Line Combos: What Line Combos Would You Like to See?

[JRJRJRJRJR]

Why are we NOT having our _hands down_ best playmaker with our best goalscorer on the same line? By that I mean Vanek - Granlund.

Imagine these lines.

Parise - Koivu - Pominville
Hard work ethic, defensive coverage off the charts with Parise - Koivu. Pommer, when needed can put the puck in the net.

Vanek - Granlund - Zucker
Serious skill, playmaking, goalscoring and speed. Vanek is deadly in terms of putting the puck in the net, and FBJ is deadly making chances happen. Zucker in my mind has earned his spot on this line, and is probably the hottest Wild now. And getting Vanek some goals after the slow start has to be a priority considering the future of our team.

Niederreiter - Haula - Coyle
SERIOUS DEPTH. My god this is one of the best third lines in the league. Speed down the middle and size on the wings. Coyle and Nino also crash the net real hard.

Cooke - Carter - Fontaine
Cooke, the agitator everyone loves to hate, top 5 in the league when looking at same kind of players. Carter took the spot from "wont-score-any-breakaway-goals", which was expected. And Fonz brings goal scoring ability, depth scoring ability, which can be crucial.

D-pairs are kind of clear, but I would like to see Dumba - Folin play together and just sit out Prosser and Ballard..


PP1

Vanek - Granlund - Parise
Pominville - Suter/Koivu
5 forwards might be an options, but cant seem to finding out who then is playing the point. FBJ on the first unit because he is hands down the best playmaker available. Cant stand seeing Koivu making the same mistakes over and over again, and Yeo giving Granny only a handful chances. Vanek would also be more productive with FBJ, as I said earlier.

PP2

Coyle - Koivu - Niederreiter
Spurgeon - Brodin

Koivu might be on the first unit, so Suter also might get the spot in here. This unit would be "HIT-THE-FCKIN-NET-AS-FAST-AS-YOU-CAN" -unit. Big guys crashing the the net and Spurg sliding down from the point.


ALSO. I was thinking about writing Russo or Doyle about my (and father) thoughts, so if you have any knowledge of how should I approach them or can they be approached in any way, let me know.

Also PLEASE criticize freely, but leave some arguments also. And tell me if you agree. And the text might have some grammar issues.

Click to read more...

 

[rynryn]

you can write russo all you want, my friend, but he doesn't have time to sift through the 100's of line suggestions he gets daily.

The wild haven't played a bad game yet. Our PP has looked bad at times and really good at times--we're getting shots and chances, more than league average anyway. Why on god's holy earth would a coach just switch gears drastically when what we're doing is working according to plan: using our depth to outmatch our opponents lines. PP is a couple complete whiffs from being at least mid-range, and as has been pointed out numerous times by Russo and other people that could possibly be due to the rust we were shaking off from playing so few games.

 

[hirawl]

I don't want our best playmaking C to be forced to carry all the defensive duties on his line. Playing with Vanek and Zucker would seriously handcuff Granlund.

 

[BusQuets]

I don't know but i seriously like Coyle with Koivu.

 

[JRJRJRJRJR]

you can write russo all you want, my friend, but he doesn't have time to sift through the 100's of line suggestions he gets daily.

The wild haven't played a bad game yet. Our PP has looked bad at times and really good at times--we're getting shots and chances, more than league average anyway. Why on god's holy earth would a coach just switch gears drastically when what we're doing is working according to plan: using our depth to outmatch our opponents lines. PP is a couple complete whiffs from being at least mid-range, and as has been pointed out numerous times by Russo and other people that could possibly be due to the rust we were shaking off from playing so few games.

Yeah the Wild have been playing great, but what I'm saying is that what if this or something else will make the team EVEN better? whats the point of being satisfied for good? AND not just for linecombos, but to get a conversation going with him, maybe?

 

[JRJRJRJRJR]

I don't want our best playmaking C to be forced to carry all the defensive duties on his line. Playing with Vanek and Zucker would seriously handcuff Granlund.

Zucker has shown that he can play at our own end. Hes like a "mini-Parise", hes got nice work ethic it seems.

 

[JRJRJRJRJR]

I don't know but i seriously like Coyle with Koivu.

Me too, but there MIGHT be some room for improvement? Zucker has the same success with less average ice-time. And in my eyes is way more visible with the puck.

