Line Combos: The First Lineups Thread

[BeatenLikeRentedMule]

Gusev - Shipaychov - Dadanov
Perron - Kovalchuk - Radulov
Marchessault - Eakin - Neal
Bellemare - Lindberg - Carrier

Not sure how the defense will look.

I think we trade Flower at deadline too.

Why? MAF is awesome when he's on his game. When he's not he's awful. But as a regular season goalie, you usually get the good Fluery.

 

[The Feckless Puck]

What did that run to the conference really mean for the Coyotes though? Was that high you got from that one season worth the next 5 not making the playoffs?

Without going into what has been a fecund topic for the megathreads, the conference run meant everything to the fans. EVERYTHING. It was the best the team had ever been and, if it had not been for the ongoing ownership issues and the lockout, could have been huge for the franchise. The ownership that took over immediately after that went ultra-cheap, and I don't think Foley is going to do that with Vegas.

I think we trade Flower at deadline too.

I don't. Fleury is the face of the franchise for Vegas right now. If you don't believe me, check out the numerous articles already pumping his tires for that very purpose. He'll probably maintain that role for a while until the roster gets its core settled.

 

[Matias Maccete]

You do NOT trade Methot, IMO. When the Coyotes went on their Western Conference run in 2011-2012, it was largely on the back of Adrian Aucoin, who by then was largely considered at the bottom end of his career. But he provided veteran savvy and calmness and a great defensive IQ, and the D corps rallied around him to the point that things almost completely fell apart when we lost him a year later.

Methot may not be a sexy pick but he's got all the intangibles necessary to anchor a fledgling expansion roster in the short term.

I think it depends on what the offer is. I wouldn't be looking to ship him out automatically since Vegas will need leadership and some stability on the back end, but if you get offered some high picks or top shelf prospects who have more long term value I think you'd have to strongly consider it.

 

[CupInSIX]

do what they Coyotes did 6 years ago...

frysquint.jpg

anyway, surprisingly few RFAs to re-up. Hopefully McPhee gets Lindberg and Schultz signed to decent term and then he just has to worry about Theodore and Karlsson, maybe Carrier in July.

 

[Vegas Mac]

Without going into what has been a fecund topic for the megathreads, the conference run meant everything to the fans. EVERYTHING. It was the best the team had ever been and, if it had not been for the ongoing ownership issues and the lockout, could have been huge for the franchise. The ownership that took over immediately after that went ultra-cheap, and I don't think Foley is going to do that with Vegas.

My point wasn't to be snarky, btw. Just noting that a GM has to have that future view in his decision making in order to get a roster core built where it needs to be. That requires hard decisions where the pieces are aligned to come together at the right window in time.

And as good as one season in the limelight is, organizationally it is a failure to have five losing seasons for the one good one. The goal has to be to open a window for contention that is a 3-5 year look and hopefully bring in a cup.

 

[Telfo]

Dadonov might be coming with Gusev as well which would make the Vegas forward group pretty sick to watch.

really hope this happens, if my team is gonna be awful I want them to at least be entertaining to watch

 

[The Feckless Puck]

do what they Coyotes did 6 years ago...

frysquint.jpg

Why not? Six years ago was the last time they did anything SMART...

My point wasn't to be snarky, btw. Just noting that a GM has to have that future view in his decision making in order to get a roster core built where it needs to be. That requires hard decisions where the pieces are aligned to come together at the right window in time.

And as good as one season in the limelight is, organizationally it is a failure to have five losing seasons for the one good one. The goal has to be to open a window for contention that is a 3-5 year look and hopefully bring in a cup.

Well, the point I was trying to make is that the Coyotes didn't do what the Diamondbacks did, which was frontload the team with win-now players and deferred salaries and then spend the decade after winning the World Series sucking. The Aucoin signing was less of a "shoot the moon to try and win the Cup" and more of a "Let's get a guy who's captain material to anchor this group of guys who really have no business in the NHL as a group if you compare them to the rest of the league."

Right now we all are approaching this expansion draft, the entry draft, and free agency like we're playing a big game of EHM or something, and that's fine, but I think it's imperative that Vegas has a couple of solid character guys on the roster, veteran guys who can not only play on the ice but who can build a good room culture from day one. I think Methot can do that, and if he sticks to his NTC and makes it impossible for McPhee to move him for futures, the Knights could do a lot worse than have him on the backend.

