Thoughts on Julien's benching...

Gordon Lightfoot

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Feb 3, 2009
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DJ Bean ‏@DJ_Bean 1m
And here come the changes: Marchand-Krejci-Horton, Paille-Bergeron-Seguin, Lucic-Peverley-Caron, Merlot. #Bruins

those lines are horrible

I like it. Team needs a shakeup. Krejci will set up Marchand for some beautiful chances.
 

Shaun

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Oct 12, 2010
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Looks like it's they're having fun out there.

Mike Loftus ‏@MLoftus_Ledger 2m
%Bruins coach Claude Julien splits up team for half-rink games of shinny: Everyone's gotta shoot the opposite way. Righties shoot lefty, etc

Matt Kalman ‏@TheBruinsBlog 2m
No way #leafs are having this much fun today. #Bruins doing right thing keeping things in perspective. #BruinsTalk

that reminds me of this

 

MTaylorJ1

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Sep 20, 2006
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Well... Clode has to play with the cards he has in hand... What's he suppose to do? Wait for the ship to sink?

Roll Caron-Spooner-Peverley for a few games or Paille-Spooner-Peverley.

Waive Pandolfo.

You can't claim to be a 3 line team when you carry dead weight on one of them. They aren't pressuring other teams to make the decision of whether to put a 3rd pairing out against a scoring line or burn up their top 2 pairings at the beginning of the game.
 

CamFan81

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Frickin' disastrous. This reeks of blaming things on comfort and effort instead of doing real critical thinking of what actually works together.

Also, DJ is wrong, that's not the Merlot line, Paille is up and Pandolfo is on it. That line isn't going to bring energy with someone who is slow and not physical.

SO effort hasn't been a problem?
 

Gordon Lightfoot

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Frickin' disastrous. This reeks of blaming things on comfort and effort instead of doing real critical thinking of what actually works together.

Also, DJ is wrong, that's not the Merlot line, Paille is up and Pandolfo is on it. That line isn't going to bring energy with someone who is slow and not physical.

It also doesn't necessarily mean we will see that tomorrow night. They could just be trying things out in practice. I want to see it, though. I like Krejci with Marchand.
 

Latrappe

If Cam allow it
Nov 3, 2006
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He is 2 cards short of the exact same hand that won the Stanley Cup just 2 years ago.

It is his job to RIGHT the ship.

And you think that this lineup was a perennial contender? Winning 3 games 7 + having a PP less then 10% to win the Cup? It's a case of the planet being aligned not a case of having an "incredible" roster. You also remove, from the equation, that a lot of guys might have overachieve that year. Remove the performances of Rask/AK and this team is probably out of the playoffs. The Bruins, as constitued, are not a SC contender.
 

RedeyeRocketeer

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People dislike those new lines? Man I dunno, give them a chance. The coach knows his players.

I for one have been begging for Lucic to go on a third line. That kid needs to get back to playing simple. Although I'm not huge on splitting up Bergy and Marchand, nobody knows what Krejci-Marchy together can do. Let's see it for 2-3 games. Can't be much worse than now...
 

ReggieMoto

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Nov 24, 2003
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I'm going with "frivolous practice". Working stuff out outside of the game.

I don't like to second guess the coach, but the only change I thought was called for would have been to sit Pandolfo and put Spooner in between Caron and Peverley. With everything else Julien's tried, I'm not sure I understand the reluctance to not try that.

Now that Spooner is no longer an (immediate) option, it looks like he's trying to solve the problem created with having 3 wingers on the 3rd line. It seems like he's manufacturing his own set of problems.

I do have to keep telling myself, though, that Julien, his coaching staff, and Chia all see the same things we do, and they are not as stupid as the posters on this forum often make them out to be. I have to believe there are reasons for doing what they are doing, reasons we are not privy to.
 

LyndonByers

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Nov 1, 2006
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Paille on the second line??

I think were in more trouble than we all thought.:help:

Actually I feel Paille deserves this promotion as much as anyone. He has played hard all year. Yes, best case sccenerio,he is not a top line player but something has to be done. At the very least he should have been promoted to the Kelly/Peverley long before this promotion. Good for Paille. He deserves it.
 

Absurdity

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I really do like these lines, it was only inevitable. The only problem I have is Claude not playing MacDermid on the fourth line rather than Pandolfo.
 

Andrew83

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DJ Bean ‏@DJ_Bean 1m
And here come the changes: Marchand-Krejci-Horton, Paille-Bergeron-Seguin, Lucic-Peverley-Caron, Merlot. #Bruins

those lines are horrible

I really like it! The lines are much more balanced.

Lucic can create scoring chances for the 3rd line better than Horton can right now. Horton probably needs someone like Krejci to keep setting him up.

The goal seems to be to get back to having the top 3 lines be more of an offensive threat so the team is tougher to defend against. The main drawback seems to be the 4th line gets worse and the 2nd line gets weaker (but not slower). Paille is on a hot streak right now and Marchand is coming off a 'bad' game so the 2nd line might not be hurt as much as we'd expect.

Bonus = Pandolfo is no longer in the top 9.

Hopefully Caron playing with a 1st line player for a change will get him to step up his game.
 
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Dellstrom

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Paille on the second line??

