Line Combos: What’s the roster looking like

[Cloned]

Hmmm. Eclaires

Now I'm hungry.

 

[Aerchon]

The only two forward lines that should be close to set in stone are the DRY line and the fourth line. I hope having a scoring 3rd line takes some regular strength time and PP from McDrai. They need a bit more energy for backchecking and defensive positioning 5v5.

RNH Draisaitl Yamamoto
Neal McDavid Puljujarvi
Ennis Turris Kassian
Kharia Haas Archiblad
Nygard Chaisson

Nurse Bear
Russell Berrie
Jones Larsson
Laggesson Bouchard

Koskinen

Smith for 25 to 30 games max.

I love the competition for spots at forward and defense.

Does Bouchard require to pass through waivers?

 

[Burnt Biscuits]

Probably a wasted effort since I'm expecting more moves:

Line-up:
RNH - Draisaitl - Yamomoto
Ennis* - McDavid - Kassian
Neal* - Turris - Puljujarvi
Chiasson* - Haas - Archibald
ex: Nygard, P. Russell

Nurse - Bear
Russell* - Barrie
Jones - Larsson

Koskinen
Smith
​

In the above line-up I starred players who I think need to be shuffled down or in some cases off the team.

We can play coy and pretend that the McDavid line is always the first line and have him draw those match-ups, but as things stand now whichever one of McDavid/Drai get RNH is the actual first line and until that DRY line stops laying golden eggs that's our go to line.

Ennis doesn't belong on the 2nd line, but of our skill guys he's the one most capable of taking a pass from McDavid and getting him the puck back. Till we can get McDavid a proper winger the name of the game is getting players that serve as a pressure release valve for McDavid or who help retrieve/maintain possession.

I'd prefer Neal didn't play, but if he is going to play for us the soft minutes line is the obvious choice hide him from all defensive responsibilities, hopefully it turns into a decent offensive line to keep Pulju's confidence/spirits high.

I don't care how much people want to crap on Chiasson we do not have 12 forwards that are better than him, he's a better choice for the 4th line than Neal cause he's quite a bit better than Neal defensively, but aside from defense their offensive games mirror each others in a lot of respects and with us not buying out Neal, I'm guessing he's a goner in due time.

For Russell I'd like a more cost effective replacement and I don't think that's the spot for Jones cause Barrie can get caught deep pushing for offense, I don't really want a rookie in Jones facing odd man rushes going the other way or possibly worse being roped into chasing offense himself and letting a clean break go the other way.

With respect to Pulju I definitely feel the 3rd line is the right place to start him, but it doesn't mean that's where he ends the season, Kassian can be jettisoned from his spot, but he's got to earn it.

 

[Burnt Biscuits]

delete

 

[oilcountry17]

Kassian Mcdavid Yam
Nuge Drai Pulj
Neal Turris ennis
Archi haas nygard
Khaira Russel
Find a way to trade chia please we need that cap for bear
Nurse Bear
Jones Larrson
Russel Barrie
Lagesson

 

[nabob]

The defence and especially goaltending worries me a lot. Bear and Jones (and Bouchard) taking another step forward could make up for it. Koskinen is a mixed bag, he had a good .917 SV% but he needs to prove he can play ~60 games a year and maintain those stats. Mike Smith I hope he only gets ~20 games and zero playoff appearances.

there’s a decent chance it’s only going to be a 60 game season.

 

[GretzkytoKurri9917]

Now I'm hungry.

mmmmm. 64 slices of American Cheese:

 

[McDNicks17]

I would go with this. Rotate wingers between McDavid and Turris depending on who is hot.

Ennis - McDavid - Kassian
Nuge - Drai - Yamo
Neal - Turris - Puljujarvi
Archibald - Khaira - Chiasson
Nygard, Haas

Nurse - Bear
Russell - Barrie
Jones - Larsson

Koski
Smith

 

[ImmuneEH]

If I was Holland I'd tell Kahun, "Yo wait around until Klefbomb goes on LTIR and I'll make you an offer you can't refuse"

 

[Pucklington]

RNH - McDavid - Kassian
Neal - Draisaitl - Yamamoto
Ennis - Turris - Puljujarvi
Khaira - Haas - Archibald


Nurse - Bear
Jones - Barrie
Russell - Larsson

Koskinen
Smith
Korpisalo***

 

[SwedishFire]

Neal - McDavid - Kassian
Nuge - Drai - Yamo
Ennis - Turris - Pulju
Archibald - Khaira - Chiasson
Haas
Nygard

Nurse - Bear
Jones - Barrie
Russell - Larsson
Lagesson

Koskinen
Smith

People won’t like Neal with McDavid, but if we’re ever going to dump him, he needs to be putting up 20+ goals, and he’s still arguably our best goal scorer among the wingers

Nuge is today the better goalscorer. Neal is a Lucic dump/upgrade. He makes most of his goals when the team already has a lead.
And I dont get why he once had a good rep? He close to never scores 30 goals!

