Injury Report: Jordan Staal (Concussion) - UPD: Placed on IR on 1/4/; Skating on 2/14; Returned 2/23

[Roboturner913]

Melanin and McKegg both need to stay, IMO. I know Melatonin has stretches where he looks like a rookie, but he's the perfect 4th liner. I'm not sure what Foegele has been doing for the last couple months but he's lost any semblance of offensive game.

 

[AD Skinner]

That's what I'm afraid of, that just like with Faulk, brind'amour won't be able to help himself and send Staal over the boards every stoppage no matter how he performs

 

[raynman]

Melanin and McKegg both need to stay, IMO. I know Melatonin has stretches where he looks like a rookie, but he's the perfect 4th liner. I'm not sure what Foegele has been doing for the last couple months but he's lost any semblance of offensive game.

But McLovin not having an offensive game doesn’t hurt all that much if he’s just getting 4th line minutes and killing penalties.

 

[Canes]

Foegele kills penalties so that gives him the advantage for now, and even though Maenalanen has better production in a smaller sample size, I don't think he offers much in the offensive department. At least not the amount that would cause Rod to stick with him over Foegele. Melatonin didn't produce much in the AHL either, and I doubt he keeps shooting 16% in the NHL. He has done an admirable job in his call up but if he's scratched and/or sent back down in favor of Foegele or McKegg it's not a huge deal.

 

[My Special Purpose]

If you dont feel right for months and cant pinpoint a particular hit that caused it, it's time to hang it up.

Hes set for life. Theres no reason!

This is just silly. If and when he's healthy, he'll play. I think I'll take the opinion of Jordan and his doctors over this take.

Isn’t McKegg on an emergency call up? If so, it’s him that gets reassigned.

He *was* but he's not anymore. He was the emergency guy for Clark Bishop, but once Bishop went down, McKegg took his place. Unfortunately, this means McKegg is subject to waivers if we want to send him down, so I think McKegg is on the roster for the duration. I think all of Wallmark, Maenalanen and Foegele can be rotated out without hurting too much, especially with Jordan coming back and being a key penalty killer.

 

[RodTheBawd]

As has been said, JStaal is clearly a net positive to any of these guys... as long as he's not getting 20 min.

 

[MinJaBen]

Soon...

 

[Chrispy]

As has been said, JStaal is clearly a net positive to any of these guys... as long as he's not getting 20 min.

It will be interesting to see how this gets juggled upon Jordan's return.

It's also a fun experiment for us: at what minute mark do you think Jordan is no longer a net positive over Wallmark? I realize it's not like he would fall off a cliff in performance, but where do you draw the line on the # of minutes you give Jordan?

I like the idea of using Jordan for the defensive zone draws, and I think putting him on PP2 to take the draws makes sense. I also think he could play more aggressively if he knows he's playing fewer minutes. I'm just not sure where that line gets drawn. Is it around where Martinook/Wallmark are now, or a little more?

 

[SlavinAway]

It will be interesting to see how this gets juggled upon Jordan's return.

It's also a fun experiment for us: at what minute mark do you think Jordan is no longer a net positive over Wallmark? I realize it's not like he would fall off a cliff in performance, but where do you draw the line on the # of minutes you give Jordan?

I like the idea of using Jordan for the defensive zone draws, and I think putting him on PP2 to take the draws makes sense. I also think he could play more aggressively if he knows he's playing fewer minutes. I'm just not sure where that line gets drawn. Is it around where Martinook/Wallmark are now, or a little more?

I would say a little more than Wallmark is now to account for PK: so 15-17ish.

 

[Primetime8]

Who centers the 4th line? I feel like McKegg is the odd man out as you want to just shift Martinook to the 3rd line wing again and drop Brock down to 4th line.

 

[SlavinAway]

Who centers the 4th line? I feel like McKegg is the odd man out as you want to just shift Martinook to the 3rd line wing again and drop Brock down to 4th line.

Why would McKegg be out? Aho - Staal - Wallmark - McKegg down the middle. McGinn dropping to the 4th line would push out Maenalanen or Foegele.

 

[WhiteTrashAmerican]

As much as I made him a whipping boy early in the year, I'm excited to have him back. Should be a nice bonus to our faceoffs and PK. Should be a net positive on offense over Wallmark too

 

[MinJaBen]

Who centers the 4th line? I feel like McKegg is the odd man out as you want to just shift Martinook to the 3rd line wing again and drop Brock down to 4th line.

Why would McKegg be out? Aho - Staal - Wallmark - McKegg down the middle. McGinn dropping to the 4th line would push out Maenalanen or Foegele.

I think the easy decision is who does he replace as a center, and that is Martinook. The harder decision is which line does he center and who are the wings. Do you put him between TT and Ferland, or do you put him between Svech and Martinook. I like the latter better as I think Walmark is more able to help and take advantage of the offense Ferland and TT bring to the table.

