Line Combos: Predicting Forward Lines for 2013-2014

[exv91]

Condra, Greening, Phillips, Pageau, Neil, Gryba, Kassian and Corvo are dead weight in my book. But I'm inclined to be more patient with Pageau and Neil since one is a rookie and the other a proven veteran/role player.

 

[Answer]

Stache has made a mess of our top1 line and the PP1

Michalek - Spezza - Zibanejad (Michalek needs to get his act together and play like 1st line winger. Zibby needs to get a few games on the 1st line and see how he does)

MacArthur - Turris - Ryan (This line is doing great. Mac is not scoring but he is helping this line generate offense and Turris and Ryan are clicking)

Greening - Pageau - Conacher (speedy checking line with timely goals. Conacher has to do more or else I'm all for him to be replaced by Hoffman, Stone or Petersson)

Condra/Grant - Smith - Neil (Energy line. They need to be physical and please limit their time)


PP1 Unit

Turris - Spezza - Ryan

Karlsson - Wiercioch/Corvo

(Our top 5 most talented players should stack up together and run the 1st unit. This is a no brain-er. I can't stand Stache splitting them up with Conacher or Michalek or whoever, who can't puck-handle even if their live's were dependent on it)

 

[Xspyrit]

Condra, Greening, Phillips, Pageau, Neil, Gryba, Kassian and Corvo are dead weight in my book. But I'm inclined to be more patient with Pageau and Neil since one is a rookie and the other a proven veteran/role player.

Condra is a defensive specialist, PK master. Sucks at scoring but has an average of 25 pts per 82 games and has 8 pts in 17 playoffs games. Decent for a player with limited ice-time and no PP.

Kassian is a fighter, plays like 4 mins per game... Most NHL teams have that kind of player. Are the Sens so special that they shouldn't have one?

Corvo has 305 pts in his career as a D-man. Not in his prime anymore as he is 36 y/o but at 900K for 1 year, you can't really go wrong for a D-man who will get his share of points and play ok defensively.

At least, you realize that Pageau is a rookie and it's impossible to say he didn't show some really good stuff in the last playoffs. The fact that it was in your "well-thought list" is astonishing for me, to say the least.

Gryba is a 7th D-man, only played 40 NHL games, your 7th D-man shouldn't be expected to be a savior, unless you're delusional

Greening is disappointing as he is a guy always lefting you wanting more. He is a 3rd liner but people really shouldn't expect anything more than that for him. Unfortunately he is inconsistent but gets some decent production (36 pts per 82 games in his career)

And about Phillips and Neil... From reading tons of your comments in GDTs, it's pretty evident that you are very biased against Phillips (probably the most on this board), so of course, no one should take what you say about him seriously as you're far from being rational.

lol Phillips and Neil are deadweight... hahaha I'd pay 2000$ just to see some of those *****talking fans around say that to them, face-to-face.

Sucks that this fanbase has just no respect for its players... outside maybe Karlsson and Alfredsson who always got the benefit of the doubt. Gosh, I wouldn't be surprised if the Sens fanbase had a really bad reputation around the NHLers. And don't be fooled, those boards are public, anyone can read them (family, friends, agents, medias, NHLers, AHLers, ECHLers, juniors, etc.)

Yes some other teams might have bad reputations but at least I know that in Montreal, people are a little bit more careful. See what happened to Roy and many others.

 

[dingbatz]

Stache has made a mess of our top1 line and the PP1

Michalek - Spezza - Zibanejad (Michalek needs to get his act together and play like 1st line winger. Zibby needs to get a few games on the 1st line and see how he does)

MacArthur - Turris - Ryan (This line is doing great. Mac is not scoring but he is helping this line generate offense and Turris and Ryan are clicking)

Greening - Pageau - Conacher (speedy checking line with timely goals. Conacher has to do more or else I'm all for him to be replaced by Hoffman, Stone or Petersson)

Condra/Grant - Smith - Neil (Energy line. They need to be physical and please limit their time)


PP1 Unit

Turris - Spezza - Ryan

Karlsson - Wiercioch/Corvo

(Our top 5 most talented players should stack up together and run the 1st unit. This is a no brain-er. I can't stand Stache splitting them up with Conacher or Michalek or whoever, who can't puck-handle even if their live's were dependent on it)

Looks good to me.