Pulkujärvi, he does starts in Finland?
I huess he eill stay there the whole urar? Pr intil the season starts?
He starts on the 3rd line.

Nuge McDavid Kassian
Ennis Draisaitl Y
Khaira Quine Archibald - defensive line
Neal/Chiasson/Haas Turris Puljujärvi

The last line is offensive starts protected.
Im worried about Neals defence.

 

[WaitingForUser]

Neal - McDavid - Kassian
Nuge - Drai - Yamo
Ennis - Turris - Pulju
Archibald - Khaira - Chiasson
Haas
Nygard

t

Nurse - Bear
Jones - Barrie
Russell - Larsson
Lagesson

Koskinen
Smith

People won’t like Neal with McDavid, but if we’re ever going to dump him, he needs to be putting up 20+ goals, and he’s still arguably our best goal scorer among the wingers

This is how I see it as well. Basically you make the first and third wings interchangeable depending on who is playing better.

 

[SwedishFire]

The best defensive forwards with Neal.

Nuge McDavid Neal
Ennis Drai Y
Kassian Turris Juljupärvi
Khaira Haas/Quine Archibald
Haas/Quine plays depending on Haas developement.
Khaira goes out if both plays well.
Chiasson fills in when someone plays bad
Russell is the 15th forward starting in AHL.

Benson is miles aeay from being a NHLer. Sadly.

 

[Spawn]

I would go with this. Rotate wingers between McDavid and Turris depending on who is hot.

Ennis - McDavid - Kassian
Nuge - Drai - Yamo
Neal - Turris - Puljujarvi
Archibald - Khaira - Chiasson
Nygard, Haas

Nurse - Bear
Russell - Barrie
Jones - Larsson

Koski
Smith

I like it. Maybe swap Russell and Jones and give Jones-Barrie the bulk of our offensive zone starts.

 

[Spawn]

Neal - McDavid - Kassian
Nuge - Drai - Yamo
Ennis - Turris - Pulju
Archibald - Khaira - Chiasson
Haas
Nygard

Nurse - Bear
Jones - Barrie
Russell - Larsson
Lagesson

Koskinen
Smith

People won’t like Neal with McDavid, but if we’re ever going to dump him, he needs to be putting up 20+ goals, and he’s still arguably our best goal scorer among the wingers

I think if Neal is piggy backing on McDavid it's going to take a lot more than 20 goals to be able to dump him. That isn't going to trick anyone. I've got lots of time for him around the net on the first unit PP, but at 5v5 he just doesn't seem to have the legs for it anymore.

Of our wingers, Kassian, Nuge, Ennis, Yamo and Archibald all had more 5v5 goals than Neal this past season.

 

[Del Preston]

For reference, this was last year's opening night line-up:

Neal - McDavid - Nygard
Draisaitl - Hopkins - Kassian
Khaira - Cave - Archibald
Granlund - Haas - Chiasson

Nurse - Larsson
Klefbom - Bear
Russell - Benning

Smith

 

[Bryanbryoil]

So using our current roster this is what I came up with by signing AA and Gustaffson to identical 2 year X $2.5 million AAV deals with Klef on LTIR.

AA-McDavid-Puljujarvi
RNH-Draisaitl-Yamamoto
Neal-Turris-Kassian
Ennis-Haas-Archibald
Nygard, Cracknell

Nurse-Barrie
Jones-Bear
Gustafsson-Larsson
Russell

Koskinen
Smith

$0.849 million in cap space.

 

[MessierII]

Nuge McD Kassian
Ennis Drai Yamo
Neal Turris Puljujarvi
Khaira Haas Archie

Nurse Bear
Russell Barrie
Jones Larsson

 

[MessierII]

So using our current roster this is what I came up with by signing AA and Gustaffson to identical 2 year X $2.5 million AAV deals with Klef on LTIR.

AA-McDavid-Puljujarvi
RNH-Draisaitl-Yamamoto
Neal-Turris-Kassian
Ennis-Haas-Archibald
Nygard, Cracknell

Nurse-Barrie
Jones-Bear
Gustafsson-Larsson
Russell

Koskinen
Smith

$0.849 million in cap space.

What did you sign Bear at?

 

[Bryanbryoil]

What did you sign Bear at?

1 year $1 million AAV. I also signed Lagesson to the same cap that he had last season.

 

[5 14 6 1]

My lomgshot pipe dream.

