Line Combos: Your Ideal Line-Combos

[LocknessMonster*]

Hertl-Jumbo-Burns
Marleau-Couture-Nieto
Torres-Pavelski-Wingels
Shep-Desi-Boyle

Vlasic-Braun
Hannan-Demers
Stuart-Tennyson

Niemi
Stalock

Boom, stanley cup

Did I read this right? You want to move Boyle to fourth line RW?

 

[PredragD]

Not including Hertl because it is most likely in his and the Sharks' best interest for him to wait till 14-15 to return.

Pavelski (8) - Thornton (19) - Burns (88)
Marleau (12) - Couture (39) - Nieto (83)
Havlat (9) - Sheppard (15) - Wingels (57)
Torres (13) - Desjardins (10) - Brown (18)

First line has the two best shooters with the team's best passer. Marleau and Couture are definitely top 6 and Nieto needs to be groomed into a top 6 guy given his natural speed. Sheppard and Wingels are good two-way guys that deserve solid minutes; selected Havlat over TK due to superior skating and left shot. Fourth line needs to be pure grindline and selected Brown over Burish due to toughness.

Vlasic (44) - Demers (5)
Hannan (27) - Braun (61)
Stuart (7) - Boyle (22)

Vlasic needs to get the most ice time. Demers gives better offensive play than Braun while being more defensively responsible than Boyle. Stuart and Boyle often look sluggish, but with limited minutes can give a spark in the right situation. Irwin seems like a tweener who plays smaller than his size.

 

[Leidi J]

Not including Hertl because it is most likely in his and the Sharks' best interest for him to wait till 14-15 to return.

Wrong.

It is the Sharks best interest to give themselves the best possible chance to win the cup finally. If he is healthy (which most team sources seem to think he could be), it would be pure stupidity to sit him out for... what? I can't even think of a good reason

 

[LocknessMonster*]

Wrong.

It is the Sharks best interest to give themselves the best possible chance to win the cup finally. If he is healthy (which most team sources seem to think he could be), it would be pure stupidity to sit him out for... what? I can't even think of a good reason

Honestly, I'd rather have him sit and not rush a return.

Having surgery on the knee is pretty serious, they never disclosed whether it was a full tear to the PCL or whether he completely ruptured his meniscus but it was serious enough to have surgery. I don't want him to come back on a bad knee and get hurt again, that could be career ending.

Look how long it took Raffi to come back, Hertl only got hurt 4ish months ago. Those kind of injuries need at LEAST 6-9 months, having him sit the rest of the season and rehab all summer, I think, would be the best thing to do.

However, I don't know how healthy he is. If his knee is fully healed and strong then hell yeah bring him back. I just don't want to see him get hurt again and end his career.

 

[LocknessMonster*]

Pavelski (8) - Thornton (19) - Burns (88)
Marleau (12) - Couture (39) - Nieto (83)
Torres (13) - Desjardins (10) - Wingels (57)
Brown (18)- Sheppard (15) - Burish (9)

I like Torres at 3rd line LW instead of Havlat. Havlat honestly has been playing like **** this season and I think should be a healthy scratch and just fill in where he needs to.

As for my other changes to your lines

Desi plays a smarter game than shep, shep is improving I'll give him that but alot of the time he'll just throw the puck vaguely near the net.

Also moving Desjardin up makes the third line our hitting line, and it's lethal. Not only can they hit, but they can score too which is real nice.

Put Burish in at RW instead of Mike Brown, Burish is a better player and they're both RW so just flopped Brown over the LW. Again, this line just smashes people and Mike Brown can fight too which is a +.

 

[Reefer]

I like Torres at 3rd line LW instead of Havlat. Havlat honestly has been playing like **** this season and I think should be a healthy scratch and just fill in where he needs to.

As for my other changes to your lines

Desi plays a smarter game than shep, shep is improving I'll give him that but alot of the time he'll just throw the puck vaguely near the net.

Also moving Desjardin up makes the third line our hitting line, and it's lethal. Not only can they hit, but they can score too which is real nice.

Put Burish in at RW instead of Mike Brown, Burish is a better player and they're both RW so just flopped Brown over the LW. Again, this line just smashes people and Mike Brown can fight too which is a +.

Desjardins should never be in the top 9, we saw how that hurts last year. I love him centering the 4th, but if Sheppard keeps up his play then it he should stay as the 3rd line C. I hope Nieto can continue his play of late and keep developing that chemistry with Marleau and Couture. With Hertl out I like lines of

8 - 19 - 88
12 - 39 - 83
9 - 15 - 57
13 - 10 - 37/18/81 depending upon the matchup.

