Zibs Panarin Kreider as top line?

[Anthony5967]

This belongs in the RBT imo.

Regardless of that, it's about f***ing time. They look dynamic af!

(who played the right side? Kreider or Bread?)

Panarin was the RW

 

[Kovalev27]

I think Laf Strome Kakko would all thrive honestly

 

[NYRFANMANI]

I think Laf Strome Kakko would all thrive honestly

We do need Laf and Kakk to click together. The sooner the better. Looking forward to tonight.

I hope Gallant plays Kreider-Zib-Bread again. Hey, it's the KZB again!!

 

[duhmetreE]

I'm honestly just tired of watching Panarin-Strome. It's like a heroin addict trying to get their first high.... 2019 pre covid, is looking to be a one-off.

 

[Kovalev27]

And the thing is Strome imo has played his best hockey lately separated from Panarin

he’s been tremendous when Panarin has been out

 

[Paul Padovano]

I think that's the best way to go. Let Laf and Kakko figure this out together. After all, they're likely to be teammates for a very long time. While the new KZB line should be even better than the original. See if Gallant can keep these lines together for more than 20 minutes.

 

[Paul Padovano]

I'm honestly just tired of watching Panarin-Strome. It's like a heroin addict trying to get their first high.... 2019 pre covid, is looking to be a one-off.

In all honesty, at least the heroin addict can increase the dosage. Which may also stop the pain of watching Goodrow constantly being moved up to play along side Strome and Artemi.

 

[TheDirtyH]

It works for several reasons as we saw Sat. night:

1) It's very hard for lines to consistently dictate play and outscore opposition. Especially for lines that will face top opposition every night. More often than not, individual players can't themselves push the meter on these things much. There are definitely exceptions, but they are very few and far between. The concern is that if you load up a top line then if and when that line struggles or gets shut down, you have nothing behind it to attack with. But putting your best players together makes it exponentially easier on each of those players not to be shut down.

Nobody would look at Boston or Colorado and think that Bergeron, Marchand, Pastrnak, MacKinnon, Rantanen, or Landeskog aren't good enough players on their own to play on their own lines. But it's undeniable that when these players play together they open up so much for each other and are so much harder to defend individually for the opposing team. Two teams off the top of my head that notbaly made this switch this year and teamwide have had phenomenal success for doing so are Calgary and Nashville.

2) We've spent so much of the last two seasons trying to find the right RW for Strome and Panarin. What is the value of their chemistry to the team if it is predicated on a third player that also matches that chemistry more or less perfectly? Ultimately, what we've seen is that Panarin and Strome don't necessarily make each other better; Panarin, Strome, and Jesper Fast was a dominant line.

3) Strome has proven himself to be a capable top six center. He doesn't need Panarin on his line. He's also had great results with Lafreniere across the last two years.

So, on this team it has a lot of value for pretty simple reasons. It allows the team at large to play the kind of N-S, four line hockey Gallant wants, while also creating a situation that can still maximally leverage the skillsets of the teams two most talented players, Zibanejad and Panarin. It solves the problem of LW/RW slotting in the top six (which was always ridiculous). It frees us from the self-inflicted problem of the right right wing for Panarin-Strome. And it better allows for the youth/talent to mix with the veteran/grit in the middle six.

 

[bleedblue94]

I like going the route of one big line, but it begs the question of why can panarin play the rw with zib and kreider, but he couldnt play the rw to help get laf into the top six to start the season when the staff was scrambling trying to find an option to move CK or laf to the rw to get the trio into the top 6? It just seems kind of silly, but looks like turk finally made the call.

Laf and strome together would be a good move to commit to for a few games. Laf cant defer to any of the big stars and strome actually seems to be a better player overall when he is away from panarin.

Find an impact rw to play with strome and laf, and get an actual 3c in here...

 

[mas0764]

Yes.

We need it. Our 5v5 play sucks. We need a spark. Panarin looked revitalized last night. All 3 work can help eachother.

And Lafreniere and Kakko have both looked good playing with Strome.

 

[mas0764]

You load up one line and you make it easier for the other team to defend.

But right now all the lines are easy to defend.

 

[mas0764]

I'm honestly just tired of watching Panarin-Strome. It's like a heroin addict trying to get their first high.... 2019 pre covid, is looking to be a one-off.

They quick strike frequently, but between that they don't generate anything, no possession, no momentum. They just turn it over and then it's back with the other team.

Scoring is important but scoring after possessing the puck for long periods is better than having the other team get ten shots and then scoring in one rush up the ice.

 

[Paul Padovano]

You load up one line and you make it easier for the other team to defend.

Rangers had the GAG line, Islanders had the Lilco line, Sabres had the French Connection line, Flyers had the Legion of Doom line, Detroit had The Production line, Montreal had The Punch line, Boston had The Nitro line, L.A. had The Triple Crown line, Quebec had The Stastny line, and I can go on and on......(Rangers had another called The Bread line). Point is, these lines were loaded, and tough to defend

 

[TheDirtyH]

Rangers had the GAG line, Islanders had the Lilco line, Sabres had the French Connection line, Flyers had the Legion of Doom line, Detroit had The Production line, Montreal had The Punch line, Boston had The Nitro line, L.A. had The Triple Crown line, Quebec had The Stastny line, and I can go on and on......(Rangers had another called The Bread line). Point is, these lines were loaded, and tough to defend

yeah historically and even presently that argument doesn’t hold water. The problem in Edmonton isn’t what happens when drai and mcdavid share the ice, it’s that they have a bad team beyond those two. On teams with actually competitive rosters beyond their best two or three forwards, it’s more or less the exact strategy they employ.

 

[JMan74]

You nail down another top 6 forward the big line works even better as your 2nd line can be (Trade)-Strome- Laffy or Kakko whoever is playing better.