 

[rynryn]

Yeah the Wild have been playing great, but what I'm saying is that what this or something else will make the team EVEN better? whats the point of being satisfied for good?

no player or coach is going to say they're satisfied--that's just a given because complacency is anathema to competitive spirit. I'll ask you why risk new lines and potentially going down a goal in a game or losing a couple in a row just to see if it'll work when we're going to be in for a dogfight for playoff position the way it is? I think you'll see line combos change if we're behind in a game or a line goes cold (and we haven't played enough games to call anyone "cold" yet IMO) but it would be imprudent to juggle lines just to see if we can win by 3 goals instead of 2. A win is 2 points. There are some teams above us in the standings now with 10 games played and if we won half of the difference we'd be 2nd or 3rd in the conference right now.

 

[Minnesota]

I don't think Vanek is our best goal-scorer.

 

[rynryn]

not currently. most "proven" certainly.

 

[JRJRJRJRJR]

not currently. most "proven" certainly.

Yeah. This is what I meant by "best goalscorer".

 

[Avder]

I think our lines are fine for the most part right now. Only change I want is Brodz back in for Carter.

The third D-Pairing will fix itself once Folin gets over whatever he and Ballard seem to have.

 

[Billy Mays Here*]

You can't break up the Parise - Granlund - Pominville line. They're just too good together.

 

[grN1g]

My suggestion for lines.

Nino - Koivu - Coyle (the shutdown, big man line who plays mainly plays against 1st lines)
Parise - Granlund - Pominville (match up against 2nd/3rd lines, reap the rewards)
Vanek - Haula - Zucker (nice scoring line, might be a bit weak on the defense)
Cooke - Brodziak - Fontain (i thought this line had good chemistry, fonzie can be the scorer)

PP#1

Pominville - Vanek(net presence) - Granlund

Spurgeron - Zucker


PP#2

Nino/Coyle - Koivu - Parise

Dumba - Brodin


PP#3

Fontain - Coyle/Nino - Haula

Folin - Suter

 

[thestonedkoala]

Vanek - Granlund - Pominville (we need to spark something)
el Nino - Haula - Zucker (young line, has speed)
Parise - Koivu - Coyle (good offense but better at defense and grinding)
Who the hell cares? Cooke - Brodziak - Fontaine??

 

[JRJRJRJRJR]

My suggestion for lines.

Nino - Koivu - Coyle (the shutdown, big man line who plays mainly plays against 1st lines)
Parise - Granlund - Pominville (match up against 2nd/3rd lines, reap the rewards)
Vanek - Haula - Zucker (nice scoring line, might be a bit weak on the defense)
Cooke - Brodziak - Fontain (i thought this line had good chemistry, fonzie can be the scorer)

PP#1

Pominville - Vanek(net presence) - Granlund

Spurgeron - Zucker


PP#2

Nino/Coyle - Koivu - Parise

Dumba - Brodin


PP#3

Fontain - Coyle/Nino - Haula

Folin - Suter

I have to say I was shocked.

 

[JRJRJRJRJR]

Vanek - Granlund - Pominville (we need to spark something)
el Nino - Haula - Zucker (young line, has speed)
Parise - Koivu - Coyle (good offense but better at defense and grinding)
Who the hell cares? Cooke - Brodziak - Fontaine??

Its the same with Coyle/Zucker/Pommer switching and Brodz back in. But I'm with you about the "spark" thingy.

 

[TaLoN]

You can't break up the Parise - Granlund - Pominville line. They're just too good together.

Agreed. Every line is clicking right now. Save the tinkering for when it's needed. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

 

[mnwild*]

we just won 7-2 calm down

 

[J22*]

My 2 cents on the lineup.
top 6
Parise is the only guy that is absolutely killing it right now. Pominville has had both great and bad moments but I would say he has been solid. Granlund hasn't been bad in any game yet but he hasn't been much more than a passenger on that line for the past few games. He needs to start taking the puck to the net again, and needs to look for his shot more. Vanek has been better than he gets credit for but has been too reluctant to shoot and has tried to force passes a little too much for my liking. Koivu is like Vanek, not as bad as this board claims but needs to be better. Coyle has looked good on that line.

