Line Combos: Iggy with Krejci Loui with Bergy- Did we get it right?

[BigGoalBrad]

Hmmm. I personally think we got it wrong.

I think Eriksson would go off playing on the wing opposite Milan Lucic and we are being silly keeping those 2 separated with Krejci a great fit to center those 2. Krejci could make a few passes Bergeron might not. Bergeron then gets Iginla who is capable of having a Recchi-like presence on the boards and in traffic.

I think Eriksson and Marchand are small. Who is supposed to be the more physical guy of the two? Brad who may be smaller than Krug? Or Loui who isn't physical?


I know that Iginla can play the Horton role and actually is an upgrade over Nate. But due to Horton's and that lines success in the playoff I have a feeling the three together is much set in stone. I don't think we'll get to see Iginla playing Recchi which stinks and Loui with Krejci and Looch sounds good to me he doesn't need to be physical on their line.

Claude is stubborn and if we keep winning which we will with Rask, 7 good D, and good 3rd and 4th line he will not make the change even if the first two lines continue to be average or good and not great. I am not really not trying to be overractive/critical/negative I think Iginla and Erikkson are awesome but are just on the wrong lines and should be swapped.


Jagr never got to play with the kid who had his posters on his wall and despite playing OK for us and working very hard we never saw a salute. Now I'm not trying to have 20/20 vision after the fact and say a productive playoff Horton should be demoted however Claude is extremely stubborn and these top 2 lines might be set in stone barring injury until 2016. We might be really screwing this up just because Iginla has a similar body to Horton.



Marchand and Bergeron excel on the boards. Iginla is a better board player than Loui. Iginla could be Recchi with speed.


You make the change and Loui gets to use his smarts and savy to pick up the most physical player in the NHL's scraps and get on the end of dishes from the more creative of our 2 great centers. I'm personally convinced we should swap them but I doubt Claude does it.

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[KuralySnipes]

I agree 100%, BUT I trust Claude.

 

[BigGoalBrad]

I agree 100%, BUT I trust Claude.

I trust Claude as a motivator. I trust him to coach the D and PP well.

I don't really trust him when it comes to making the appropriate line changes. The really obvious ones always come a few games too late.

I know Ference played well game 1 vs Pitt so Claude was automatically off the hook for benching Bart but after that game he wasn't very good no Bartowski against Chicago probably cost us the Cup. (Along with dogman.)

 

[patty59]

I trust Claude as a motivator. I trust him to coach the D and PP well.

I don't really trust him when it comes to making the appropriate line changes. The really obvious ones always come a few games too late.

I know Ference played well game 1 vs Pitt so Claude was automatically off the hook for benching Bart but after that game he wasn't very good no Bartowski against Chicago probably cost us the Cup. (Along with dogman.)

Seguin playing like a giant ***** and Jagr being a no show had more to do with it.

 

[mislysBB]

Seguin playing like a giant ***** and Jagr being a no show had more to do with it.

This.

 

[GordonHowe]

No expert but I think both lines are properly constructed & play to the individual strengths of the players involved.

Iggy is a famously slow starter, but he fits perfectly with Looch as a replacement for Horton, Loui appears to be slowly adjusting, and Marchand is "fighting it," for whatever reason.

The Bruins have played five games. Let's give it at least 10 & see how things look at that point.

 

[JoeIsAStud]

I must admit, I am a fan of letting lines evolve. Giving guys a chance to play together a bit and see how they best fit.

That doesn't seem to be the way they do things. They seem to have a plan, and even before they acquire a player they have a position set, and go out and acquire someone to play that position with those linemates.

I would be interested in seeing things shaken up a bit especially from time to time when they are not playing particularly well.

 

[VanIsle]

I think the lines should stay as is, Iginla has gotten 19 shots for most on the Bruins.
I like the line, soon enough this team will blow up for a 5-6 goal game, they are just running into hot backup goalies.

Loui also looks good on the Bergeron line, and remember both these guys are playing on new teams, with new players, and a new system.

