There are just some really good posts in this thread (and some god awful ones), but I am 100% completely sold on trying Sid w/ Hags/Kessel. Or if not with Sid, definitely Cullen. I am intrigued and want to see it fail before assuming it will fail. I think there are many posters here who have brought up very solid arguments to at least try it out.
Would love to see Rust back with Geno, too.
I believe we have the capability (read: capability) to run 4 dangerous lines. The question we are really starting to face here is do you maximize your two stars or do you maximize the team? And what I mean by that, is I think you have to look at the adv stats of who works best with who and come up with a combination that gets the most out of every player.
For example, if you take Sheary and Horny away from Sid and stick Hags and Kessel there, how will Sheary and Horny fare with Bonino? Is any potential boost to Sid with Hags/Phil worth the drop on the 3rd line? Then the HSK line has me thinking...what has Sheary done or not done to warrant getting taken away from Sid? IMHO, nothing. In fact, I think he's been one of the best wings we have this year. That time spent together to develop the chemistry is worth something. You go HSK, you basically start from scratch again. Not saying I don't want to see it, I'm just questioning whether or not in the big picture it's the right overall move.
The biggest, most glaring problem, IMHO, is that you have a LW on the team that will handicap the line he is on...so the question, to me, really comes down to this:
If you are going to keep Kunitz on the roster, where do you put him that will "cost" you the least while also maximizing the roster?
On the 3rd line with Bonino and Rust seemed to be the best...but then you neuter that line. At best you are running 1A, 1B, 3A, 3B. With a couple replacements, you could run 1A, 1B, 2, 3 but I digress.
Regarding Ruhwedel: He doesn't look like an everyday NHLer, but he looks like a solid call-up who won't ruin the game for you. At this point, I think he should be the first call up every single time. He isn't great but he sure as hell doesn't cost you the game or momentum like DP/Olesky have shown.
I thought he's been very decent for a call up. I wish Warsofsky could make it up. I believe he'd get claimed though. In any case, I would love to get a couple of these WBS guys we have and start to ID a good 6/7 for next year just in case. Would love to get a look at Bengtsson as well. Wonder who the non-NHL PMD UFAs out there are...would love to snag a Zaitsev just in case.
This is all the proof I need that HBK would actually cost this team a series if they force it and there is no improvement.
1 ES goal is pathetic, it doesn't do this team any favours to be stubborn about having "depth scoring" when ignoring the fact that HBK is not depth scoring any better than a line of grinders.
It was amazing when it worked, it's been garbage this year.
They would not cost a team a series alone. That's non-sense.
I'm not worried at all about Sully.
I'm worried about the morons surrounding and above JR.
EDIT: Strike that. Kunitz makes me worry a little about Sully too.
Indeed. It's an interesting position for the FO to be in. They got into the situation they were in because they let Shero run wild without ANY oversight whatsoever. So obviously they needed to change that. Now I believe non-hockey people may have more influence over hockey operations than they should have. Perhaps too much. We will really know the extent of such when it comes time to see how they deal with MAF. That more than anything will let us put our fingers on the pulse of the FO.
My thinking on a Hags/Cullen/Kessel line is exactly because Cullen is older and could wear down. Getting more O zone starts instead of being a full-time checker would be a lot easier minutes, IMO. But yeah, certainly give Bonino or Sid/Geno some of those starts with Hags/Phil in the O zone to keep Cullen around 13 mins TOI a game.
I don't think Cullen will wear down. He has not shown that at all in the 1.5 years he's been here. I'd like to get a look at Sundqvist as well.