too much worrying about the lines.
There's really only one certainty at this point - the Sedins will be playing together on the team's #1 line. Everything else is up in the air, and really, that's the best situation the team could be in, because it shows they have depth and versatile players.
Burrows, Higgins and Hansen have shown many times over that they are equally good playing either wing. Booth and Raymond have played plenty on the right side as well, though they are both clearly more comfortable playing the left wing. You add Kassian to that group and you have 6 wingers on the team (not counting the team's best winger) that can play anywhere from the 1st to 3rd (or even 4th) lines and help the team.
The overall versatility of this group is very underrated and underappreciated, and that should be a strength of this team, where they don't need to worry about which players play on which line.
It's not unlike the goaltending, where you have 2 goalies you can put in any game and feel confident about, and when one struggles or hits a rough patch, you have another that can step up and carry the workload. The offense is the same. Burrows is struggling, throw Kassian on the top line. Booth isn't playing well, move Raymond up. There are a ton of options for AV, and we all know that AV will often juggle his lines to get the team going when needed, while keeping his lines stable when the team is playing at the top of their game.
We really haven't had this type of forward depth, maybe ever. Even during the Canucks best years (recently in 2011, or if you go back to the early 90s), there were still more holes with the team's forward depth then there is now.
Our forwards now - especially with the emergence of Kassian, and the surprisingly good 2-way play from Schroeder (not to mention the re-emergence of Raymond), is simply stacked at this point (of course when Kesler and Booth are back). Our goaltending is among the best (if not the best) in the league. The only area of concern right now is defense, and it's not about talent there, they are arguably one of the deepest groups in the league - it's more about chemistry right now, but I think that gets sorted out, given that we do have 2 pairs that have demonstrated tremendous chemistry either recently (Ballard-Tanev) or in the recent past (Hamhuis-Bieksa).
This team is in good shape for a long playoff run IMO.. of course injuries notwithstanding.
Agreed, the forward depth is as good as it has ever been.
While I agree that AV won't split the twins, I really believe they'd be better apart (5-on-5 only) against tougher defensive clubs (NSH, LA, BOS as examples) in the playoffs, when their ES offense has been nullified by the clutching/grabbing and their +/- has been ugly.
What I love this year is the pleasant surprise that both JS and Kassian have been fairly dynamic offensively, creative and making slick passes, whilst being solid defensively. This team lacks offensive creativity at times and these two guys have it. We wanted scoring depth and we finally have it, filled internally. It's pretty clear to me that sending JS down or replacing him with the likes of a Brian Boyle type would be a huge mistake. I only hope AV continues to give JS and Kassian plenty of minutes so they continue to gain confidence. And there is much to be said about youth in the dressing room. You only need to see how the team celebrated Tanev and JS's first goals, and how popular Kassian appears to be. The guys look like they like each other and that they're having fun.
The defensive depth is huge too. Tanev has arrived and looks like a top 4 this year. Ballard has improved so much, finally reading the play and anticipating instead of reacting. Garrison disappointed me initially but it's clear that the new pairings and positioning just takes time to digest.
Goaltending - what more can you say. Superb.
Right now, I would be happy for Gillis to stand pat and go into the playoffs with this roster (+Kesler and Booth of course).
The only change I'd accept is a clear, head-and-shoulders improvement over JS at the 3C position. I'm talking Plekanec, Graboski, Weiss, Dubinsky (maybe). Nothing less. Something like that could put us over the top.
I would welcome an upgrade on Weise if we could get a legit 3rd liner to fill out our lineup. But Weise deserves the chance to improve and fill into the role. He needs to focus on finishing his checks and softening up the opposing defense. In any event, in the playoffs, I'd be fine with having Malhotra in for Weise, ONLY taking key draws, and most of his regular minutes alongside Lapierre & Booth (in example below) can be filled by a rotation of our other better forwards (Higgins-Lappy-Booth for example). Basically what I am saying is that we can roll with a mix of our 11 forwards (Weise being the odd man out), and have Manny as the 12th only for key draws.
For the sake of conformity I'll put lines here with the Sedins together:
Sedins-Kassian (playoffs)
Burrows-Kes-Hansen (playing against the other team's 1C, and top ES minutes)
Raymond-JS-Higgins (12-15 mins/night)
Booth-Lapierre-Weise
Burrows, Booth, Higgins Raymond and Kassian are fairly interchangeable. I put Booth on the 4th line because his passing is #10 in that forward group, and because he should start there until he deserves a shot on line 3. I don't think Booth and Kesler mesh though.
Kesler should lead in minutes again, playing against the other team's top line with Hansen.