 

[Karlssonlee]

Stache has made a mess of our top1 line and the PP1

Michalek - Spezza - Zibanejad (Michalek needs to get his act together and play like 1st line winger. Zibby needs to get a few games on the 1st line and see how he does)

MacArthur - Turris - Ryan (This line is doing great. Mac is not scoring but he is helping this line generate offense and Turris and Ryan are clicking)

Greening - Pageau - Conacher (speedy checking line with timely goals. Conacher has to do more or else I'm all for him to be replaced by Hoffman, Stone or Petersson)

Condra/Grant - Smith - Neil (Energy line. They need to be physical and please limit their time)



PP1 Unit

Turris - Spezza - Ryan

Karlsson - Wiercioch/Corvo

(Our top 5 most talented players should stack up together and run the 1st unit. This is a no brain-er. I can't stand Stache splitting them up with Conacher or Michalek or whoever, who can't puck-handle even if their live's were dependent on it)

Actually looks pretty good to me. I'd actually like to see these lines. However I would like to see obrien instead of Grant personally

Zibby goes from AHL. 4th line. 3rd line. 2nd line. To first line

 

[BigBush*]

Hey guys off topic but Spezza vs Turris this year, who will get more points? Been offered a trade for my hockey pool...

 

[Midas0]

Hey guys off topic but Spezza vs Turris this year, who will get more points? Been offered a trade for my hockey pool...

Definitely Spezza if he stays healthy.

 

[Vesa Awesaka]

Condra is a defensive specialist, PK master. Sucks at scoring but has an average of 25 pts per 82 games and has 8 pts in 17 playoffs games. Decent for a player with limited ice-time and no PP.

Kassian is a fighter, plays like 4 mins per game... Most NHL teams have that kind of player. Are the Sens so special that they shouldn't have one?

Corvo has 305 pts in his career as a D-man. Not in his prime anymore as he is 36 y/o but at 900K for 1 year, you can't really go wrong for a D-man who will get his share of points and play ok defensively.

At least, you realize that Pageau is a rookie and it's impossible to say he didn't show some really good stuff in the last playoffs. The fact that it was in your "well-thought list" is astonishing for me, to say the least.

Gryba is a 7th D-man, only played 40 NHL games, your 7th D-man shouldn't be expected to be a savior, unless you're delusional

Greening is disappointing as he is a guy always lefting you wanting more. He is a 3rd liner but people really shouldn't expect anything more than that for him. Unfortunately he is inconsistent but gets some decent production (36 pts per 82 games in his career)

And about Phillips and Neil... From reading tons of your comments in GDTs, it's pretty evident that you are very biased against Phillips (probably the most on this board), so of course, no one should take what you say about him seriously as you're far from being rational.

lol Phillips and Neil are deadweight... hahaha I'd pay 2000$ just to see some of those *****talking fans around say that to them, face-to-face.

Sucks that this fanbase has just no respect for its players... outside maybe Karlsson and Alfredsson who always got the benefit of the doubt. Gosh, I wouldn't be surprised if the Sens fanbase had a really bad reputation around the NHLers. And don't be fooled, those boards are public, anyone can read them (family, friends, agents, medias, NHLers, AHLers, ECHLers, juniors, etc.)

Yes some other teams might have bad reputations but at least I know that in Montreal, people are a little bit more careful. See what happened to Roy and many others.

Why do you think our team is struggling? We cant just close our eyes and pretend were dominating games but some how losing. There are players who are under preforming it as simple as that. What matters is winning and the product on the ice. If we the fanbase is displeased with the product on the ice we have the right to voice our displeasure.

 

[Xspyrit]

Why do you think our team is struggling? We cant just close our eyes and pretend were dominating games but some how losing. There are players who are under preforming it as simple as that. What matters is winning and the product on the ice. If we the fanbase is displeased with the product on the ice we have the right to voice our displeasure.

Other than the fact that we really lack experience from the back-end (4 guys are under 24 years or have under 100 NHL games played), it is NOT a personal issue. We have all the pieces to make the playoffs (never said we were a top contender yet) but the problems are more mental (not focused on their 2-way game enough), systemic (don't play as a 5-men unit enough) and physical (4 key players coming back from long-term injuries)

I'll just quote another post I made instead of repeating :

Don't worry, I'm stressed when I watch games too, I WANT to win. But reality is that on a possibility of 24 points so far, we got 10. One more win instead of a loss and we'd be right there at 0.500, and I think it would have been good considering the 6 games road trip and quality of teams we faced. Also, the lack of preparation due to the stupid split against the Isles in last pre-season games and the return of 4 injured players from last year are factors playing against them. Spezza, Michalek, Karlsson and Cowen can do better and we need them to be better in their 2-way game.