 

[sabresfan65]

Right now we all are approaching this expansion draft, the entry draft, and free agency like we're playing a big game of EHM or something, and that's fine, but I think it's imperative that Vegas has a couple of solid character guys on the roster, veteran guys who can not only play on the ice but who can build a good room culture from day one. I think Methot can do that, and if he sticks to his NTC and makes it impossible for McPhee to move him for futures, the Knights could do a lot worse than have him on the backend.

There is no doubt that having Marc Methot on the team today and for the rest of the season makes the team a better one this year. The question becomes how much better? Does it make them a playoff contender or does it make them 10th in the conference instead of 12th or 13th? How much better does trading him make the team next year, and the 10 years after that? That is the question.

I think that there are some good character guys remaining if they trade Methot. Guys like Bellemare, Parron, Neal, and Fleury will all be character guys that the team can lean on. Most of the team has a decent amount of experience. There aren't a ton of rookies. Most of the guys have 3 or 4 years of NHL experience so I think they will have a good mix.

 

[jwhouk]

Ran a SOM simulation of game one vs. Arizona.

Lines:

PLAYER TYPE
------------------
D. PERRON R
R. SMITH R
C. EAKIN R
------------------
E. HAULA R
J. NEAL R
O. LINDBERG X
------------------
J. MARCHESSAULT X
P. BELLEMARE R
C. THORBURN R
------------------
B. LEIPSIC C
T. PULKKINEN X
W. KARLSSON R
------------------
B. McNABB R
A. EMELIN R
------------------
M. METHOT R
D. ENGELLAND R
------------------
C. MILLER X
J. GARRISON R



Fleury and Pickard were your goaltender pairings, with Fleury starting in the 4-3 win.

 

[Fantomas]

Perron - Kovalchuk - Radulov

LOL, no.

 

[Frank8]

It's not a lot to go on, but I suspect you go after Da Costa. He looked very good with Bellemare at the World's and I suspect McPhee is looking hard at good KHL players wanting to come over. He's a Sen until July 1st.

 

[PB37]

Oh and btw rumors persist re: the Maple Leafs wanting Miller. I suspect they will keep him, but if multiple players get thrown into the mix as rumored George might have to make the deal.

As a Bruins fan who's watched him for two years:

Pros: Very good skills. Won fastest skater/hardest shot in the AHL a few seasons ago. Good kid, coachable, works hard. Solid first pass and plays the transition game well. Still very young in terms of defensemen.

Cons: Questionable IQ. Willing along the boards but gets out muscled frequently. He was given the 2nd most PP time among our D last year and only produced 2 points...which defies logic when taking into account his skills and our team being the 7th best PP in the league. The coaches sheltered his flaws a bit and he saw the least amount of time on the PK among our regular dmen.

Overall, there's a lot to like about Colin and if he can iron out his decision making, he'll be a decent bottom 4 dman who can chip in points and help move the puck 5v5 and on the PP. He's still a bit of a project though.

Good luck with him!

 

[mattihp]

Ran a SOM simulation of game one vs. Arizona.

Lines:

PLAYER TYPE
------------------
D. PERRON R
R. SMITH R
C. EAKIN R
------------------
E. HAULA R
J. NEAL R
O. LINDBERG X
------------------
J. MARCHESSAULT X
P. BELLEMARE R
C. THORBURN R
------------------
B. LEIPSIC C
T. PULKKINEN X
W. KARLSSON R
------------------
B. McNABB R
A. EMELIN R
------------------
M. METHOT R
D. ENGELLAND R
------------------
C. MILLER X
J. GARRISON R



Fleury and Pickard were your goaltender pairings, with Fleury starting in the 4-3 win.

Where's shippy?

 

[froods]

I wouldn't even know where to guess for a first line center so we will put grabovski there for now.

Neal-Shipaychov-Marchessault
Perron-Haula-Smith
Pulkkinen-Eakin-Carrier
Bellemare-Karlsson-Thornburn

McNabb- Garrison
Stoner-Theodore
Schmidt-Engelland

Fleury
Pickard

Now that we know that GMGM is not trading Schmidt, updated. Also, forgot about Shipaychov.

 

[CupInSIX]

the super optimistic forward lineup:
Neal Marchessault Radulov
Gusev Shipachyov Dadonov
Perron Haula Smith
Bellemare Karlsson Lindberg
Carrier

Grabovski returns in January

 

[jwhouk]

Didn't have any info on Shipachyov, sorry.

So. I ran a simulated season - first run, no FA switches, yada yada.

And I wondered where Vegas would end up with their first season.

Well...

