Stack the top line with the 3 kids? (MNM)

[MR4]

Would it make our team better or worse? I think the rest of our lines would still be very successful, something like this possible:

Nylander-Matthews-Marner
Hyman-Marleau-Brown (Worked great during Matthews injury)
JVR-Kadri-Bozak/Komarov (JVR/Kadri have chemistry and choose the extra winger on whether you need offense/defense)

Definitely think that first line could give us a Stamkos/Kucherov run on points while the 2nd and 3rd lines have previous history that would have you bet on them being as successful if not more, with the shutdown line being the 2nd line. Nylander's preferred wing is LW, and think he'd be more dangerous as a shooter, so in EA NHL games it'd be a shooter/playmaker+shooter+playmaker

what do you think? Would it be better than our lines today?

Click to read more...

 

[White Shadow]

Horrible idea. Not one line could matchup against Tampa

We played horribly when Matthews was out, that was all Freddie.

 

[IPS]

What Babcock needs to do is properly manage ice-time relative to player's skillsets.

Mike Sullivan in Pittsburgh always has one constant with his forward's ice-time - Sid, Geno, Phil and Guentzel are always getting the most ES ice time. He also a stacks a PP unit with these players as well.

Sullivan has wrote the book on how to manage a team that's juiced to the gills with offensive talent that also lacks quality D-men. Babcock should put his ego aside and take some god damn notes.

 

[MR4]

Horrible idea. Not one line could matchup against Tampa

We played horribly when Matthews was out, that was all Freddie.

We played horribly because Marner was slumping while Kadri had 0 linemates so this Hyman-Marleau-Brown line had nothing to do with the suckage

 

[Rare Jewel]

It's not going to happen.

Nylander has to be on his best behavior to stay off the 4th line FFS and you think he's going to put them all on the same line?

Tactically though "all the eggs in one basket" isn't what I'd go for.

 

[Buds17]

Can't definitively say it would or wouldn't work, but the questions for me would be Marleau as a long-term C and JVR-Kadri meshing long-term. We aren't lacking offensively as a team, don't know if it helps defensively. I wouldn't mind seeing more consistency with lines (not necessarily any in particular) but I can't be sure that'd make any big difference either.

 

[TorontoTrades]

Marner and Nylander are strictly RWs at this point so it can't be done.

It's good to have balance throughout than stacking a line.

 

[MJ65]

Not going to get in to details - but no, not a good idea

 

[Dragao6]

Nope too easy to just march up against one line

For me the most sense would be

Jvr matthews marner
Marleau bozak nylander
Hyman kadri brown
Any of ... Martin moore komarov leivo soshnikov

Marner nylander can swap doesnt make much of a difference but based on how i see our roster to me this would be ideal

 

[supermann_98]

Yeah, because that’s gonna happen.

I think we’ve seen it for about 20 seconds on a PP in OT where surprise surprise, they scored

 

[LeafsLegendAkiBerg]

But which one will skate the puck into the corner and lose possesion?

 

[Nooodles]

You gonna see a Hyman-Hyman-Hyman line waaaay before the Nylander-Matthews-Marner one.

 

[Ports]

Would it make our team better or worse? I think the rest of our lines would still be very successful, something like this possible:

Nylander-Matthews-Marner
Hyman-Marleau-Brown (Worked great during Matthews injury)
JVR-Kadri-Bozak/Komarov (JVR/Kadri have chemistry and choose the extra winger on whether you need offense/defense)

Definitely think that first line could give us a Stamkos/Kucherov run on points while the 2nd and 3rd lines have previous history that would have you bet on them being as successful if not more, with the shutdown line being the 2nd line. Nylander's preferred wing is LW, and think he'd be more dangerous as a shooter, so in EA NHL games it'd be a shooter/playmaker+shooter+playmaker

what do you think? Would it be better than our lines today?

I basically agree. Two offense first lines with MNM, Kadri, Marleau and JVR and then two defense first lines with the rest. Mixing and matching all the time is taking away from them using their skill and speed.

 

[Mr Hockey]

top pairs for 2017 so far

#	Player1	Pos	Player2	Pos	Games	Goals	GPG	Pts	PPG
1	MARK SCHEIFELE	C	BLAKE WHEELER	R	28	10	0.357	12	0.429
2	NIKITA KUCHEROV	R	STEVEN STAMKOS	C	27	8	0.296	12	0.444
3	JORDAN EBERLE	C	MATHEW BARZAL	C	27	7	0.259	7	0.259
4	SEAN MONAHAN	C	JOHNNY GAUDREAU	L	27	7	0.259	10	0.370
5	ALEX OVECHKIN	L	EVGENY KUZNETSOV	C	28	7	0.250	10	0.357
6	EVANDER KANE	L	JACK EICHEL	C	28	7	0.250	9	0.321
7	BRAYDEN SCHENN	C	JADEN SCHWARTZ	L	28	7	0.250	9	0.321
8	EVGENI MALKIN	C	PHIL KESSEL	R	25	6	0.240	11	0.440
9	JOHN TAVARES	C	ANDERS LEE	L	27	6	0.222	9	0.333
10	VLADISLAV NAMESTNIKOV	C	NIKITA KUCHEROV	R	27	6	0.222	7	0.259

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[SHANNYPLAN]

Please. Please. Please. Give Matthews Someone to Play With!

