What Should the Opening Day Lineup Be

[Micklebot]

Apparently PP lines at practice today were:

MacArthur-Legwand-Ryan
Karlsson-Turris

Michalek-Zibanejad-Chiasson
Ceci-Hoffman

...not a bad idea throwing Turris onto the point I suppose.

Interesting...

We gave up double digit shorthanded goals (tied for 4th most last season) and our answer is putting a forward on both units?

Things I like;
- Everyone on the PP is an above average to great skater with the exception of Ryan and maybe Chiasson.
- Turris, Hoffman, Ceci, and Karlsson all have good to great shots and are good passers.
- If a center gets tossed from the dot, we have an equally accomplished backup (1st unit only)
- Most of the guys our there are considered defensively responsible.

Causes for concern;
- Rookie forward and sophomore D on the point of unit 2
- no real playmaker on unit 2
- Little high end skill, might not look very good if the guys don't move their feet and outwork the PK.

 

[Very Stable Genius]

Sigh, I wish they would keep Zibanejad on the point. Now he is just going to be stuck in the slot/screening with no shooting options.

 

[Hale The Villain]

Interesting...

We gave up double digit shorthanded goals (tied for 4th most last season) and our answer is putting a forward on both units?

No Phillips on the point will mean less shorthanded goals against.

 

[guyzeur]

Interesting...

We gave up double digit shorthanded goals (tied for 4th most last season) and our answer is putting a forward on both units?

Things I like;
- Everyone on the PP is an above average to great skater with the exception of Ryan and maybe Chiasson.
- Turris, Hoffman, Ceci, and Karlsson all have good to great shots and are good passers.
- If a center gets tossed from the dot, we have an equally accomplished backup (1st unit only)
- Most of the guys our there are considered defensively responsible.

Causes for concern;
- Rookie forward and sophomore D on the point of unit 2
- no real playmaker on unit 2
- Little high end skill, might not look very good if the guys don't move their feet and outwork the PK.

How many times did Spezza gave the puck away and how many times did Phillips play the point? last yeAr

 

[Very Stable Genius]

So excited for Thursday even if things go pear-shaped this season. Even then, at least I'll have this to use regualrly:

 

[Micklebot]

No Phillips on the point will mean less shorthanded goals against.

According to Behind the net, he was on the ice for zero 5vs4 goals against. Unless he was on the ice for a bunch of 5vs3 or 4vs3 goals (edit: we didn't allow any of those), or BTN isn't accurate (always possible, though I don't specifically recall any SHGA because of Phillips) I don't think you have a case.

 

[Micklebot]

How many times did Spezza gave the puck away and how many times did Phillips play the point? last yeAr

For what it's worth, Spezza and Karlsson seem to have combined for all our SHGA, this is of course in part because they received the lion's share of PP mins.

Spezza being gone will likely help, as will Karlsson being fully healthy. I'm not too worried I just brought it up as it seemed counterintuitive. Shows a lot of trust in the group from the coaches.

 

[Cosmix]

Interesting...

We gave up double digit shorthanded goals (tied for 4th most last season) and our answer is putting a forward on both units?

Things I like;
- Everyone on the PP is an above average to great skater with the exception of Ryan and maybe Chiasson.
- Turris, Hoffman, Ceci, and Karlsson all have good to great shots and are good passers.
- If a center gets tossed from the dot, we have an equally accomplished backup (1st unit only)
- Most of the guys our there are considered defensively responsible.

Causes for concern;
- Rookie forward and sophomore D on the point of unit 2
- no real playmaker on unit 2
- Little high end skill, might not look very good if the guys don't move their feet and outwork the PK.

I agree with your assessment. I always have concerns with forwards playing the point on PPs. There are very few forwards who can effectively play defence if required. They often cannot skate backwards well enough to do it. Even the great Gretzky could not do it. I am fine with Karlsson, Ceci and Wiercioch on the PP points, but not Phillips, Cowen, Gryba, Borowiecki. I could live with Methot on the PP even though he is not ideal for it. While Zibanejad has a great slapshot and could be offensively effective on the PP, I don't think he can play the defensive role when required.

 

[McCombo]

Without a doubt yes

Thx a lot !

 

[BondraTime]

Sigh, I wish they would keep Zibanejad on the point. Now he is just going to be stuck in the slot/screening with no shooting options.

He will be playing the half-wall. Spezza's old spot on the PP. Chaisson will be the guy in front of the net

Spezza let lot's of bombs go from that spot over the years.

 

[Micklebot]

He will be playing the half-wall. Spezza's old spot on the PP. Chaisson will be the guy in front of the net

Spezza let lot's of bombs go from that spot over the years.

He's had some good one-timers from there already.

I think that having the forwards on the point is an attempt to mitigate the loss of Spezza as a PP quaterback.

It will be very interesting to see how it works; I can't recall the last time a team went with both units icing 4 forwards. Might get stale quick as other teams will have lots of video to review and adjust with.

For whatever reason, this reminds me of when Pittsburgh iced 5 forwards, though we have nothing that compares to Kovalev, Lemieux, Straka, Jagr and Lang or the more recent iteration of Malkin Sullivan, Crosby Kunitz and Neal.

 

[BondraTime]

He's had some good one-timers from there already.