 

[Chrispy]

I think the easy decision is who does he replace as a center, and that is Martinook. The harder decision is which line does he center and who are the wings. Do you put him between TT and Ferland, or do you put him between Svech and Martinook. I like the latter better as I think Walmark is more able to help and take advantage of the offense Ferland and TT bring to the table.

I agree, although I wonder about putting Svech on a line like that. I'd like to see

Svech-Wallmark-TT
Ferland-Staal-Martinook

Even though it splits up Svech and Martinook, I'm intrigued by what Svech and TT could do together.

 

[MinJaBen]

I agree, although I wonder about putting Svech on a line like that. I'd like to see

Svech-Wallmark-TT
Ferland-Staal-Martinook

Even though it splits up Svech and Martinook, I'm intrigued by what Svech and TT could do together.

I agree with you about those winger options, I just don't see it as realistic give what RBA has done with the lines up to this point in the season.

 

[NotOpie]

I agree, although I wonder about putting Svech on a line like that. I'd like to see

Svech-Wallmark-TT
Ferland-Staal-Martinook

Even though it splits up Svech and Martinook, I'm intrigued by what Svech and TT could do together.

I'd say there's a 75%-25% chance against Svech being split up from Martinook.

 

[Joe McGrath]

I’d like to see the lines not changed up significantly. Just put Staal in Wallmark’s spot on line 2 and Walmart as the 3C.

Martinook or McGinn to the 4th line.

Staal as the 3rd wheel offensively on that line is a push with Wallmark with the bonus that he wins face-offs, wins puck battles, and is a possession monster. With the talent around him he can just do those little things and create space for TT and Ferland.

Keep him off the PP though and let him ease into his other minutes.

 

[My Special Purpose]

I think on Day 1, we just put Staal in Wallmark's place and see what happens.

I get that Martinook isn't a center, but why mess with that line? And why mess with the fourth line, which is basically everything a fourth line should be? And honestly, if we're listing our forwards from 1-thru-12 in terms of who brings the most to the table, Wallmark is probably 12th right now anyhow.

It doesn't have to be permanent, but I think this is what I would do.

 

[GoldiFox]

I agree with you about those winger options, I just don't see it as realistic give what RBA has done with the lines up to this point in the season.

Agree. Svech-Wallmark-TT is too light on defense for what Rod has put together so far.

Ferland/Martinook-Jordan-Svech
Ferland/Martinook-Wallmark-TT

Maybe even Svech-Jordan-TT. Something only possible if Rod continues to play Aho against top lines. Maybe Jordan would be more effective offensively if he was playing against middle-6 talent.

 

[Joe McGrath]

I think on Day 1, we just put Staal in Wallmark's place and see what happens.

I get that Martinook isn't a center, but why mess with that line? And why mess with the fourth line, which is basically everything a fourth line should be? And honestly, if we're listing our forwards from 1-thru-12 in terms of who brings the most to the table, Wallmark is probably 12th right now anyhow.

It doesn't have to be permanent, but I think this is what I would do.

Maenalanen has been playing about 9:30 minutes a game, doesn’t play any special teams, has 2 points (both assists) in his last 13 games, and is a -1 in that stretch. He’s very obviously the player with the least impact on the game currently in the lineup. He hasn’t been bad, but he’s easily the most dispensable.

 

[My Special Purpose]

Maenalanen has been playing about 9:30 minutes a game, doesn’t play any special teams, has 2 points (both assists) in his last 13 games, and is a -1 in that stretch. He’s very obviously the player with the least impact on the game currently in the lineup. He hasn’t been bad, but he’s easily the most dispensable.

In his past 11 games, Wallmark averages about 15 minutes, and he's got 1g, 3a, is a plus-1, and has taken a whopping 12 shots on goal. He brings nothing to the table in terms of faceoffs, physicality or special teams (his spot on the second pp unit will probably go to Staal as well). Basically, he's Victor Rask. I personally feel that what Maenalanen brings in his 9:30 is more important than 15 "flaccid" minutes of Wallmark, but for simplicity sake, I'd start by just plugging Staal into Wallmark's spot.

If it ends up that we juggle lines to get Wallmark back in the middle and sit Maenalanen, it's fine by me. I would just hate to disrupt the chemistry of three of our four lines to get Jordan back in the lineup when things are going so well.

 

[My Special Purpose]

This is all mostly irrelevant anyhow, since a) there are likely a few moves coming in the next week, and b) we're not even sure Jordan is ready to come back yet. He's probably got a bunch of conditioning work to do before he's fully available.

 

[TheBigKahuna]

Maenalanen has been playing about 9:30 minutes a game, doesn’t play any special teams, has 2 points (both assists) in his last 13 games, and is a -1 in that stretch. He’s very obviously the player with the least impact on the game currently in the lineup. He hasn’t been bad, but he’s easily the most dispensable.

But he's so damned sexy.

 

[Incubajerks]

I want to see Jordan with Foegele.

 

[Joe McGrath]

I want to see Jordan with Foegele.

We saw that. It was good for a week. Then it was really bad.