IMO- the only changes that make any sense would be to flop Parise Vanek and/or maybe replace Coyle with Niederreiter or Zucker. As far as the Parise/Vanek situation, I don't think swapping them would make much of a difference. My guess is that Koivu's line would start scoring at the rate that Granlund's is now and vice versa. Maybe it gives you two first lines and the Wild are even better, but maybe you end up with two 2nd lines? Why change it when you're dominating teams right now? If the plan is to match Koivu's line against top lines and get scoring from the 3rd line then I would leave Coyle with them. Coyle is the better defender than Nino or Zucker and is better suited to be the "worker" on a line where Nino and Zucker are better suited to be the guy to drive offense on their lines.

Bottom 6
Nino has been good, needs to get stronger on his skates but I don't have any real complaints about his game. Haula hasn't been near the level he was at in the playoffs last year, but he hasn't been terrible either. Fontaine is what he is, a guy who can help out in just about any situation, but isn't going to be "the guy" on any line. 4th line has been about as good as you can ask out of a 4th line.

Possible changes in the bottom 6
Zucker would be better than Fontaine on the 3rd line, but is the upgrade worth killing any scoring from the 4th line? Brodziak could probably replace Carter without much if any fall off but why? The Brodziak needs to play crowd is baffling to me, what does he bring that Carter doesn't? Carter is faster(which has benefited Zucker's game) more physical and appears to be at least as good offensively and on the PK and faceoffs.

Defense
The D is unreal right now. Suter's minutes are actually down a little, Brodin is better than ever, and Spurgeon and Scandella have been absolutely amazing. Those 2 are better than the top pair on a handful of teams. The Kids look promising and even Ballard and Prosser have been better than you can reasonably expect from #7-8 dmen.

Wilson and Sydor have thrown out a bunch of different pairings and none have looked bad, I wouldn't change a thing.

I don't think Goaltending needs to be discussed.

Now, the big one, the PP
I don't think it has been that bad, but 0-20 is 0-20. My major problems with the current set up.
1. Pominville is not good on the point. There's no point in having Dumba on the roster if you're not going to give him big PP minutes.
2. You have the worst shooter of the 5(Koivu) in a shooters spot. Koivu can't score from where he is and other teams know this, and because of that it's difficult for him to get the puck to Vanek or the dman on the backside.
3. You have the worst passer of the 5(Parise) in a passers spot. Parise can't make the backdoor pass and can't or wont take the puck to the front of the net. Jamming it into the side of the net doesn't count.
4. You severely limit the talents of your two best goal scorers (Vanek, Parise) by having them play 4 feet apart from each other.

My solution
Suter QB's, Dumba triggers and floats to the backdoor. Vanek net front, Koivu down low and Granlund on the wall. Granlund probably isn't much of an improvement shooting wise, but I want his vision and ability to make the seam passes out there. Koivu is better at getting the puck to the front of the net (either passing or carrying) from down low than Parise is. Still leaves Parise and plenty of talent for a 2nd unit as well.

 

[borisbadenough]

My 2 cents on the lineup.
top 6
Parise is the only guy that is absolutely killing it right now. Pominville has had both great and bad moments but I would say he has been solid. Granlund hasn't been bad in any game yet but he hasn't been much more than a passenger on that line for the past few games. He needs to start taking the puck to the net again, and needs to look for his shot more. Vanek has been better than he gets credit for but has been too reluctant to shoot and has tried to force passes a little too much for my liking. Koivu is like Vanek, not as bad as this board claims but needs to be better. Coyle has looked good on that line.

IMO- the only changes that make any sense would be to flop Parise Vanek and/or maybe replace Coyle with Niederreiter or Zucker. As far as the Parise/Vanek situation, I don't think swapping them would make much of a difference. My guess is that Koivu's line would start scoring at the rate that Granlund's is now and vice versa. Maybe it gives you two first lines and the Wild are even better, but maybe you end up with two 2nd lines? Why change it when you're dominating teams right now? If the plan is to match Koivu's line against top lines and get scoring from the 3rd line then I would leave Coyle with them. Coyle is the better defender than Nino or Zucker and is better suited to be the "worker" on a line where Nino and Zucker are better suited to be the guy to drive offense on their lines.

Bottom 6
Nino has been good, needs to get stronger on his skates but I don't have any real complaints about his game. Haula hasn't been near the level he was at in the playoffs last year, but he hasn't been terrible either. Fontaine is what he is, a guy who can help out in just about any situation, but isn't going to be "the guy" on any line. 4th line has been about as good as you can ask out of a 4th line.

