On your first point, I'm not really on board. Every contending team is created differently. Oh sure, the Kings have a crazy good fourth line. They also have four virtually equal lines, or at least can balance them out that way when they feel the need to do so. But the Kings don't have a Crosby-Malkin combination. And when they do load up their top two lines to give Kopitar and Carter more offensive threats on the wings, their fourth line winds up seeing a lot less ice time. It always depends on personnel. If Mike Richards is your fourth-line center, you need to balance out your lines. If your fourth-line center is Trevor Lewis, then no.
St. Louis is considered a contender, too. They have a more classic fourth line of Ott-Lapierre-Reaves. THAT, to me, should be more of the goal of our fourth line. We need a fourth line that plays less than 10 minutes. But when they're out there, their presence is felt. We clearly do not have that at present time.
I don't agree that the line has to be a hulking, physical line. It wasn't in the 2009 playoffs, that's for sure. St Louis also hasn't done much damage in the playoffs. LA, Boston, NYR, and Chicago sure have, and their 4th lines have been much better than St. Louis's. I think we want to be like the guys who have been winning Cups and getting to the Finals, not like St. Louis or Montreal.
Montreal is considered a contender, too. Their fourth line has a face-off specialist (Malhotra) centering a solid fourth liner in Weise and a cast of thousands on the left side.
Montreal is pretty much what our fourth line can be this year, if two moves are made. Goc is our version of Malhotra, bring in a depth guy via trade, and let the chips fall where they may with WBS for the other spot. I'd like to see Farnham get a shot first.
The Rangers made the finals last year. Their fourth line has Tanner frickin' Glass on it, along with rookies (Fast, Duclair) and a face-off specialist.
Their fourth line last year and in the playoffs was very different to what it is this year. In the playoffs, their fourth line was Boyle-Moore-Dorsett, which had punch, size, was feisty, and could score, and they all played at least 11 minutes a night. That line is much, much better than their current 4th line. And it's a model we should be following, too, which I don't think you disagree with.
Boston's line that had Paille-Campbell-Thornton was also a line that played around 10 minutes, and were a threat.
Of the bunch that you listed, Montreal's is probably the weakest, and ours currently can only wish to be as good as theirs is on our best nights.
I feel this board has become obsessed with upgrading the wrong line. Let's first fix lines 1 and 2, then worry about the fourth line. Everybody here is looking to add more talented players to the fourth line. What we need on the fourth line is toughness. We have none. We need size. We have little of it throughout the lineup. ESPECIALLY if we're going to be scratching Robert Bortuzzo most nights.
Adding talent to the fourth line won't help anything if we're still this small, this lacking in toughness and grit, and this thin on the top two lines come the spring.
You've really got it backwards. The free agency/roster thread is nothing but people discussing adding multiple top 6 options. When I looked in there earlier today, there were folks suggesting lineups that had 4 to 5 new acquisitions for the top 9. THAT is obsession.
But it's not realistic, and a huge roster turnover like that is not going to happen in-season. It barely happened this off-season, and that was during our "re-tool."
I'm not obsessed, but scratching Adams, demoting Sill, a call up, and a trade for a depth player can be done today, whereas trading for even 2 top six wingers during the season is probably a pipe dream. I absolutely agree that the top 6 is a problem, but it's going to be a while before it's fully and properly addressed.
We won the Cup with Talbot and Fedotenko in the top 6, but with a great third line, and a solid fourth line that didn't have nearly any of the attributes you are advocating for (Dupuis-Adams-Satan). That line wasn't going to hit you nor did it have size, but it could cycle the puck and generate chances. They were good enough to be sent out when Crosby or Malkin were double-shifted. This current 4th line just can't do that.
