Is it finally time to make Willy a C and Kadri a W?

[lifelonghockeyfan]

I wonder if the OP is one of those dudes who thinks the leafs should try Gardiner on the wing as well? A Kadri-Nylander-Gardiner line would be sick right.

Gardiner hasn't figured his responsibilities as LHD after all these years. I can't imagine Jake being a quick learner and being able to adjust to LW.

 

[Trapper]

Willy is a natural C.
Next year it’s cap crunch time.
Who do you keep? A top 4 D or 3C?

 

[Faltorvo]

Nazem Kadri had been used primarily as our shutdown C on our shutdown line that was always line matched by Babs vs other teams top lines over the past few seasons. This year however, we have seen Babs give that responsibility to the Marner/ JT line.

Right now, Kadri has no identity on the team and his line has no defined role. He gets to play with the scraps that get left over from the top 2 lines and because of injuries and the Willy sit out, he has had very limited consistency in line-mates this year. As seen last season, Kadri becomes exponentially more productive with Mitch on his line compared to anyone else, so why not combine the two without taking anything away from JT.

Auston was doing quite fantastic before his injury and even after coming back while he was playing with Marleau and Kapanen. I think it's time we go back to lines that are tried and tested. And give Willy a lesser role as a 3C with good hardworking players to work on his game. I think he is much more offensively creative than Kadri is and I believe he can survive on his own line and produce respectively compared to Naz who is completely lost out there right now.

I hope Babs can give the following lines a shot.

Marleau - Matthews - Kapanen --> Matthews has two good finishers to work with and two guys who can fly and create space.

Kadri - JT - Marner --> Marner has fantastic chemistry with both. Kadri goes back to playing vs Top lines of opposing teams. I think this will keep him more engaged in games and we all know more engaged Kadri is the best version of Kadri. He also gives that line some grit and insane amount of skill.

Hyman - Nylander - Johnsson --> Willy can play his game and be the main distributor. AJ is a shoot first player and playing on this line would actually allow him to be the main shooter. Hyman provides the meat and potatoes puck retrieval.

Brown - Goat - Lindholm --> Solid 4th line. All defensively responsible players capable of playing 6-10 mins plus speciality teams.

UMMM WUT???????????

Melander should not even be on this roster let alone play C

 

[nobody]

UMMM WUT???????????

Melander should not even be on this roster let alone play C

I don't know how you're expecting anyone to take you seriously when you say "melander".