deadhead
Registered User
- Feb 26, 2014
- 49,215
- 21,617
Raffl is fine because he does the "dirty work," chases the puck into corners, is responsible defensively, compare to Hartnell, for example.
Schenn is a good fit on the 2nd line, with Laughton they have size and speed, which allows Simmons to "collect garbage" near the net.
In the same way, Umberger is starting to fit with Couts and Read as long as he's willing to get dirty and set screens.
You can't have three guys skating and shooting in the open ice on each line who don't set screens, crash the goal or go into corners - otherwise you have a soft team that piles up the points against weak teams and disappears in the playoffs. You need balance.
V is perfect with Giroux, Voracek has gotten strong enough to hold the puck in traffic and fight for it along the boards, Giroux wins the faceoffs and floats in space and makes the great vision pass, you could have a "garbage collector" like Hartnell on this line but that would slow G & V down, Raffl allows them to play at full speed because he can keep up, but if they have to throw it into the offensive zone, he has both the speed and toughness to "go chase."
Schenn is a good fit on the 2nd line, with Laughton they have size and speed, which allows Simmons to "collect garbage" near the net.
In the same way, Umberger is starting to fit with Couts and Read as long as he's willing to get dirty and set screens.
You can't have three guys skating and shooting in the open ice on each line who don't set screens, crash the goal or go into corners - otherwise you have a soft team that piles up the points against weak teams and disappears in the playoffs. You need balance.
V is perfect with Giroux, Voracek has gotten strong enough to hold the puck in traffic and fight for it along the boards, Giroux wins the faceoffs and floats in space and makes the great vision pass, you could have a "garbage collector" like Hartnell on this line but that would slow G & V down, Raffl allows them to play at full speed because he can keep up, but if they have to throw it into the offensive zone, he has both the speed and toughness to "go chase."