I think were in more trouble than we all thought.:help:

It's funny because Paille has probably been our most consistent player for the past few weeks, and considering the fact that he was on the 4th line, maybe for the whole year.
 

j44thor

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Mar 27, 2008
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Would like to see Krejci with Looch and Seguin. That would be similar to the Savard/Kessel/Looch line that used to dominate. Krejci needs someone that can snipe and Looch would create space for Seguin and Krejci. Plus Seguin would force Looch and Krejci to pick up the pace.
 

SerenityRick

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Would like to see Krejci with Looch and Seguin. That would be similar to the Savard/Kessel/Looch line that used to dominate. Krejci needs someone that can snipe and Looch would create space for Seguin and Krejci. Plus Seguin would force Looch and Krejci to pick up the pace.

I'm guessing this would have happened sooner if the MBS line wasn't playing so dominantly the last few weeks because every time Seguin was put with Krejci and Lucic, they've not only played well, they looked downright dominant too.

Lucic and Seguin have INSANE chemistry (outside that weird play where Lucic thought he had Seguin breaking with him and tossed the puck to open space and turned it over).. Which is funny since they hardly play together. But every time they do, they both look dangerous.

I'm not Claude but I would try that again. Just swap Horton and Seguin. I get the feeling that Marchand and Bergeron will continue to be successful no matter who is on their right wing so maybe Seguin's presence with Krejci and Lucic would balance out the top two lines a bit more.

However, this does nothing to address how absolutely dreadful the 3rd line is. Honestly, unless this Lucic to the 3rd line experiment doesn't work, I don't think anything will fix that line without a trade/outside help. Outside of making Seguin your 3rd line center, there's nothing more Claude can really do.

We'll see how these new lines shake out first though. I'm definitely intrigued.
 

j44thor

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Mar 27, 2008
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I'd put Paille up with Bergeron/Marchand. Paille can keep up with the speed of that line and that would be as good a shut down line as there is in the league. Bergeron/Marchand will still generate enough offense and Paille isn't a complete black hole offensively.

Horton I would bump down to 3rd line with Pevs and Caron. Peverley hasn't played with anyone even close to Horton's level this season so perhaps that would give them both a boost.
 

unifiedtheory

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Paille on the second line??

I think were in more trouble than we all thought.:help:
I'd argue that outside of Seguin, Bergy, Krejci and Marchand he's been our best forward. He has moved up via merit. Players need too see that hard work gets rewarded and laziness gets punished.

I like the moves today with the exception of one. Nathan Horton should have been in Merlot.
 

unifiedtheory

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Would like to see Krejci with Looch and Seguin. That would be similar to the Savard/Kessel/Looch line that used to dominate. Krejci needs someone that can snipe and Looch would create space for Seguin and Krejci. Plus Seguin would force Looch and Krejci to pick up the pace.

It should have been left together when Lucic was playing well.

I want to see that together but not right now. Milan Lucic needs a kick in the ass. Putting him with our two best playmakers is a reward.
 

Dr Quincy

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I'm not at all against reconfiguring the lines, but I think the danger is that it gives a temporary goose but may hide bigger problems for a week or 2. When/if the new lines stop working (assuming they do at all), is it too late to make a move that would really matter?

IMO they should be in heavily on Iginla.

Secondary names I'd look at:

Fleishmann
Pominville
Briere
Hedjuk
 

AustinBruins

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Jul 31, 2010
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These are the lines I'd like to see:

Lucic - Krejci - Seguin (Is Claude just stubborn? This line scored in the first 30 seconds he rolled it out this year and always looks balanced AND dangerous).

Marchand - Bergeron - Horton (Bergy and March have the chemistry. When Segs is out there, I see one or two OMG passes from him a game and they *never* seem to pay off).

Paille - Spooner - Peverly - Paille has been great lately, one of the only guys that seems to be able to dictate play when he is on the ice right now. I'd love to see what kind of game Spooner can display if he has somebody actually putting pressure on the D and creating opportunities).

Caron - Campbell - Thorton (Caron is a big body and seems to make most of his negligible impact playing defensive, cautionary hockey. Keep him with the grinders).
 

Neely08

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Mar 9, 2006
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It should have been left together when Lucic was playing well.

I want to see that together but not right now. Milan Lucic needs a kick in the ass. Putting him with our two best playmakers is a reward.

The reason he doesn't go to the Bergeron line is; Bergeron doesn't need the muscle. He needs the speed. 3rd line has been manhandled all year and cannot generate offense.
 

RedeyeRocketeer

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Jan 11, 2012
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People hating Paille on the second line clearly need to watch his effort level a bit more. He's one of the few guys giving 100% all the time, and his engine is always going. I'm all for it. Maybe he lights a fire under Lucic. Watch someone earn his money Looch.
 

RedeyeRocketeer

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I wasn't saying that Paille does not try. He brings it every night.

I'm saying that Paille is not a Second line winger.

According to what though? He gets a little over 11 minutes of TOI per game, and has more goals than Lucic and Pev, and is tied for 6th on the team. Krejci has 1 more goal than him, Horton 2. And those guys get PP minutes and tons more ice time.

Pascal Dupuis was a 10 goal per year type player before being a throw-in given to the Pens. Now he's an 18-25g guy, and it happend late in his career because he was put on decent lines. I don't think anyone know's Paille's ceiling, particularly if he tries this hard. I wouldn't love him staying on line 2 for a whole year, but I certainly couldn't tell you if he could or couldn't get 20 goals from that spot. He's done 6 with almost no ice time...
 
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