Line Combos: The 2013-14 starting line-up, as chosen by you, the fans!

WatchfulElm

Former "Domi a favor"
Jan 31, 2007
5,922
3,646
Rive-Sud
Here's the final result of our poll :

FORWARDS

Pacioretty - Plekanec - Brière
Galchenyuk - Eller - Gallagher
Bourque - Desharnais - Gionta
Prust - White - Moen
Extra : Parros

DEFENSEMEN

Gorges - Subban
Markov - Emelin
Murray - Diaz
Extras : Bouillon, Drewiske

GOALIES

Price
Budaj

--------------------------------
1st call-up (offense) : Dumont
2nd call-up (offense) : Leblanc
3rd call-up (offense) : Thomas
4th call-up (offense) : Blunden
----------------------------------
1st call-up (defense) : Tinordi
2nd call-up (defense) : Beaulieu
3rd call-up (defense) : Pateryn
----------------------------------
1st call-up (goalie) : Tokarski


I disagree with many of the lines there, but the majority has spoken! (good news : the majority is NOT the Habs GM)

I'm curious : is there anyone who voted exactly like the majority?

If anybody wants to start the Hamilton Bulldogs version of this, it could be fun too.
 

Rosso Scuderia

Registered User
Jun 30, 2012
9,932
4,115
Let me guess, you're not happy to see DD on the third line. Probably thinking we are hating on the french canadian guy right?

Personally, I'm perfectly fine with those line. Maybe swap Gallagher and Briere to get more experience on the 2nd line but other than that, I like it.
 

Team_Spirit

95% Elliotte
Jul 3, 2002
37,214
16,340
The 2013-14 starting line-up, as chosen by you, the fans!

1366307209822_ORIGINAL.jpg
 

WatchfulElm

Former "Domi a favor"
Jan 31, 2007
5,922
3,646
Rive-Sud
Let me guess, you're not happy to see DD on the third line. Probably thinking we are hating on the french canadian guy right?

Personally, I'm perfectly fine with those line. Maybe swap Gallagher and Briere to get more experience on the 2nd line but other than that, I like it.

I actually voted for DD to be on the 3rd line.

My main issue is the balance between those 3 lines. Last year, the team had success by having 3 lines that could produce offensively at a similar pace. Now I look at the lines and what I see is :

1st line : the 3 reliable veterans
2nd line : the 3 fan favorites. No surprise that fans want to see their favorite players together, but does that make a balanced line?
3rd line : the 3 rejects, who would be playing together by default, even if having DD and Gionta on the same line is not a very good idea IMO.

I'd like to see more balance on those lines. All 3 lines should have :
- Grit to go with soft players
- Size to go with small players
- Veteranship and leadership to go with young players
- Defensively responsible players to go with those who struggle defensively
- At least one offensive catalyst to go with players who stuggle offensively

If I'm the opposing team, I feel like this line-up is easy to counter. I send my best offensive line against the youngsters (2nd line) and my grittiest line against the soft line (3rd line).
 

FreakyFish

Registered User
Aug 19, 2012
33
0
So what's your lines then?

Anyway, this can't be the starting line up.

Emelin won't be ready till november.

I'd go with this on D

Gorges-Subban
Markov-Bouillon
Murray-Diaz
 

overlords

#DefundCBC
Aug 16, 2008
31,537
8,702
The City
I would do


Maxpac - Plek - Gionta

= Very, very good hard minutes line that could score a ton as well


Galchenyuk - Eller - Gallagher

= Both youngsters should be able to handle tougher minutes now, and Eller has only improved each year and can probably carry a line against 2nd line opposition on his own. They also showed tremendous chemistry last year together, and seeing as how Eller gets thrown out of a ton of faceoffs, pretty good idea to have another center on his line.

Bourque - Dd/Briere - Briere/DD

= soft minute/exploitation line. Lots of offensive talent, but not much in the way of defensive smarts. When you catch the other team in a line change, you throw these guys out in the offensive zone and watch the other team get lit up.

Prust - White - moen

= I think this fourth line can do more damage than most give it credit for. Moen and Prust, imo, are not 4th liners.

Swap Emelin for Bouillon on defense since he's injured and the rest stays the same for me.


Very fun idea to kill time during the offseason. Thanks PdCH!
 