People say we can't beat good teams but I don't think the Coyotes and Wings are that bad... We also got a point against LA and Toronto (tie, only lost a point on SO) so it's not the end of the world in that very short sample size... Wish we could have won 1 or 2 games against the Ducks, Sharks and Hawks but we went 0-5. Lost several of those games by 1 goal and even in the 5-2 game against SJ, we kinda carried the play and outchanced them.

I think the main problem for the Sens right now is focus. Stay in the game for 60 minutes, every detail is important, can't take a shift off without anticipating possible problems that could end up in our net. Need more defensive awareness, and no, it's not only the D-men "who suck" but 80% of the players that are not focused on their 2 way game.

Why do we try to play run & gun against the Sharks, Ducks and Hawks though? Sounds very risky and it blew up in our face

We are 4-1-2 against the rest of the NHL

Now to top it off, it's really OK to "voice your displeasure" but some do it in a very disrespectful manner and that has not its place IMO. Some also look at depth players in the blame game but the problems always start with your key players. Anderson, Spezza, Karlsson, Michalek, Cowen and a few others have to raise their game. I think Ryan, Turris and Methot have been just fine or excellent. If those players play great, other depth players will follow the lead.

 

[starling]

I guess no one expected that:

Sylvain St-Laurent ‏@Syl_St_Laurent 6m
Les duos: Phillips-Karlsson, Wiercioch-Méthot, Cowen-Corvo/Gryba. #Sens


Sylvain St-Laurent ‏@Syl_St_Laurent 6m
Les trios: Conacher-Spezza-Neil, MacArthur-Turris-Ryan, Michalek-Smith-Zibanejad, Greening-Grant-Condra. #Sens

 

[Very Stable Genius]

WTF is Paul smoking. Neil with Spezza? Phillips with Karlsson? my god...

 

[BondraTime]

I guess no one expected that:

Switch Greening and Neil, and Zib and Conacher and that would be nice.

 

[Filatov2Kovalev2Bonk]

WTF is Paul smoking. Neil with Spezza? Phillips with Karlsson? my god...

Neil can't score and takes dumb penalties. So they put out best center with Neil. Game starts, Neil takes a dumb penalty, Spezza goes on the PK or off the ice.

Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy is Karlsson playing with Phillips when Methot is clearly the best pairing for Erik? Oh, I just heard the amazing reasoning for this from Steven Lloyd:

"Karlsson is struggling defensively so he's playing with Phillips."

Umm Phillips has been GARBAGE defensively all year. Does Mac not want us to beat the Isles? Tavares is going to run roughshod over this line. Dear lord.
Wait and see I guess.

 

[Indrew]

I do see the benefit of splitting up our two best defensemen, but Neil with Spezza has to be some kind of joke. The practice lines aren't always used in the next game, so I'm not worried, but...

I guess this is what happens when people get what they want and the Sens demote Michalek to the third line.

If the Sens could afford a better option than Neil, that lineup would be pretty decent on paper.

 

[Sun God Nika]

Well if Neil and Spezza happens, i hope spezza finishes the season at atleast half a point per game.

 

[starling]

Leftover first line.

 

[Sensinitis]

HAHAHAHA oh man

 

[booger]

I guess no one expected that:

I suppose there might be more room for Spezza now with both Neil and Conacher creating havoc. Spezza will have to do the shooting and hope both wingers can cash in the dirty goals. Hmmm, might work.

 

[Sarcasticus]

I suppose there might be more room for Spezza now with both Neil and Conacher creating havoc. Spezza will have to do the shooting and hope both wingers can cash in the dirty goals. Hmmm, might work.

Neil is probably there to act as the defensive consciousness of the line. He's +1 on the year which is the tied for highest plus/minus rating for a winger after Clarke MacArthur.

 

[TheNewEra]

you would think it would atleast be conacher-spezza-greening and condra-grant-neil, maclean has done more with less before so lets see how it goes vs the isles

 

[NyQuil]

 

[Sun God Nika]

I wish but that belongs to the ducks...

 

[King Karlsson]

I don't know what to say anymore... please get Chris Neil off this team. I mean it. He's useless, and only hurts the team when he plays. Giving him first line minutes is practically asking for the opposition to score on us, especially with Spezza (with how he's currently playing) on that line

 

[Very Stable Genius]

Travis HeHauntMe
MacLean once threatened to sit players for excess penalties. Chris Neil dead-last in penalty differential amongst F. Top-line promotion.

 

[Sting]

Why do people see the Spezza-Neil line as our #1?

Based on those pairings, that's the 3rd line.