be really interesting to see what kind of shape guys come into camp and ready to play. I feel like Studnicka or Frederic could come into camp flying and possibly steal a spot

 

[TwineTickler]

This is my line up as well. It will be really interesting to see what kind of shape guys come into camp and ready to play. I feel like Studnicka or Frederic could come into camp flying and possibly steal a spot

The expanded rosters due make things interesting in that respect. Could certainly see a guy like Frederic get some LW duty on the 4th line to bring some nasty if needed.

 

[Paddington]

Looks aboot right.

I'm not quite sure what to expect from Ritchie and Kase.

What about Kevan Miller? Is he 100% out if its a long playoff run?

I'm with you on that one. I think it's a little easier to gauge what Ritchie is, though. Admittedly, I didn't pay attention to Kase when he was in Anaheim but with the Bruins he seemed to be a split second too fast/slow or a half inch off a lot of the time. Now, he battled injuries, missed some time, and when he came back he was on a new team, so it's very hard for me to blame him after such a small sample size. It's unfortunate that he didn't have the remainder of the regular season to get into the swing of things (I was about to say get into the groove but decided to stay away from that earworm.... Which I now included ). Having said all that, I'm curious to see how long Butch's leash is on Kase if he's in the 2RW spot. A team in need of secondary scoring can't mess around and wait for somebody to hopefully get it going come playoff time. They have the 3 round robin games and maybe a couple of games in round 1 to figure it out.... depending how the series starts.

 

[Sheppy]

I forget who's even on this team...

 

[Jean_Jacket41]

Bruins are stacked.

excited for this very possible 2nd Cup and 4th SCF in 10y.

Go Bruins!

 

[ON3M4N]

What middle 6 could we put on the ice that has played a lot of time together? That issue was never solved prior to the season being suspended. We saw Krejci with the 2 Ducks boys, Coyle with DeBrusk and Bjork, Coyle with Ritchie, Kuhlman spent a little time on both lines, Kuraly played some on the 3rd, and we even saw a short trial of Pasta with Krej and Kase in his place on the top line, which actually worked ok. Probably the lines we saw most post the deadline were Ritchie-Krejci-Kase and DeBrusk-Coyle-Bjork. The latter looked good, but the former never really gelled and I'm sceptical that it ever would.

At least keeping Jake with Krej and Charlie with Bjork you have two familiar pairs to build on. But I think the bottom line is we don't know yet what the best combos are on those lines and Cassidy doesn't either. He's going to have the training camp plus the round robin to sort it out, and I think the no. 1 factor that will determine whether the Bruins are going to have a legit shot at this tournament is going to be whether or not he can.

To be honest I think you see the same lineup you did just prior to the break.

My personal preference (which no one seems to agree with) is to load up the 2nd line and put DeBrusk - Krejci - Coyle as a trio. They played about 50 minutes together this year (similar to Ritchie - Krejci - Kase) and there numbers were night and day better from a analytics standpoint. The argument of course is that Coyle is a better C than RW, but I'd give it a shot.

Line Combo​	TOI​	CF%​	SF%​	xGF%​	SCF%​	HDCF%​	MDCF%​
DeBrusk - Krejci - Coyle​	50.80​	58.4​	54.6​	62.8​	59.0​	61.1​	57.1​
DeBrusk - Coyle - Bjork​	59.18​	57.0​	55.2​	61.9​	61.0​	53.9​	64.3​
Kuraly - Coyle - Bjork​	54.55​	52.8​	54.6​	58.7​	51.1​	54.6​	48.0​
DeBrusk - Krejci - Bjork​	60.83​	49.2​	46.9​	46.8​	50.8​	48.2​	52.9​
Ritchie - Krejci - Kase​	48.15​	46.3​	45.8​	42.8​	53.9​	40.0​	62.5​

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Looking at these trios, DeBrusk & Coyle with either Bjork or Krejci are pretty close with the biggest difference being w/ Krejci they create more High Danger Chances while with Bjork they generate more Medium Danger Chances. Bjork & Coyle w/ Kuraly isn't terrible (not as effective as with DeBrusk) and could be an option that would allow for DeBrusk - Krejci - Kase, however they've played a total of 3:21 together at 5v5. While their metrics were good, its such a small sample size that IDK that it really means anything.