I think that having the forwards on the point is an attempt to mitigate the loss of Spezza as a PP quaterback.

It will be very interesting to see how it works; I can't recall the last time a team went with both units icing 4 forwards. Might get stale quick as other teams will have lots of video to review and adjust with.

For whatever reason, this reminds me of when Pittsburgh iced 5 forwards, though we have nothing that compares to Kovalev, Lemieux, Straka, Jagr and Lang or the more recent iteration of Malkin Sullivan, Crosby Kunitz and Neal.

Hoffman also played the point on our PP at the end of last year

 

[God Says No]

Hoffman also played the point on our PP at the end of last year

And in the AHL.

 

[Micklebot]

Hoffman also played the point on our PP at the end of last year

I have faith in both forwards, and it doesn't hurt that they are both fast skaters who can win a foot race should the puck get past them or their partners.

If nothing else, it should make for an exciting PP as other teams will likely want to test our forwards on the point. Mtl already looked like it's PK strategy against us was to put lots of pressure on Karlsson, my expectation is every team will look to pressure our D unless we can start to make them look foolish when they try.

sidenote: Expect opposing fans to comment that we run 5 forwards(Karlsson is a 4th forward afterall) on our #1PP...

 

[derriko]

Hmmm...I would rather have Stone on the half wall or behind the net rather than Michalek, but overall I like the pp lines. Stacking the first unit with Karlsson is a good idea since they will see about 1:30 of the 2 minutes of time.

But, If Milan is the one in front of the net instead of Chiasson on line two, thats a tad dissapointing. I think I'd prefer Chiasson since he seems to excel in that situation vs. Milan who is just kind of there. Yeah he may get to slide up to the hash marks every one in a while and get a one-t off, but hes not a great garbage goal getter. Stone would allow Chiasson to do his thing, and he could be a facilitator instead of in front of the net where he has potential, but has been having a hard time burying the puck so far. We saw his vision and smarts on display where he fed Mac that goal in the slot against the Islanders I believe.

 

[Micklebot]

Hmmm...I would rather have Stone on the half wall or behind the net rather than Michalek, but overall I like the pp lines. Stacking the first unit with Karlsson is a good idea since they will see about 1:30 of the 2 minutes of time.

But, If Milan is the one in front of the net instead of Chiasson on line two, thats a tad dissapointing. I think I'd prefer Chiasson since he seems to excel in that situation vs. Milan who is just kind of there. Yeah he may get to slide up to the hash marks every one in a while and get a one-t off, but hes not a great garbage goal getter. Stone would allow Chiasson to do his thing, and he could be a facilitator instead of in front of the net where he has potential, but has been having a hard time burying the puck so far. We saw his vision and smarts on display where he fed Mac that goal in the slot against the Islanders I believe.

Stone would be skating on his off-side if he took Michalek's spot; I think he's competing with Chiasson (and Ryan) for PP time. Not sure how big a deal it is to be on your off-side on the PP, but we've already got a foward on the Point, so it might be going a bit too far. It's a nice problem to have that even with 2 forwards on the the point, we still can't find enough spots for all our skilled forwards.

 

[Proust*]

Stone absolutely must be on a PP unit.

PP
Not of high value: Skating.
Of high value: Shooting, passing, play-making

 

[Minister of Offence]

LOL! Based on some of the views on this site, they would be "spectacular". . I agree with you.

Haven't seen anyone call these players spectacular.

 

[Lenny the Lynx]

Wish we didn't have to use 2 forward on PP defense but I guess we don't have another option right now

 

[God Says No]

Wish we didn't have to use 2 forward on PP defense but I guess we don't have another option right now

Yip. This also means that Wier is scratched to start the season. Otherwise he'd be in there.

 

[BondraTime]

Yip. This also means that Wier is scratched to start the season. Otherwise he'd be in there.

We knew he was scratched yesterday, he was skating as the 7th D

 

[derriko]

Stone absolutely must be on a PP unit.

PP
Not of high value: Skating.
Of high value: Shooting, passing, play-making

Was just about to say this. And I know I referenced it in my last post, but look what side of the ice Stone was on when he fed MacArthur. It actually helps on the goal line to be on your off wing as you can protect the puck better and see the whole ice at the same time. If you need to pass behind you, you can rim it off the boards behind the net.

 

[Cosmix]

Wish we didn't have to use 2 forward on PP defense but I guess we don't have another option right now

Yes, unfortunately that is true in my view too.

 

[Pierre from Orleans]

I just hope Phillips isn't on the powerplay any more

 

[YNWA14]

So I'm guessing this is what they're going with for the first game?:

Clarke MacArthur - Kyle Turris - Bobby Ryan
Milan Michalek - Mika Zibanejad - Alex Chiasson
Zack Smith - David Legwand - Mark Stone
Mike Hoffman - Curtis Lazar - Chris Neil

Jared Cowen - Erik Karlsson
Chris Phillips - Cody Ceci
Mark Borowiecki - Eric Gryba

Craig Anderson
Robin Lehner​

I would rather see Stone and Neil switch places. I think Stone would be much more valuable playing with Hoffman and Lazar who will create a ton of space with their speed and work ethic while Stone can slip into the holes.