I wouldn’t be making lineups without Hagelin-Malkin-Hornqvist for right now. It seems like a crazy line but it’s really working as a 2-way line. Time will tell though.
It works solely due to Malkin playing lights out. Even in the game yesterday, if he doesn't play beast mode, that line is very average. I also do not want to rely to much on a single game... but him and Guentzel were the only two centers with a zone start over 25%.
First numbers from yesterday. Send group from the last 6 games.
Sheahan: 0% (SAT: 61.9%). 20.37%, SAT: 47.69%
Crosby: 25% (SAT: 64.5%). 41.18%, SAT: 62.98%
Malkin: 54.5% (SAT: 40.74%). 48.21%, SAT: 47.17%
Guentzel: 100% (SAT: 75%). 69.7%, SAT: 53.79%
We need another center. It should be pretty clear looking at the above, that Guentzel cannot hack it as the 3C. People spent the first 3 months of the season bitching about an "increased" workload with "harder" starts for Crosby and Malkin... well now they're getting it. At least when Rowney was healthy, he could start 70% of his shifts in the DZ and finish almost break even in SAT. And while the line looked meh, at least it allowed Crosby and Malkin to start a very high percentage of their shifts in the OZ (71: 71.2%, 87: 62.1%) - which is what we want. Even just a Rowney caliber C would resolve this.