Speculation: Post Vanek Lineups

[Playmaker09]

Eller has proven time and time again that he cannot play wing, even less on his off wing.

Have we ever tried him on his off wing? IIRC he's usually played on Pleks' LW.

He seems to favor that power move to the outside much like Cole used to. At the very least he'd be one of the few wingers we have that can actually win a battle along the boards as well as improve our zone entries. It's worth a shot IMO.

Vanek-Galchenyuk-Gallagher
Pacioretty-Desharnais-Eller
Briere-Plekanec-Gionta
Moen-Prust-Weise

Moen in Briere's place for defensive situations.

 

[Leon Lucius Black]

With Bournival back I'd like to see him with Pleky and Gio again, they've looked good whenever they were together this year.

Pacioretty - Desharnais - Vanek
Bournival - Plekanec - Gionta
Galchenyuk - Eller - Gallagher
Prust - Briere - Moen

 

[MTL-rules]

Eller has proven time and time again that he cannot play wing, even less on his off wing.

What do you mean he cannot play wing ? Because he didn't score ? He has one miserable pass in 23 games playing at center... I think he can play on the wing just fine.

If MT wants to use Plekanec and Gionta as a shutdown duo, than remove Vanek from these 2 and yes replace him with Eller who has good speed and can play the puck possession game but has no vision whatsoever...

And replace him with our most talented center in Galchenyuk... it's pretty simple, but MT is an idiot, so...

 

[ZARTONK]

John Lu ‏@JohnLuTSNMtl 11m
#Habs practice lines:
Pacioretty/Desharnais/Vanek
Brière/Plekanec/Gionta
Galchenyuk/Eller/Gallagher
Moen/Prust/Weise
Bourque/White/Parros

 

[Habs 4 Life]

John Lu ‏@JohnLuTSNMtl 11m
#Habs practice lines:
Pacioretty/Desharnais/Vanek
Brière/Plekanec/Gionta
Galchenyuk/Eller/Gallagher
Moen/Prust/Weise
Bourque/White/Parros

Therrien reading the boards?

It's about time!!!!

 

[JAVO16]

John Lu ‏@JohnLuTSNMtl 11m
#Habs practice lines:
Pacioretty/Desharnais/Vanek
Brière/Plekanec/Gionta
Galchenyuk/Eller/Gallagher
Moen/Prust/Weise
Bourque/White/Parros

 

[mikeysvette]

another alternative could be:

pacioretty dd gallagher
vanek eller galchenyuk
moen plekanec gionta
prust briere white
weise parros

i wanna see how eller responds when hes put in a position to succeed

Love this one!!!

 

[JLP]

John Lu ‏@JohnLuTSNMtl 11m
#Habs practice lines:
Pacioretty/Desharnais/Vanek
Brière/Plekanec/Gionta
Galchenyuk/Eller/Gallagher
Moen/Prust/Weise
Bourque/White/Parros

Desharnais gets our best wingers. Did anyone ever doubt that Desharnais would get Vanek? It just took a few games.

 

[Bob b smith]

Therrien reading the boards?

It's about time!!!!

I love the lines... By trial and error, it was a question of time before he'd come to sensible lines like this.

 

[Bob b smith]

Desharnais gets our best wingers. Did anyone ever doubt that Desharnais would get Vanek? It just took a few games.

DD is not a bona fide first line center... However he's a pass-first (pass-only?) Center and it's likely going to mesh well with Vanek. MT could do much worse... Plus Vanek wins big time with Max as his winger. He's strong, can win puck battles and will make room for Vanek.

 

[Ohashi_Jouzu*]

Therrien reading the boards?

It's about time!!!!

He read the wrong posts, imo. Here comes 15 games of Vanek scrambling to pick up second assists on plays from DD to Pacioretty, and Plekanec doing the heavy lifting with two of our smallest and oldest forwards on his wings in a two-way 20 min/night role neither deserves at this point...

 

[JAVO16]

He read the wrong posts, imo. Here comes 15 games of Vanek scrambling to pick up second assists on plays from DD to Pacioretty, and Plekanec doing the heavy lifting with two of our smallest and oldest forwards on his wings in a two-way 20 min/night role neither deserves at this point...

We'll see, but DD was able to feed Cole two years ago just fine despite having Patches on his line too. My complaint would be that Pacioretty should play on his off-wing to have Vanek on the left side.

 

[Bob b smith]

He read the wrong posts, imo. Here comes 15 games of Vanek scrambling to pick up second assists on plays from DD to Pacioretty, and Plekanec doing the heavy lifting with two of our smallest and oldest forwards on his wings in a two-way 20 min/night role neither deserves at this point...

If Gionta (circa 2014) absolutely needs to be with Plekanec, it relegates that line to a mostly shutdown capacity... Plekanec ends up the big loser... You can't put a pure offensive player on that line.

 

[JLP]

DD is not a bona fide first line center... However he's a pass-first (pass-only?) Center and it's likely going to mesh well with Vanek. MT could do much worse... Plus Vanek wins big time with Max as his winger. He's strong, can win puck battles and will make room for Vanek.

I hope so. Patches doesn't really use his strength much but at least Vanek upgrades our top line's size and finish. Bugs me that Therrien moved Vanek to his off-wing to maintain ideal playing conditions for Desharnais, who is on pace for 48 points but coddled like a Crosby.

Plex with Briere and Gio is the league's smallest shutdown line for sure ⊙﹏⊙ but what else is new? At this point I'd prefer giving Weise a chance on that RW, at least he's physical and fast.

And come on EGG! Let's go EGG!