Possible changes in the bottom 6
Zucker would be better than Fontaine on the 3rd line, but is the upgrade worth killing any scoring from the 4th line? Brodziak could probably replace Carter without much if any fall off but why? The Brodziak needs to play crowd is baffling to me, what does he bring that Carter doesn't? Carter is faster(which has benefited Zucker's game) more physical and appears to be at least as good offensively and on the PK and faceoffs.

Defense
The D is unreal right now. Suter's minutes are actually down a little, Brodin is better than ever, and Spurgeon and Scandella have been absolutely amazing. Those 2 are better than the top pair on a handful of teams. The Kids look promising and even Ballard and Prosser have been better than you can reasonably expect from #7-8 dmen.

Wilson and Sydor have thrown out a bunch of different pairings and none have looked bad, I wouldn't change a thing.

I don't think Goaltending needs to be discussed.

Now, the big one, the PP
I don't think it has been that bad, but 0-20 is 0-20. My major problems with the current set up.
1. Pominville is not good on the point. There's no point in having Dumba on the roster if you're not going to give him big PP minutes.
2. You have the worst shooter of the 5(Koivu) in a shooters spot. Koivu can't score from where he is and other teams know this, and because of that it's difficult for him to get the puck to Vanek or the dman on the backside.
3. You have the worst passer of the 5(Parise) in a passers spot. Parise can't make the backdoor pass and can't or wont take the puck to the front of the net. Jamming it into the side of the net doesn't count.
4. You severely limit the talents of your two best goal scorers (Vanek, Parise) by having them play 4 feet apart from each other.

My solution
Suter QB's, Dumba triggers and floats to the backdoor. Vanek net front, Koivu down low and Granlund on the wall. Granlund probably isn't much of an improvement shooting wise, but I want his vision and ability to make the seam passes out there. Koivu is better at getting the puck to the front of the net (either passing or carrying) from down low than Parise is. Still leaves Parise and plenty of talent for a 2nd unit as well.

Best post of the string . Well done. to add one item: TV needs to be higher in the slot ..6-8 feet out . Simple geometry on the deflections. If you have watched him when hot ..that where it happens from. They have him playing too deep. I agree on the Parise TV flip. The problem with the wild is there are only four truly skilled offensive forwards and three of them are on the first line. Flip one and you have two true threat lines.

 

[MNWILDFAN001]

Don't break up the Parise - Granlund - Pominville line, it works. Granlund skates around the offensive zone in ways that Koivu can't, or doesn't for whatever reason. That's what makes that line work, 3 mobile players. When you watch them, they're all over the zone. I say keep Vanek - Koivu - Coyle line together and hope they start clicking. Although they're going to have to start moving their feet more in the offensive zone. You can't just stand there and expect to get the puck. It's not hard for a d-man to cover someone standing still. Next 2 lines I would like to see are Nino - Haula - Zucker and Cooke - Carter/Brodz - Fontaine.

For PP, hire a new PP coach.

 

[Jarick]

Really hard to touch the lines after yesterday's domination.

I love Zucker and hate seeing him get the short end of the stick...but I like that all four lines are a scoring threat right now. Still, we'd probably see more goals out of him (and the team) if he was in the top nine.

Right now I'd like to see:

Vanek-Granlund-Pommer
Parise-Koivu-Coyle
Zucker-Haula-Nino
Cooke-Brodziak-Fontaine

PP1:
Vanek-Granlund-Parise-Dumba-Suter

PP2:
Nino-Koivu-Zucker-Pommer-Spurgeon

 

[J22*]

Really hard to touch the lines after yesterday's domination.

I love Zucker and hate seeing him get the short end of the stick...but I like that all four lines are a scoring threat right now. Still, we'd probably see more goals out of him (and the team) if he was in the top nine.

Right now I'd like to see:

Vanek-Granlund-Pommer
Parise-Koivu-Coyle
Zucker-Haula-Nino
Cooke-Brodziak-Fontaine

PP1:
Vanek-Granlund-Parise-Dumba-Suter

PP2:
Nino-Koivu-Zucker-Pommer-Spurgeon

Swapping only Granlund for Koivu on the PP changes what exactly? I mean besides the fact that you now most likely lose the face off, and hurt your chances on zone entries. If everything else stays the same, where is the upgrade going from Koivu to Granlund? Also, two righties on the point of PP2? Really?

 

[grN1g]

I have to say I was shocked.

Shocked in a good way? or shocked like im out of my mind? lol