Personally the Ritchie-Krejci-Kase line was brutal and below average. I'm not a huge fan of Ritchie and think he'd be best suited on the 4th line. Now in my ideal world, you have 74-46-13 as your 2nd line with Stud centering Bjork/Kase on the 3rd line. For the sake of this though we'll assume he's not an option. So a different looking line-up then we had just before the break:

Marchand - Bergeron - Pastrnak
DeBrusk - Krejci - Kase
Kuraly - Coyle - Bjork
Ritchie - Lindholm - Wagner

Here is the problem, the 2nd and 4th line have basically no time together and would be a wild card which is what I'd try and avoid. The problem as pointed out before is the Ritchie - Krejci - Kase trio was just not good. Now maybe things will be better now that Kase is rested and not trying to play catch up (kind of a level playing field for everyone), but if that line continues to play like crap then your "2nd line" is your 3rd line.

 

[Aussie Bruin]

To be honest I think you see the same lineup you did just prior to the break.

My personal preference (which no one seems to agree with) is to load up the 2nd line and put DeBrusk - Krejci - Coyle as a trio. They played about 50 minutes together this year (similar to Ritchie - Krejci - Kase) and there numbers were night and day better from a analytics standpoint. The argument of course is that Coyle is a better C than RW, but I'd give it a shot.

Line Combo​	TOI​	CF%​	SF%​	xGF%​	SCF%​	HDCF%​	MDCF%​
DeBrusk - Krejci - Coyle​	50.80​	58.4​	54.6​	62.8​	59.0​	61.1​	57.1​
DeBrusk - Coyle - Bjork​	59.18​	57.0​	55.2​	61.9​	61.0​	53.9​	64.3​
Kuraly - Coyle - Bjork​	54.55​	52.8​	54.6​	58.7​	51.1​	54.6​	48.0​
DeBrusk - Krejci - Bjork​	60.83​	49.2​	46.9​	46.8​	50.8​	48.2​	52.9​
Ritchie - Krejci - Kase​	48.15​	46.3​	45.8​	42.8​	53.9​	40.0​	62.5​

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Looking at these trios, DeBrusk & Coyle with either Bjork or Krejci are pretty close with the biggest difference being w/ Krejci they create more High Danger Chances while with Bjork they generate more Medium Danger Chances. Bjork & Coyle w/ Kuraly isn't terrible (not as effective as with DeBrusk) and could be an option that would allow for DeBrusk - Krejci - Kase, however they've played a total of 3:21 together at 5v5. While their metrics were good, its such a small sample size that IDK that it really means anything.

Personally the Ritchie-Krejci-Kase line was brutal and below average. I'm not a huge fan of Ritchie and think he'd be best suited on the 4th line. Now in my ideal world, you have 74-46-13 as your 2nd line with Stud centering Bjork/Kase on the 3rd line. For the sake of this though we'll assume he's not an option. So a different looking line-up then we had just before the break:

Marchand - Bergeron - Pastrnak
DeBrusk - Krejci - Kase
Kuraly - Coyle - Bjork
Ritchie - Lindholm - Wagner

Here is the problem, the 2nd and 4th line have basically no time together and would be a wild card which is what I'd try and avoid. The problem as pointed out before is the Ritchie - Krejci - Kase trio was just not good. Now maybe things will be better now that Kase is rested and not trying to play catch up (kind of a level playing field for everyone), but if that line continues to play like crap then your "2nd line" is your 3rd line.

It's not easy to work out, that's for sure. You raise some good points but I think none of the sample sizes are big enough to be a really good guide to what's going to work and what clearly won't. I just can't see Coyle spending too much time playing RW, not because he can't, but because it doesn't utilize his clear strengths as a center, and neither Kuraly nor Lindholm should be a 3C and I agree that I'm not sure we see Studnicka yet. Ritchie would feel like a waste on the 4th but again I agree it's not impossible that he ends up spending some time there.

I said this before the suspension - that if you look at the Bruins forwards now, there's really no clear demarcation between the 2nd line talent and the 3rd. Instead you've got a mix of 8 or so players who aren't that different in ability and could all slot somewhere into the middle 6. It's just a case of finding the best combos and rolling out the right lines in the right situations, rather than worrying about rank or who's getting more TOI.

 

[loosemoose]

My suspicion is that if they make a deep run the middle-6 will shuffle around a lot, as has been the case for the past 5-6 years. I like the idea of Krejci between Kase and Ritchie, but they don't have the luxury of trying to develop chemistry in the playoffs. Basically whatever Frankenstein combination happens to produce the best results for any particular game (or period even) is probably what Cassidy will go with.

