Hoffman-Zibanejad-Ryan

[supsens]

Dude was injured for most of last year and still scored 23 goals in 70 games. He's off to a slow start this year but there's absolutely no reason to believe he won't score 30 again.

and why did he only score 11 in 46 games his last season on the ducks?
thats 40 in his last 142 games.

 

[Cosmix]

That is absolutely what this organization's "Scoring Line 1" should be. 2/3 of it is the plan. Hoffman has just stepped up and seized the opportunity.

Zibby was drafted with the hope that he would develop into a first line center, Murray has even said so. He is still young and raw and developing, but Zibby is our guy. Ryan is the best forward in the organization and the more I see Ryan the more he separates himself from the pack. And right now Hoffman is doing everything right to complement those two. I really feel Hoffman's speed in transition has been a key ingredient in their success. Hoffman has shown excellent chemistry with those two, and his defensive deficiencies have been made up for by the strong two-way play of the other two. Now if only Zib could win a face-off...

Turris and Mac have been our #1 line by default. They've outworked and outplayed everybody else we throw out there, aside from maybe the stretch run last year with Spezza-Hemsky-Michalek. They earned the title but they're fighting above their weight class. Turris is an ideal #2/#3 center, and Mac is one of those guys who seems to play well with anybody. Both are good players but even at their best, which we've been lucky enough to enjoy, they're not first liners IF the NHL team has legit depth. And that's OK. We've been really lucky that they've stepped up for us.

I'll be interested to see if Turris and Mac get pushed down the line-up in the next few years. With the assumption being here, of course, that Turris and Mac continue their strong play, and others develop and make that a possibility for us. That'd be a great scenario - amazing depth. I really hope someone like Puempel can take that next step and push Mac and Hoff on the left side in the top six.

I agree with everything you said.

In Addition, i have been very impressed with how Hoffman has acclimatized to the NHL level of play. At first, he looked lost, then he looked tentative, and now he looks very impressive, showing great speed, passing, puckhandling, shooting, quick release, one-timers on the net, and signs of veteran patience and puck management!

There is still a lot of room for growth in this trio, but the signs are there for this to be a very good first line.

 

[MiscBrah]

Ryan has finally been converting his chances. Which is awesome because that's what he is there for.

He + Mac are really the only guys that I expect to bury every chance they get.

It seems that Ryan is finally putting it all together. I'm pumped for him to get over his broken finger and really start turning it up.

Although TBH he should have 5-6 more goals by now. There's been SOO many times that he's either hit the post or flubbed a shot wide.

He's also shooting at ~4.5% below his career average. which means he'd like to 9 goals right now instead of only 6.

 

[83DIZ65]

The last ten game Zibby has been our best player........if he can keep up what he's doing......wow. just wow.

 

[Micklebot]

and why did he only score 11 in 46 games his last season on the ducks?
thats 40 in his last 142 games.

For what it's worth, his last year in Anaheim he was reported to be battling a stomach virus all season.

His PP time was also down to second unit duties with just shy of 2 mins a game. That was also probably the year he spent the least of his ES toi with Getzlaf outside of 07/08.

Scoring goals is one part playing well, and one part opportunity. Ryan's opportunity was down that year, he was battling illness, and maybe he just had a down year too.

You can argue that Getzlaf made him a 30 goal scorer, but I think he showed last year that he's still a threat to hit that mark with 23 in 70 games (27 goal pace).

 

[operasen]

I agree with everything you said.

In Addition, i have been very impressed with how Hoffman has acclimatized to the NHL level of play. At first, he looked lost, then he looked tentative, and now he looks very impressive, showing great speed, passing, puckhandling, shooting, quick release, one-timers on the net, and signs of veteran patience and puck management!

There is still a lot of room for growth in this trio, but the signs are there for this to be a very good first line.

Agreed. I think in another 20 games, if they keep progressing (especially Zibanejad) we would be able to throw either over the boards as the No 1 and coach can start to look at preferred match ups. 3rd line with JGP could be a different beast as well if they click.

 

[ReginKarlssonLehner]

Huh? Huhhh?

 

[ulvvf]

This line looks really good right now, they where dominating pretty much every shift against Anaheim. Im surprise how good Zibby has become is so short period. He had a really slow start of the season, even if he played a lot better then the stats showed. But now he looks like a monster out there and a really start to live up to his potential (I have notice that he smiles a lot more now), hope he can continue this way. It is early but, but maybe this could become the best Ottawa line since, Heatley, Spezza and Alfredsson, then also have access to the Turris line, then it is start to look good for Ottawa all the suddently.

 

[Minister of Offence]

For what it's worth, his last year in Anaheim he was reported to be battling a stomach virus all season.

His PP time was also down to second unit duties with just shy of 2 mins a game. That was also probably the year he spent the least of his ES toi with Getzlaf outside of 07/08.

Scoring goals is one part playing well, and one part opportunity. Ryan's opportunity was down that year, he was battling illness, and maybe he just had a down year too.

You can argue that Getzlaf made him a 30 goal scorer, but I think he showed last year that he's still a threat to hit that mark with 23 in 70 games (27 goal pace).

Played with hernia last year

 

[Sting]

This line looks really good right now, they where dominating pretty much every shift against Anaheim. Im surprise how good Zibby has become is so short period. He had a really slow start of the season, even if he played a lot better then the stats showed. But now he looks like a monster out there and a really start to live up to his potential (I have notice that he smiles a lot more now), hope he can continue this way. It is early but, but maybe this could become the best Ottawa line since, Heatley, Spezza and Alfredsson, then also have access to the Turris line, then it is start to look good for Ottawa all the suddently.

The likelihood of this line becoming as good as the Pizza line is basically somewhere between 0 and 0.0000001%.

 

[DrakeAndJosh]

Zibby showing that 1C potential that Murray always talks about.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

It's all about consistency for the top line middle man

Turris has shown that he's got what it takes to be a top line guy but only in bursts

Top line guys are second line guys who are much more consistent when you get down to it