If Havlat can't contribute consistently then Torres can move up where he likely belongs and you bring Brown or Kennedy in. If Havlat would just bring a little more passion in his game that 3rd line could really use his offensive talents to go with their grit and board ability.

 

[19sharks19]

I'm thinking with Hertl returning;

Hertl-Thornton-Burns
Marleau-Couture-Nieto
Torres-Pavelski-Wingels
Kennedy/Havlat-Desjardins-Sheppard
(Burish and Brown simply if one of the 4th liners is injured or having an off game or two).

Without Hertl;

Pavelski-Thornton-Burns
Marleau-Couture-Nieto
Torres-Sheppard-Wingels
Havlat-Desjardins-Kennedy
(again, Burish and Brown simply if one of the 4th liners is injured or having an off game or two).

Boy oh boy, with Hertl, this lineup looks SOLID and deep, so long as they stay focused and play their game. Burish and Brown bring zero, absolutely zero to our squad. They should be viewed as fillers for fourth line injuries or when needed to sit one of the fourth liners to get them motivated again. I'd MUCH rather have Havlat in there regularly than either them or Kennedy. I think Todd should be leaving him in the lineup steadily going forward. Ditto on Sheppard / steady the rest of the way.

 

[VanIslander]

Marleau - Thornton - Burns (Try it, dang you, try it!)

 

[Arrch]

Hertl - Thornton - Burns
Marleau - Couture - Nieto
Havlat - Pavelski - Wingels
Torres - Sheppard - Kennedy

4 scoring lines with the 2nd line doing shut-down duty. Speed, physicality, playmaking, and shooting is fairly balanced across all four lines.

For balanced teams (STL, LAK):

Vlasic - Demers
Irwin - Braun
Stuart/Hannan - Boyle

Vlasic can let Demers go Doughty on them and Braun can cover for Irwin's mistakes.

For top heavy teams (ANA, DAL)

Vlasic - Braun (Shutdown)
Irwin - Demers (Offense)
Hannan/Stuart - Boyle (Please don't get scored on)

 

[CanadienShark]

^ you absolutely CANNOT put Hertl on the Couture/Marleau line for the playoffs. That line always takes the toughest opposing matchups and starts in the defensive zone. As excellent as Hertl has been, TMac sheltered him when he was healthy espceially with most offensive zone starts. I have no doubt he will develop his defensive game, but he is not ready for that in the playoffs this year. Especially coming off his injury

You might say the same about Nieto... but he's holding his own right now. We'll see how that goes.

Hertl-Thornton-Burns
Marleau-Couture-Nieto
Torres-Pavelski-Wingels
Havlat-Desjardins-Sheppard

Looks nice.

Might swap Wingels and Nieto though for the playoffs... Wingels has shown he can handle his own and helps create offensive space and chaos for Marleau/Couture. Same as Torres would on the third line... You know I do like that better actually. I also like Shep a little better at center than Desi... but who knows if Desi can play wing...

Hertl-Thornton-Burns
Marleau-Couture-Wingels
Torres-Pavelski-Nieto
Havlat-Sheppard-Kennedy/Desi/Burish/Brown...

???

That's my ideal lineup.

 

[FeedingFrenzy]

Why on earth are some of you putting Torres on the 4th line???

Wow.


Torres should never even sniff 4th line minutes . The guy is a game changer and should be playing on the 3rd line at the least.


Hertl-JT-Burns
Patty-Juicy-Nieto
Torres-Pavs-Wingels
Kennedy-Shepp-Desi

With everyone healthy TMAC has loads of options. Come PO time this will cause huge matchup problems for other teams imo. Gotta give props to Commander Sheppard, he has stepped up and I am loving his game..Glad to see Shepp proving why he was such a high pick and not a slouch like some HF Sharks fans think(SJEasy )

that 3rd line is scary.

 

[SharksFan1]

Why on earth are some of you putting Torres on the 4th line???

Wow.


Torres should never even sniff 4th line minutes . The guy is a game changer and should be playing on the 3rd line at the least.

I completely agree.
Unless of course he's knee is still bothering him a little and you want to limit his minutes.

Also at this point, and the way Pavs has played since putting him on JT's line, I would prefer Hertl on the 3rd line if he comes back rather than movie Pavs back down.

 

[sharski]

Did I read this right? You want to move Boyle to fourth line RW?

it's the ace in the hole that we should play if we ever find ourselves in panic mode

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

Can't split up Neatsy from Patty and Logan at this point. Leave ES and PK lines as they currently are.