Give them time, it isn't time to blow up the team. . . yet

 

[Mr. Make-Believe]

...

Yours are the combos that I wanted from the beginning.

I'm willing to play with these for a while longer though.

 

[putabergeronthegrill]

second obligatory "its only been 5 games" post.

 

[BigGoalBrad]

Seguin playing like a giant ***** and Jagr being a no show had more to do with it.

No. I know Jagr and Seguin should have given us way more of course and between Jagr's missing the teams best scoring opportunites every freakin time and Seguin sucking complete balls the two of them hurt us big time but that's not the reason we lost we could have carried them and did carry them as passengers along with a couple others like Kelly. We got away with their sucking.



We lost because we lost game 4 and game 6. 2 home games that the team should have won. Winning either means winning the Cup. (Tuukka would have won us game 7 no Bergeron would have been better than the Bergeron who played game 6 don't be crazy Bergeron is a warrior for trying to go in 6 but he couldn't do anything.) We lost games 4 and 6 because of our D. Tuukka didn't fall apart like Philly G7 he was the better goalie in those games. OUr D fell apart. And Ference's mediocre play in the place of Bartowski who was the only guy who could have made a positive difference was a huge reason and a fault on Julien.



DO you really not think our D didn't let us down Game 4 of the finals or Game 6? Do you remember how bad Crawford was in Game 4? It was criminal to not win that game, Chicago's offense was humiliating us and we almost won. Chara and Seidenberg would NOT have been as gassed end of Game 6 if Bartowski wasn't in the press box.

Ference had one good game against Pitt and then was average or below average. Only Bartowski and his young wheels could have made a difference there Seguin and Jagr not scoring is a different story.



Have you ever seen ANY team take it to us like the Blackhawks did in Game 4? They were flying. But Claude didn't put Bartowski back in he could have made a difference Hamilton was in over his head but Bartowski was a stud. Stupid. Just like giving dogman all those games over Soderberg.

 

[3rdLiner]

I agree.

I feel like Iggy is much more in the Recchi mold than anything else. Loui is different than say Horton but may provide more of a benefit to that line. He has +Hands, +Shot and +Awareness.

I just think that Iggy would sync better with Bergy and Loui with Krejci. I trust Claude but I could see the lines switching at some point.

 

[Trap Jesus]

I agree.

I feel like Iggy is much more in the Recchi mold than anything else. Loui is different than say Horton but may provide more of a benefit to that line. He has +Hands, +Shot and +Awareness.

I just think that Iggy would sync better with Bergy and Loui with Krejci. I trust Claude but I could see the lines switching at some point.

Iginla is ridiculously similar to Horton to me, so I like that line. Eriksson isn't meshing with the Bergeron line as well as I'd like, but they need more time. If anything, I'd move Smith up to the Bergeron line and Eriksson down with Kelly to give us more scoring depth.

 

[2KA]

Leave as is for now. I don't think either line has been that terrible. I think they have been decent actually. Give it a couple more weeks and if they don't start filling the net then it is time to take a second look.

 

[Oates2Neely]

Too soon to start questioning line combos. Before the season started I liked your lines also (still do). For the sole reason that Loui is a defensively sound winger, thus allowing Krejci to focus a tad bit more on his offfensive game.

I think Soderberg will eventually challenge for a top-6 spot once he gets rolling. I can see Marchand producing on the 3rd line with Kelly as his center. Marchand is just one of those guys who produces on his own & creates his own chances despite who his linemates are.

Lucic Krejci Ericksson
Soderberg Bergeron Iginla
Marchand Kelly Smith
Paille Campbell Caron

 

[Mr. Make-Believe]

Iginla is ridiculously similar to Horton to me, so I like that line. Eriksson isn't meshing with the Bergeron line as well as I'd like, but they need more time. If anything, I'd move Smith up to the Bergeron line and Eriksson down with Kelly to give us more scoring depth.

I think that was the goal. Recreate the lines we had before with the new players.

