Its time for the "#1" line.

[Pablo Aimar]

The Oilers have picked, in successive drafts, a lw, c, and rw first overall. This season is toast. Why not give us a glimpse of the future and run Hall,RNH,Yakupov together for the rest of the season? Yakupovs play has warrented a promotion and a boost in playing time and point totals might get him the calder. It would be a nice point of focus for the fans as another horrible season winds down.

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[Turrican*]

Because in the last 4 mins of the game, we will have to see Hall, RNH and Smyth.

 

[timekeep]

Lets do it, but it might piss off Eberle.

 

[Turrican*]

Lets do it, but it might piss off Eberle.

Good.
Maybe it will light a fire under his ass.

He thinks the 1st line is a free pass.

 

[PumpkinBombX]

I'd actually like to see Paajarvi, Nuge, Yakupov, and Hall, Gagner, Eberle. (Gagner's 8 point game against chicago was with these 2.)

Nuge can feed Yakupov and Paajarvi can stand in front of the net.

 

[Raoul Duke]

Good.
Maybe it will light a fire under his ass.

He thinks the 1st line is a free pass.

Yep. Reason enough all by itself.

 

[Koto]

wont happen. Eberle is now as entitled to 1st line minutes as Smyth is to an NHL job.



what a joke. i swear, if eberle played a full season as the best player on his line, he'd look a lot like gagner: 50ish points.

 

[Raoul Duke]

Because in the last 4 mins of the game, we will have to see Hall, RNH and Smyth.

No kidding.

Yakupov should be getting some different looks right now. The lines can always be put back together. Nobody's scoring right now.

 

[Six in O6]

Good.
Maybe it will light a fire under his ass.

He thinks the 1st line is a free pass.

I've been saying that all year. He's getting points, sure but his defensive zone play has been lazy and plays die on his stick more often than not.

This "first" line has been a colossal disappointment this season.

 

[Soundwave]

I wanna see Hall + Yak together, sure why not. I doubt Ralph allows it.

 

[Koto]

would be cool, i also doubt.

 

[Toydarian]

I wanna see Hall + Yak together, sure why not. I doubt Ralph allows it.

When Yak was drafted, everyone was saying how he and Hall would be terrible linemates. I have always felt the opposite.

Both are great skaters with a lot of speed who are both effective passers and excellent shooters. I think it would cause some serious issues for opposing defensemen to have to deal with that kind of attack coming from both wings.

 

[Koto]

When Yak was drafted, everyone was saying how he and Hall would be terrible linemates. I have always felt the opposite.

Both are great skaters with a lot of speed who are both effective passers and excellent shooters. I think it would cause some serious issues for opposing defensemen to have to deal with that kind of attack coming from both wings.

well i personally like them apart because they are so similar and can drive the play for their line, but i would have always been curious, and at this point i want to see it.

 

[shoop]

Why not try?

It is worth a shot. Pretty low cost if it doesn't work out.

 

[Roof Daddy]

Put me down for a big yes. Nothing's working right now, at least give them a game together.

 

[thadd]

Good.
Maybe it will light a fire under his ass.

He thinks the 1st line is a free pass.

Switching Yak with Eberle for a game would be cool.

Eberle's production has been down due to the fact that he's not playing sheltered minutes this year, but he's still slumped more often than what's acceptable on some nights.

It's not like he'd be a slouch with MPS and Gagner.

 

[nabob]

wont happen. Eberle is now as entitled to 1st line minutes as Smyth is to an NHL job.



what a joke. i swear, if eberle played a full season as the best player on his line, he'd look a lot like gagner: 40ish points.

Eberle is our top RW, he along with Hall lead the team in game winning goals.

What is a joke is you saying that the best player on our team the last two years has never been the best player on his own line.

A guy has a rough 30 game stretch where he is still consistently better than any other RW on the team and people are ready to ship him out. Again, what a joke.

 

[nabob]

I would want to see it done to send a message to Yakupov and the rest of the team.

 

[Trafalgar Sadge Law]

I can see this working very well. Yakupov and Hall both create so much space for their teammates by attracting so much attention with their speed and skill. Someone with the hockey IQ and vision of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins could make very good use of that extra time and space.

 

[oilersfan87]

It makes too much sense so it won't happen.

 

[jukon]

I'd actually like to see Paajarvi, Nuge, Yakupov, and Hall, Gagner, Eberle. (Gagner's 8 point game against chicago was with these 2.)

Nuge can feed Yakupov and Paajarvi can stand in front of the net.

I would try Hall-Gagner-Yakupov and Paajarvi-RNH-Eberle instead. Gagner and Hall have been our best producers, put them with Yakupov and keep Eberle as a scoring threat on a more defensively responsible 2nd line.