PP:

Marleau-Thornton-Pavelski
Demers-Burns

Nieto-Couture-Wingels
Boyle-Braun

Then switch Wingels and Hertl upon Hertl's return

Fully healthy ES for me

Hertl-Thornton-Burns
Marleau-Couture-Nieto
Torres-Pavelski-Wingels
Desjardins-Sheppard-Kennedy

Vlasic-Demers
Boyle-Hannan
Stuart-Braun

I know you all don't want to, but face the facts, Pavelski is not nearly as good as his current goal production is saying. His shooting percentage will eventually regress to the mean, and I don't want to stick Hertl in an awkward spot on the 3rd line while we watch Pavs get cold and then switch them mid-playoffs

Expecting Pavelski's current production to continue is simply ludicrous

 

[Timos Death Stare]

it's the ace in the hole that we should play if we ever find ourselves in panic mode

I can't tell if you're being serious....

... that is an absolutely terrible idea. Ace in the hole? More like terrible experiment that will end in absolute failure. You want to replace Boyle with someone who hasn't even played one NHL game this season? Jeeze.

 

[Oppa]

you'd sit Hertl even if he gets the ok to play in order to "not rush things?"

gtfo, I want the cup

 

[LocknessMonster*]

you'd sit Hertl even if he gets the ok to play in order to "not rush things?"

gtfo, I want the cup

I'll answer your question with a question. Would you play him if his knee wasn't 100% and he could end his career if he got hit again?

 

[Herschel]

I'll answer your question with a question. Would you play him if his knee wasn't 100% and he could end his career if he got hit again?

If Hertl is ok to play then the above statement is unlikely to be true;

 

[CupfortheSharks]

I don't think Hertl is coming back this year. Our best chance is to go 3 deep so I think Pavelski has to move back to 3C.

Nieto - Thornton - Burns
Marleau - Couture - Wingles
Torres - Pavelski - Sheppard
Desjardins - Burish - Kennedy
Havlat/Brown

Vlasic - Braun
Stuart - Demers
Hannan - Boyle
Irwin

 

[Herschel]

If Hertl is not coming back, although I think he is I would run with this.

Pavelski - Thornton - Burns
Marleau - Couture - Havlat/Nieto
Torres - Sheppard - Wingels
Nieto/Havlat - Desjardins - Kennedy
Brown/Burish


This might appear a bit top heavy Pavs staying up on the first line but with Torres & Wingels the third line should still be effective.

As I see it the biggest question mark is can Havlat/Nieto handle the tough minutes playing on Couture's line.

 

[Timos Death Stare]

If Hertl is not coming back, although I think he is I would run with this.

Pavelski - Thornton - Burns
Marleau - Couture - Havlat/Nieto
Torres - Sheppard - Wingels
Nieto/Havlat - Desjardins - Kennedy
Brown/Burish


This might appear a bit top heavy Pavs staying up on the first line but with Torres & Wingels the third line should still be effective.

As I see it the biggest question mark is can Havlat/Nieto handle the tough minutes playing on Couture's line.

I would really rather have Nieto on the 2nd. Havlat brings that line down - although that is the line where Havlat is the most effective. Havlat brings zero board play, gives up on plays, and defensively is suspect IMHO. I just don't think he has a place on the team other than serving as a replacement.

 

[Juxtaposer]

I would really rather have Nieto on the 2nd. Havlat brings that line down - although that is the line where Havlat is the most effective. Havlat brings zero board play, gives up on plays, and defensively is suspect IMHO. I just don't think he has a place on the team other than serving as a replacement.

Simply not true.

 

[hockfan1991]

If hertl is healthy I would live to see. Hertl/ joe/ burns- patty/couture/havlat- Torres/ pavs/ wingels- nieto/shep/Kennedy. It will never happen you can also swap nieto havlat. But I love that lineup. The fourth line can be changed to bring in a desi or Burish depending who we match up against. But that fourth line could create some o

 

[Timos Death Stare]

Simply not true.

I disagree. I feel like he makes Couture and Marleau less effective. I'm going by the eye test, but when Wingels and Nieto are with him the line seems much more complete.

 

[Gene Parmesan]

Currently

Pavelski-Thornton-Burns
Nieto-Couture-Marleau
Torres-Sheppard-Wingels
Burish-Desi-Kennedy

Brown, Havlat

Vlasic-Demers
Stuart-Braun
Hannan-Boyle
Irwin.