RNH - Draisaitl - Yamamoto
Hall - McDavid - Kassian
Ennis - Turris - Puljujarvi
Neal - Khaira - Archibald
Haas

Nurse - Bear
Greene - Barrie
Jones - Larsson
Bouchard/Lagesson

Koski
Smith

Sign Andy greene to a cheap 1 year deal. Get a sweetheart 1 year prove it deal for Bear. Move Russell and Chiasson (+assets) for cap room. Sign Hall for 1 Year 6 Million.

 

[AddyTheWrath]

I think the current locks should be the DRY line, Archibald on the fourth line, and Turris as 3c.

Puljujarvi or Kassian can be McDavid's right winger depending on who is playing better, but to start it will likely be Zack, given his previous experience on Connor's line.

On the left side, there's a bit more uncertainty with no clear top 6 LW after RNH. If Holland makes no more additions, it'll either have to be Ennis or Neal. I don't think Neal has great chemistry with Connor and he's got heavy boots as well, so we'd likely see him on the third line, leaving Ennis on McDavid's left.

Then, we have Chiasson, Khaira, Haas and Nygard battling it out for the final two spots on the fourth line. Khaira is the only one of the group that kills penalties, and he's better at face-offs than Haas, so he's probably our defacto 4c for now. Depending on who is playing well, I could see any of the remaining 3 draw in for the final spot, but let's assume Tippett goes with the veteran for now. I'm still not ruling out a forward trade though.

For right now, we then have the following up-front:

Ennis - McDavid - Kassian
RNH - Draisaitl - Yamamoto
Neal - Turris - Puljujarvi
Chiasson - Khaira - Archibald

On defense, Nurse & Bear are the obvious pairing. Barrie probably needs a more defensive-minded partner if he's going to be joining the rush or trailing the play as the fourth man. Jones is still a rookie, so I think they'll likely start Russell with Barrie, but that is subject to change depending on how Caleb plays. Larsson and Jones have chemistry from last season as well.

This gives us:

Nurse - Bear
Jones - Larsson
Russell - Barrie

The bottom two pairs likely play equal time, with the "third" pairing above playing more on special teams (Barrie pp, Russell pk), and the "second" pairing playing more at 5v5. I expect Nurse & Bear to log the toughest minutes until Klefbom is (hopefully) back.

Finally, in net Tippett will likely try and ride whoever is hot again, so unless Koskinen really grabs the reins this season, I can see them splitting time pretty evenly.

Koskinen / Smith

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Next season these guys come off the books:

Larsson
Russell
Chiasson
Khaira

That's $11,516,666 off the books. Say $1 million of that goes to RNH's new contract, $2.25 million of that goes to Barrie's hopeful extension ($6 million AAV) and $3 million of that goes to sign Bear for ~$4 million AAV long term, we would still have $5.266 million to fill 2 defense positions and 2 depth forward spots as well as to chip some $ towards Smith's replacement. We also get $2.333 million freed up from the expiration of the Pouliot buyout and Sekera's buyout dropping from $2.5 million to $1.5 million.

 

[Spawn]

So using our current roster this is what I came up with by signing AA and Gustaffson to identical 2 year X $2.5 million AAV deals with Klef on LTIR.

AA-McDavid-Puljujarvi
RNH-Draisaitl-Yamamoto
Neal-Turris-Kassian
Ennis-Haas-Archibald
Nygard, Cracknell

Nurse-Barrie
Jones-Bear
Gustafsson-Larsson
Russell

Koskinen
Smith

$0.849 million in cap space.

The ship has sailed on Athanasiou. At this point if Holland is spending anymore money on free agents it needs to be to address the other side of the puck. The Oilers were a middle of the back team at 5v5 goals for this past season. Holland has hopefully made some moves that can bump us into the top 10 or so.

We were the 6th worst team in the league in 5v5 GA. Turris and Barrie do nothing to help with that and AA and Gustaffson would both just compound the problem.

Any additions need to be focused on guys who can help look after our own end, or at the very least be counted on to outscore whoever they're out against at 5v5.

We've also already lost Sheahan on the PK, can't really afford to lose Khaira as well. Not without a replacement.

 

[AddyTheWrath]

Next season these guys come off the books:

Larsson
Russell
Chiasson
Khaira

That's $11,516,666 off the books. Say $1 million of that goes to RNH's new contract, $2.25 million of that goes to Barrie's hopeful extension ($6 million AAV) and $3 million of that goes to sign Bear for ~$4 million AAV long term, we would still have $5.266 million to fill 2 defense positions and 2 depth forward spots as well as to chip some $ towards Smith's replacement. We also get $2.333 million freed up from the expiration of the Pouliot buyout and Sekera's buyout dropping from $2.5 million to $1.5 million.

You also forgot the 1.5 mil that Smith is currently getting which would be off the books next offseason. But we also have to resign Yamamoto.