 

[SHANNYPLAN]

VanRiemsdyk - Matthews - Marner
Marleau - - - Nylander - - - Brown
Soshnikov - - Kadri - - Kappanen
Komarov - - - Bozak - - - Hyman

OR

Komarov - Matthews - Nylander
VanRiemsdyk - Bozak - Marner
Marleau - - - Kadri - - - Brown
Martin - - Moore - - Hyman

OR

Hyman - - - Matthews - - - Marner
VanRiemsdyk - Nylander - Brown
Marleau - - - - Kadri - - - - Leivo
Martin - - - Bozak - - - Komarov

OR

Marleau - Matthews - Nylander
VanRiemsdyk - Bozak - Marner
Komarov - - - Kadri - - -Brown
Martin - Hyman - Soshnikov
​

 

[Slyfox]

As long as Komarov is on the 4th line, Im fine with Hyman riding shotgun with AM

 

[MR4]

Marner and Nylander are strictly RWs at this point so it can't be done.

It's good to have balance throughout than stacking a line.

There's 0 reason for Nylander to be strictly RW when his preferred is LW, other than Babcock being a child with lines saying my way or the high way.

And plenty of teams load up on 1 line, either for the 3rd or sometimes the game.

 

[Walshy7]

There is no reason this can’t be done to try and get a goal late int he 3rd. But it seems babcock would prefer to play for 1 point instead of 2 when scores are level. Elite teams go for 2, so I guess until babcock tries to win tied games in regulation we know we aren’t contenders yet

 

[613Leafer]

Gotta spread the offence around. Marner/Nylander also have to learn to play better defensively, which they'll have a better chance of doing if they're not on a stacked line offensively. Though not sure if Marner can pick-up good defensive habits if most of his ice-time is with Bozak/JVR.

 

[Leafling]

Nope too easy to just march up against one line

For me the most sense would be

Jvr matthews marner
Marleau bozak nylander
Hyman kadri brown
Any of ... Martin moore komarov leivo soshnikov

Marner nylander can swap doesnt make much of a difference but based on how i see our roster to me this would be ideal

Never thought of that combo, actually i would switch bozak and kadri there to get super good two lines and bozak on checking might work as he is great at winning draws.

 

[sparxx87]

If I could set the lines:

Brown-Matthews-Nylander
Marleau-Kadri-Hyman (matchup)
JVR-Bozak-Marner
Martin-Moore-Komorov

 

[leaffaninvancouver]

Marleau-Kadri-Hyman

That would be an interesting line, I doubt Hyman will be moved off Matthews but I like how that looks.

 

[Walshy7]

Marner and Nylander are strictly RWs at this point so it can't be done.

It's good to have balance throughout than stacking a line.

Nylander has said he prefers C then LW, he hasnt done it at the NHL level but he has played LW quite a bit. He does also basically play LW on the PP

 

[Nithoniniel]

What Babcock needs to do is properly manage ice-time relative to player's skillsets.

Mike Sullivan in Pittsburgh always has one constant with his forward's ice-time - Sid, Geno, Phil and Guentzel are always getting the most ES ice time. He also a stacks a PP unit with these players as well.

Sullivan has wrote the book on how to manage a team that's juiced to the gills with offensive talent that also lacks quality D-men. Babcock should put his ego aside and take some god damn notes.

As I've pointed out before, the reason this happens is because those are the only guys that are always on lines getting big minutes. The rest of their field hasn't performed good enough to stay on such a line, so they play some on fourth lines or third line when Pens don't have Phil there, and their average decrease as a result. This would (maybe) not be the case if someone in their field had been part of a successful line where they themselves had a 40pt ES pace.

I get that you want to see more ice time for our best players. I agree with that. I'm really not a fan of having Nylander on a fourth line, and then bounce him around if he's got enough go in him. And I'm really not a fan of the minutes Komarov keep being gifted, despite being really bad this season. I'm just saying that your argument is flawed. The difference is that outside the big three and Guentzel, nobody on Pens have been consistent enough to be a fixture on a minute-eating ES line. On the Leafs that group includes Hyman so far.