 

[Bob b smith]

I hope so. Patches doesn't really use his strength much but at least Vanek upgrades our top line's size and finish. Bugs me that Therrien moved Vanek to his off-wing to maintain ideal playing conditions for Desharnais, who is on pace for 48 points but coddled like a Crosby.

Plex with Briere and Gio is the league's smallest shutdown line for sure ⊙﹏⊙ but what else is new? At this point I'd prefer giving Weise a chance on that RW, at least he's physical and fast.

And come on EGG! Let's go EGG!

You hope to get production from Plekanec-Gionta when they break up plays and score off the rush... Vanek won't touch the puck often... Even if Vanek ends up getting just 2nd assists on feeds from DD to Max, he'll end up more productive, and he knows the team appreciates him enough to put the best offensive player on the team with him...

 

[MTL-rules]

John Lu ‏@JohnLuTSNMtl 11m
#Habs practice lines:
Pacioretty/Desharnais/Vanek
Brière/Plekanec/Gionta
Galchenyuk/Eller/Gallagher
Moen/Prust/Weise
Bourque/White/Parros

Lots of pressure put on the youngsters to produce offensively... the way Eller has been playing lately, I'm concerned... but for some reason Eller is considered a solid 2nd line center among the posters... anyhow, I still forsee a lot of problems offensively...

And as long as Price isn't in net... a lot of problems defensively...

I would prefer keeping the 1st line intact...
Going with Vanek,Galchenuyk and Briere and a 3rd line of Eller, Plekanec and Gionta...

 

[habitue*]

Lots of pressure put on the youngsters to produce offensively... the way Eller has been playing lately, I'm concerned... but for some reason Eller is considered a solid 2nd line center among the posters... anyhow, I still forsee a lot of problems offensively...

And as long as Price isn't in net... a lot of problems defensively...

I would prefer keeping the 1st line intact...
Going with Vanek,Galchenuyk and Briere and a 3rd line of Eller, Plekanec and Gionta...

Dunno if that EGG line will click again and quickly.

I really would like Galchenyuk at centre and Eller on LW. Put the guy with the most vision and talent at centre, please.

 

[JLP]

You hope to get production from Plekanec-Gionta when they break up plays and score off the rush... Vanek won't touch the puck often... Even if Vanek ends up getting just 2nd assists on feeds from DD to Max, he'll end up more productive, and he knows the team appreciates him enough to put the best offensive player on the team with him...

Yes Plekanec and Gionta break up plays, they have good anticipation and positioning. But sadly Gio is not a guy I enjoy watching on a rush, due his declining passing and shooting skills. I prefer Gio on the penalty kill where breaking up a play and icing the puck is enough. At 5-on-5 Gio does not help that line's size, grit or finish. But at least Gio isn't on the power play these days.

 

[Natey]

Lots of pressure put on the youngsters to produce offensively... the way Eller has been playing lately, I'm concerned... but for some reason Eller is considered a solid 2nd line center among the posters... anyhow, I still forsee a lot of problems offensively...

And as long as Price isn't in net... a lot of problems defensively...

I would prefer keeping the 1st line intact...
Going with Vanek,Galchenuyk and Briere and a 3rd line of Eller, Plekanec and Gionta...

Don't we already have a million problems going forward?

Eller can't play wing. He's terrible there. He looks lost.

 

[JLP]

Dunno if that EGG line will click again and quickly.

I really would like Galchenyuk at centre and Eller on LW. Put the guy with the most vision and talent at centre, please.

Makes perfect sense. As it is, when Eller carries the puck he goes perimeter, when Galchenyuk gets the puck he goes to the net. Switching them is the reasonable thing to do especially as Galchenyuk was drafted as a center.

Don't we already have a million problems going forward?

Eller can't play wing. He's terrible there. He looks lost.

Sample size?

 

[JAVO16]

And come on EGG! Let's go EGG!

This. This. Do yo' thang, EGG !

 

[MTL-rules]

Don't we already have a million problems going forward?

Eller can't play wing. He's terrible there. He looks lost.

And he's not terrible at center right now ??

If you think he can't be move from the 3rd line center to the wing, well it's either the stands or waiver material...

 

[habitue*]

Don't we already have a million problems going forward?

Eller can't play wing. He's terrible there. He looks lost.

Put him there for the rest of the season.

The guy has the body and the skills to be a good checking winger and a shot good enough to score more.. He doesn't have the vision nor passing skilld to play center. If he could understand that, he would be way more succesful and helpful for this team.

 

[Rhiessan71]

Have no fear folks, these were the lines at practice today...

Pacioretty-Desharnais-Vanek
Briere-Plekanec-Gionta
Galchenyuk-Eller-Gallagher
Moen-Prust-Weise
Bourque-White-Parros


Price also participated in the full practice and was taking shots 30 mins before as well.

http://www.hockeyinsideout.com/news/price-gets-early-start-at-habs-practice

 

[Milhouse40]

Dunno if that EGG line will click again and quickly.

I really would like Galchenyuk at centre and Eller on LW. Put the guy with the most vision and talent at centre, please.

I reapeat myself for the 135882th time.

If Galchenyuk will play center , the other 2 center from the top 9 NEED TO TAKE DEFENSIVE MISSIONS CAUSE GALCHENYUK WON'T BE ABLE TO DO THAT.

This is the primarly reason why he's not at center.
Of course, if DD could play well defensively, Galchenyuk could take his place.

But we can't have 2 centers on our top 9 with low-defensive skills.
Pretty simple actually.

But i agree in the end...Galchenyuk has the best offensive vision on this team. he's the best puck-handler on this team, and he got the best offensive talent....i guess we should put him on an offensive line, but we only got one of those and it's already full!