WatchfulElm

Former "Domi a favor"
Jan 31, 2007
5,922
3,646
Rive-Sud
So what's your lines then?

I'd go with :

Bourque - Plekanec - Gallagher
Pacioretty - Eller - Gionta
Galchenyuk - Desharnais - Brière

or

Galchenyuk - Plekanec - Gionta
Pacioretty - Eller - Brière
Bourque - Desharnais - Gallagher

I agree with the top 6 defensemen, but I think if everybody is healthy, Drewiske will be waived. I see no point of carrying 8 defensemen. The 8th would basically see no ice time, like Kaberle or Weber last season. So I'd waive Drewiske and recall a 14th forward, probably Dumont.

Also, I'd recall Bournival and Tarnasky much before Blunden, who brings almost nothing to the table.

Very fun idea to kill time during the offseason. Thanks PdCH!

You're welcome!! I'm hoping for a Hamilton version of it now! ;-)
 

Jakomyte

Registered User
Dec 14, 2004
2,613
169
Toronto
Can't wait to see these boards explode the with the first line combinations put together for a pre-season practice. Oh, I do miss the hockey season. :laugh:
 

G0bias

Registered User
Oct 4, 2007
7,749
5,987
MTL
2nd line : the 3 fan favorites. No surprise that fans want to see their favorite players together, but does that make a balanced line?

Eller and Galchenyuk were the most productive even strength players during the last few weeks and going into the playoffs so you're right, it's no surprise many want to see them continue.


3rd line : the 3 rejects, who would be playing together by default

The way Bourque was playing before his injury and later with Eller and Galchenyuk, I don't know how anyone can say he'd be a ''reject''.
 

Be a Hab

Registered User
Sep 17, 2010
1,282
661
So what's your lines then?

Anyway, this can't be the starting line up.

Emelin won't be ready till november.

I'd go with this on D

Gorges-Subban
Markov-Bouillon
Murray-Diaz


Personally, I would like to see Murray with Gorges. I think they could become a great defensive pairing playing 15-20 min a game. I like Murray, I think he's going to show us that he can play and can log top4 minutes at least until Emelin returns from injury. My line combos would be

Markov-Subban
Gorges-Murray
Bouillon-Diaz
 

NobleSix

High Tech Low-Life.
Apr 20, 2013
16,842
15,643
Vatican City
I'd go with :

Bourque - Plekanec - Gallagher
Pacioretty - Eller - Gionta
Galchenyuk - Desharnais - Brière


I like this because I think Bourque is more valuable than a 3rd liner. Bourque should be playing in the top 6, especially since many of you people have a huge insecurity about the size in our top 6.

I don't like this because that would put Galchenyuk with Desharnias, and I have never been a big fan of Desharnais.
 

PunkinDrublic*

Guest
Can't wait to see these boards explode the with the first line combinations put together for a pre-season practice. Oh, I do miss the hockey season. :laugh:

Yep and everyone will freak when they see Briere at center at the only position he truly produces at. Wing is NOT his place. And DD should not even be an option at wing either.
 

M.C.G. 31

Damn, he brave!
Oct 6, 2008
96,268
18,936
Ottawa
I want Bourque in the top six. The guy played great before his injury. If he brings it like that again this season, he's going to fit a big need and be a definite top six player.
 

donghabs98

Moderator
Oct 14, 2010
32,820
17,024
Halifax
Yeah i like Bourque! Good player with decent cap hit.

backhhand shelf baby :yo:

tumblr_mm75t9JFMy1sna8pso1_500_zps55bb2cfc.gif

That goal is stuck in my head. The crowd was so silent in that game until that moment.

Bourque is a pretty effective player when he's driving to the net and using his size. He was one of our best players during the playoffs and that forced me to buy a Bourque T-shirt :nod:
 

Account Terminated

Registered User
Sep 12, 2009
32,629
0
I would do


Maxpac - Plek - Gionta
Galchenyuk - Eller - Gallagher
Bourque - Dd/Briere - Briere/DD
Prust - White - moen

I love the second line, but it needs some balance to it. I doubt Briere was brought in at the cap hit he makes to play soft, third line minutes. He'll likely play top six minutes and get a chance with Plekanec.