-----------------------TOTALS..............HOME-RECORD..ROAD-RECORD..LAST-10
--TEAM-----------------GP W L OT PTS GF GA W L T OT PTS W L T OT PTS W L T
San Jose Sharks....... 82 55 25 2 112 282 201 27 12 0 2 56 28 13 0 0 56 5 5 0
Anaheim Ducks......... 82 46 25 11 103 251 213 22 13 0 6 50 24 12 0 5 53 7 3 0
Calgary Flames........ 82 47 28 7 101 241 213 26 12 0 3 55 21 16 0 4 46 5 5 0
Vegas Golden Knights.. 82 41 30 11 93 213 209 19 15 0 7 45 22 15 0 4 48 5 5 0
Los Angeles Kings..... 82 39 36 7 85 232 231 17 19 0 5 39 22 17 0 2 46 5 5 0
Vancouver Canucks..... 82 33 38 11 77 219 258 16 19 0 6 38 17 19 0 5 39 4 6 0
Edmonton Oilers....... 82 31 46 5 67 194 268 16 22 0 3 35 15 24 0 2 32 2 8 0
Arizona Coyotes....... 82 28 50 4 60 186 258 15 24 0 2 32 13 26 0 2 28 4 6 0


And yes, that was enough to be the second wild card.

 

[VanIslander]

Neal-Shipaychov-Marchessault

That might be a decent NHL top line!

McNabb- Garrison
Stoner-Theodore
Schmidt-Engelland

I can't see Nate Schmidt on the third pairing and Clayton Stoner on the second pairing.

 

[Soundgarden]

Didn't have any info on Shipachyov, sorry.

So. I ran a simulated season - first run, no FA switches, yada yada.

And I wondered where Vegas would end up with their first season.


And yes, that was enough to be the second wild card.

It's crazy that ARI has already traded for Raanta, Hjalmarsson and Stepan since you ran that sim. Gonna be an exciting off-season for sure.

 

[Caffeine]

With what they currently got:

Smith Shipachyov Neal
Perron Haula Karlsson
Lindberg Eakin Marchessault
Leipsic Bellemare Tuch

IDK abt Defense

 

[Asuna]

maybe you can slot patrick into the lineup somewhere

 

[BattleBorn]

maybe you can slot patrick into the lineup somewhere

They better love him if they deal.

 

[Number 57]

I suspect you guys will be unloading more contracts soon. Between Gusev/Dadonov and other UFAs coming in, you have way too much bodies still. I would aim for the following line-up and trade the others;

TRADE: R.Smith, Methot, Emelin, Merrill

UFA-Shypachev-Dadonov
Marchessault-Eakin-Neal
Karlsson-Haula-Perron
Carrier-Nosek-Lindberg
**Bellemare, Leipsic, Pulkkinen

McNabb-Garrison
Schmidt-C.Miller
Theodore-Engelland
**Stoner, Reinhart, Sbisa

Fleury-Pickard
**Berube

I think couple of those extras will be put on waivers and assigned to AHL. Also, instead of aiming for picks in the next wave of trades, McPhee would be wise to acquire a couple of youngish prospects who can play in the AHL. As it stands Vegas has no worthy prospect for the minors and will need to sign 20+ guys to make up a team.

Overall I think its a good roster that will hang just outside of a playoff spot until Feb/March in my opinion. McPhee will unload a bunch of veterans after Christmas and the wheels will fall off. Anyway, you guys are better off finishing as low as possible to get a good draft pick.

 

[wingsfan17]

I hope Gallant knows this because it seems like a lot of people here do not: if you're not playing Neal on the top line with Shypachev, you're wasting him. Neal is great when he can play with a number 1 center that can create space and get him in the puck in shooting areas, and is pretty bad/average when he's on lines with 3rd line centers, as Neal struggles to create space for himself. He was a 40 goal scorer with Malkin, on pace for 40 with Ry-jo, and invisible with Jarnkrok/the ghost of Mike Fisher. I see Haula and Eakin being terrible fits for him.

 

[Mike Jones]

dude is like 30 and has never played an NHL game

I'm sure he'll be fine.

 

[Gerin]

Just to clear things up Gusev has one more year with his contract with SKA of the KHL so wont play for vegas this year.

Dadonov is avaliable but it is unknown on whether he will return to SKA, Vegas or a eastern NHL team.

As for lineups hard to pick now cus they are likely to trade more D. Methot and Emelin im guessing after July 1st when other teams lose out on UFA D