 

[ON3M4N]

It's not easy to work out, that's for sure. You raise some good points but I think none of the sample sizes are big enough to be a really good guide to what's going to work and what clearly won't. I just can't see Coyle spending too much time playing RW, not because he can't, but because it doesn't utilize his clear strengths as a center, and neither Kuraly nor Lindholm should be a 3C and I agree that I'm not sure we see Studnicka yet. Ritchie would feel like a waste on the 4th but again I agree it's not impossible that he ends up spending some time there.

I said this before the suspension - that if you look at the Bruins forwards now, there's really no clear demarcation between the 2nd line talent and the 3rd. Instead you've got a mix of 8 or so players who aren't that different in ability and could all slot somewhere into the middle 6. It's just a case of finding the best combos and rolling out the right lines in the right situations, rather than worrying about rank or who's getting more TOI.

The sample sizes may not be ideal, but its really the only book you have on those lines. As for Ritchie, I think having him in your middle 6 is a waste. He's slow, with below average hands. His usefulness is fighting/hitting and thats a 4th line gig

 

[Aussie Bruin]

The sample sizes may not be ideal, but its really the only book you have on those lines. As for Ritchie, I think having him in your middle 6 is a waste. He's slow, with below average hands. His usefulness is fighting/hitting and thats a 4th line gig

I'm not sure about Ritchie either, but I'm willing to give him a little more time before I make a more firm judgment. My point was more that he wasn't really hired to play on the 4th, so if he winds up there it will feel like a failed trade - not only do we not need another 4th liner when there are already at least 5 guys competing to play on it, but his style doesn't suit the way our 4th plays, which is relentless pressure, hustle and energy. Sure his physicality and size would be useful to the team as a whole, but I doubt they'd add more than what that line would lose by having a slower skater on it who just doesn't have the tank of a guy like Nordy. Our 4th line hasn't been about fighting or hitting for ages. Wags can lay a solid hit and fight when needed, as could Acciari before him, but it's not what they're really about and I doubt that will change anytime soon.

 

[ON3M4N]

I'm not sure about Ritchie either, but I'm willing to give him a little more time before I make a more firm judgment. My point was more that he wasn't really hired to play on the 4th, so if he winds up there it will feel like a failed trade - not only do we not need another 4th liner when there are already at least 5 guys competing to play on it, but his style doesn't suit the way our 4th plays, which is relentless pressure, hustle and energy. Sure his physicality and size would be useful to the team as a whole, but I doubt they'd add more than what that line would lose by having a slower skater on it who just doesn't have the tank of a guy like Nordy. Our 4th line hasn't been about fighting or hitting for ages. Wags can lay a solid hit and fight when needed, as could Acciari before him, but it's not what they're really about and I doubt that will change anytime soon.

Ritchie is the left handed version of Wagner

 

[TwineTickler]

I'm with you on that one. I think it's a little easier to gauge what Ritchie is, though. Admittedly, I didn't pay attention to Kase when he was in Anaheim but with the Bruins he seemed to be a split second too fast/slow or a half inch off a lot of the time. Now, he battled injuries, missed some time, and when he came back he was on a new team, so it's very hard for me to blame him after such a small sample size. It's unfortunate that he didn't have the remainder of the regular season to get into the swing of things (I was about to say get into the groove but decided to stay away from that earworm.... Which I now included ). Having said all that, I'm curious to see how long Butch's leash is on Kase if he's in the 2RW spot. A team in need of secondary scoring can't mess around and wait for somebody to hopefully get it going come playoff time. They have the 3 round robin games and maybe a couple of games in round 1 to figure it out.... depending how the series starts.

Watching his highlights makes me excited about his potential.





We will see how it plays out... but the dudes got hands (he's top 3 for every shootout now, or should be) and a scoring touch. He knows and has played well with The Big Ritch, hopefully DK can mesh with them during camp.

 

[Thomas 11]

Watching his highlights makes me excited about his potential.





We will see how it plays out... but the dudes got hands (he's top 3 for every shootout now, or should be) and a scoring touch. He knows and has played well with The Big Ritch, hopefully DK can mesh with them during camp.

 

[Thomas 11]

My issue with Richie was I thought he looked out of shape. My biggest worry is he comes back in bad shape, he doesn’t look like a guy who trains at a high level.
That being said, he has the skill set to provide offensive numbers, while being a physical force. If he comes back at about 225lbs and in great shape, we are gonna love him!