Thing is, I think we may be missing on an opportunity to IMPROVE on what we had before by eliminating each lines' weaknesses from their previous incarnations.

 

[BigGoalBrad]

Iginla is ridiculously similar to Horton to me, so I like that line. Eriksson isn't meshing with the Bergeron line as well as I'd like, but they need more time. If anything, I'd move Smith up to the Bergeron line and Eriksson down with Kelly to give us more scoring depth.

Extreme right now. However, once Soderberg is on the line I think its a possibiity if he wants to play with his countryman.

If not its sort of like telling Bergeron Spooner's or Soderberg are the second line centers and he's the third line center circa 2010 for more depth.

 

[EverettMike]

I don't like it this way. Said so before the season, still want them flipped.

 

[smithformeragent]

It's a very real pissibility that Iginla is cooked IMO.

 

[Caper Bruins fan]

No. I know Jagr and Seguin should have given us way more of course and between Jagr's missing the teams best scoring opportunites every freakin time and Seguin sucking complete balls the two of them hurt us big time but that's not the reason we lost we could have carried them and did carry them as passengers along with a couple others like Kelly. We got away with their sucking.



We lost because we lost game 4 and game 6. 2 home games that the team should have won. Winning either means winning the Cup. (Tuukka would have won us game 7 no Bergeron would have been better than the Bergeron who played game 6 don't be crazy Bergeron is a warrior for trying to go in 6 but he couldn't do anything.) We lost games 4 and 6 because of our D. Tuukka didn't fall apart like Philly G7 he was the better goalie in those games. OUr D fell apart. And Ference's mediocre play in the place of Bartowski who was the only guy who could have made a positive difference was a huge reason and a fault on Julien.



DO you really not think our D didn't let us down Game 4 of the finals or Game 6? Do you remember how bad Crawford was in Game 4? It was criminal to not win that game, Chicago's offense was humiliating us and we almost won. Chara and Seidenberg would NOT have been as gassed end of Game 6 if Bartowski wasn't in the press box.

Ference had one good game against Pitt and then was average or below average. Only Bartowski and his young wheels could have made a difference there Seguin and Jagr not scoring is a different story.



Have you ever seen ANY team take it to us like the Blackhawks did in Game 4? They were flying. But Claude didn't put Bartowski back in he could have made a difference Hamilton was in over his head but Bartowski was a stud. Stupid. Just like giving dogman all those games over Soderberg.

You are right about the D letting us down but I still think CJ made the right choices.Bartkowski certainly looks promising but to call him a stud is a stretch.Given the same situation and choices,I would have chosen Ference over Bartkowski.

 

[BRUINS since 1995]

I'm still not sold on Loui and Bergy.

My thoughts was Iginla with Bergy and Eriksson with DK.

But I also think that time will tell

 

[Bi Coastal Bawse*]

I prefer Iggy on the 2nd line. Step in to defend Marchy and Bergy if a scrum happens.

 

[PlayMakers]

...

Yours are the combos that I wanted from the beginning.

I'm willing to play with these for a while longer though.

Agreed on both counts.

I'll add that IMHO, what people mistakenly view as Claude "not seeing the obvious" is actually Claude just being patient. From day1 he's talked about the combo's the OP mentioned, but Chiarelli obviously got Iginla to be a Horton replacement so they're giving that time to bear fruit, and unlike the 63-37-21 combination, there have been some encouraging signs. Evaluating that combo is made more difficult by Iginla's typical slow starts, so it will be interesting to see how it goes. For now, I'm content to let that line ride for a few more games while we see what this team looks like with Soderberg in the mix and where he fits best.

 

[Gordoff]

Seguin playing like a giant ***** and Jagr being a no show had more to do with it.

^YUP!^ *****=Fill in the blank!

 

[Confound]

Been saying since before preseason to split Lucic and Iginla up, they play too much of a similar style to play on the same line. I think Krejci and Eriksson would be dynamite together, have Iginla open space up for Marchy and Bergy.