Bourque-Plekanec-Gionta = Worked well last season up until Bourque's concussion.
Pacioretty-Desharnais-Briere = They'll get thrown out there against weaker opponents like two years ago and see PP time as well.
Galchenyuk-Eller-Gallagher = Love the idea of kid line. Gallagher and Gionta are interchangeable on the 1st/3rd lines.
Prust-White-Moen = Agreed on this one as well. Moen will bounce back, Prust will continue to beast it up and White will smarten up (hopefully). Parros gets inserted in games where they need a fighter (Boston, Toronto, Ottawa).
 

Game

Registered User
Sep 18, 2010
98
0
Montreal, Qc
Most people here are penciling in Prust-White-Moen as our fourth line this season. However, in my opinion, with the acquisition of Parros this off-season, I don't see him being benched the majority of the season. Last year, Michel Therrien did mention that he could use Prust at center. For this reason, I believe we will see Moen-Prust-Parros much more often. This is what I envision, unless Moen is traded. Granted, I do argee that we will see Prust-White-Moen against teams like Detroit.

Prust was a major target last season, this is why I believe Parros will be playing most of the games.
 

Account Terminated

Registered User
Sep 12, 2009
32,629
0
Most people here are penciling in Prust-White-Moen as our fourth line this season. However, in my opinion, with the acquisition of Parros this off-season, I don't see him being benched the majority of the season. Last year, Michel Therrien did mention that he could use Prust at center. For this reason, I believe we will see Moen-Prust-Parros much more often. This is what I envision, unless Moen is traded. Granted, I do argee that we will see Prust-White-Moen against teams like Detroit.

Prust was a major target last season, this is why I believe Parros will be playing most of the games.

Parros is a 13th forward that you insert into the line-up when you are facing a team with a goon or two that likes to run around. With Parros in the line-up against teams like Toronto and Ottawa, you won't see their fourth liners going after the likes of Gionta and Gorges. White is the stereotypical fourth liner that adds energy and lights a fire under everyone's keister. He's a real ****-disturber and he'll likely see more games than Parros.
 

bsl

Registered User
Oct 9, 2009
10,069
3,272
Here's the final result of our poll :

FORWARDS

Pacioretty - Plekanec - Brière
Galchenyuk - Eller - Gallagher
Bourque - Desharnais - Gionta
Prust - White - Moen
Extra : Parros

DEFENSEMEN

Gorges - Subban
Markov - Emelin
Murray - Diaz
Extras : Bouillon, Drewiske

GOALIES

Price
Budaj

--------------------------------
1st call-up (offense) : Dumont
2nd call-up (offense) : Leblanc
3rd call-up (offense) : Thomas
4th call-up (offense) : Blunden
----------------------------------
1st call-up (defense) : Tinordi
2nd call-up (defense) : Beaulieu
3rd call-up (defense) : Pateryn
----------------------------------
1st call-up (goalie) : Tokarski

Can't wait until the above bolded players are gone.

Collberg for Briere
Chuckie for DD
Big UFA/Trade RW for Gionta
Big UFA /Trade LW to replace Chuckie at LW.
Mcarron for Moen
Tinordi for Gorges
Beaulieu for Boullion

I love the Habs, but I can't wait for those six players to go. That's a lot of players not to like.

Note that I don't have much confidence in our forward prospects, besides Mcarron and Collberg. Even there I am far from sure. I suspect the rest of the F prospects either won't fit, are too small, or just won't score enough. It's Bergy's job starting this year to figure out if our forward prospects will be good enough for our cup window, and if not, to find forwards who are.

Of the six:

Briere, DD, Gionta and Boullion have zero trade value.
Moen and Gorges have some trade value.

Bergy needs to move Gorges and Moen at the deadline, for young NHL players, not prospects.
Then he needs to start trading redundant prospects also, for young NHL players, not prospects.

The window is coming. Let's see what Bergy does.
 
Last edited:

Natey

GOATS
Aug 2, 2005
62,295
8,434
Bourque... best forward on the team last year. Relegated to the 3rd line. Sick.

As for above. :facepalm: .. Chirping Briere before he even plays a game. Disgusting.
 

bsl

Registered User
Oct 9, 2009
10,069
3,272
2 rookies on the second line ? not sure about that.Emelin is so much better at left

They are not rookies, and Hawks won the cup with guys only a little older than them.

I completely agree with a Chuckie, Eller, Gally line 2 this year. They would never stop, and cause the opponent a lot of effort and trouble.

People are just not getting how young the NHL is becoming.
 

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