So last year everyone hated that Murray changed the lines so often. Now we have one loss and everyone is thrilled to see a knee-jerk reaction in lineup changes.
Sure, seeing Lokti will be cool, but I care more about the philosophy behind the changes than the lines themselves.
I'm guessing one of Richardson/Clifford will be scratched.
I hope it's not Clifford. I want him to get to 9 games as quickly as humanly possible. Better yet, if they're only going to play him 7 minutes a game, they could send him down right away... We sure could use the OHL's best power forward here in Barrie...
i think Stoll is better than Stoll if you ask me...i'd put Stoll on the 2nd and Stoll on the 3rd...NOT the other way around
Then you would have two centers on one line and two right wings on another. Besides I think this could be a breakout year for Stoll, but Stoll is past his prime.
So last year everyone hated that Murray changed the lines so often. Now we have one loss and everyone is thrilled to see a knee-jerk reaction in lineup changes.
Sure, seeing Lokti will be cool, but I care more about the philosophy behind the changes than the lines themselves.
I'm never a guy to question the coaches decisions as if I know better but I think there is plenty of logic to make a change right now. I don't like what I see out of Ponikarovsky in the role he was put in and I think he'd be more effective on the 2nd line and the 3rd line would benefit from having someone who is more suited for cycling the puck. That is why I suggested moving Richardson or Smyth to that position. Might as well play to the players strengths and if Smyth needs some time to get up to speed, I think Murray's decision to put some more skill with the Kopitar is a good one. I also think he should move Brown back down to the second line and move Williams up but Brown will probably have to pork TM's daughter before that happens.
I like the way the second line has played but so far but breaking that up for the sake of the other 3 lines isn't a bad idea.
Atlanta is a big tough team, no chance Westgarth should be sat. Clifford as much as I love him, has been abysmal. He needs to go back to juniors and get one more year to absolutely dominate.
Sitting Westgarth against ATL is not in our best interests, but if he keeps taking stupid minor penalties he's going to leave us no choice in future contests. I am good with these changes.
So last year everyone hated that Murray changed the lines so often. Now we have one loss and everyone is thrilled to see a knee-jerk reaction in lineup changes.
Sure, seeing Lokti will be cool, but I care more about the philosophy behind the changes than the lines themselves.
People hated it because Murray would switch up lines that gelled together. Richardson-Kopi-Simmonds, Richie-Stoll-Brown are 2 that come to mind. It was pretty clear these lines needed to be changed though, they just werent generating anything offensively. Although I still feel Williams should be on the top line, not Brown. Schenn and Richie together should be fun to watch
So last year everyone hated that Murray changed the lines so often. Now we have one loss and everyone is thrilled to see a knee-jerk reaction in lineup changes.
Sure, seeing Lokti will be cool, but I care more about the philosophy behind the changes than the lines themselves.
I understand what your saying but you have a unknown commodity sitting in the press box and your trying to fit him in. I dont think you pull Brayden, hes played well. The bottom 6 is pretty stable so the only logical place to put loki is on the first. At least that was my thinking.
I thought his nickname was something Jimmy Neutron related?
They called him Jimmy too. He sure does have a lot of nicknames
Quote:
Around the Windsor dressing room, Loktionov is simply known as Jimmy by his Spitfire teammates. As in Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius, a popular cartoon character. "The fans started that because he’s such a smart player on the ice," said Spitfires right-winger Dale Mitchell, often Loktionov’s linemate and always his road roommate. "They put the comparison together with the cartoon." With his deft moves, lightning speed and precision puckhandling, like the animated Jimmy, Windsor’s Jimmy often appears to be light years ahead of the rest.
I thought his nickname was something Jimmy Neutron related?
I think Jimmy was his main nickname, and I remember Nessi being used, too.
Also, about the lineup changes... I don't know. The best forwards for those two games have been Kopi, Williams, and Schenn. I think I'd rather see Williams move up, even though giving someone as crafty as Lokti certainly isn't a bad thing.
Big move! I wanted to see Loktionov play wing during pre-season, I knew eventually it would have to happen. Nice to have a skill guy thrown into the lineup. Let's hope he doesn't get Moller'd out there.
If these new line combo's don't work, I think the next changes could pairing Williams and Schenn together, along with Smytty. Zeus' line stays the same, which would result in an fast energetic Stoll line if you add Trevor Lewis subbing for Westgarth.
So last year everyone hated that Murray changed the lines so often. Now we have one loss and everyone is thrilled to see a knee-jerk reaction in lineup changes.
Sure, seeing Lokti will be cool, but I care more about the philosophy behind the changes than the lines themselves.
For me the philosophy behind it would be that Smyth is most effective in tight spaces and needs another forward that supports the puck and makes nifty short passes. That description fits Williams a lot better than it does Brown or Kopitar.
Loktionov deserves a chance to show his creativity with Kopitar. The kid isn't going to stick as a bottom sixer this season.
I'm not complaining about this change up, just to be clear. While I would have prefered to see Williams and Stoll switched, I'm excited about these lines. I just don't want to see them switched constantly. I want to find a top line that remains in tact. I don't think that will be this line, unless Loktionov lights it on fire in a big way, I just can't see this being anything other than temporary.
If Richardson was able to play RW (he isn't, its a myth that he can... not sure where it got started), or if he was under performing enough to warrant subbing Lewis in for him, then I would have liked to see Westgarth benched in favor of Clifford, but there is a good point to be made that Atlanta is a tough team.
Are you people crazy? Sit Westy at the home opener against the Thrashers who have Eager, Thorbourn, Boulton, Valabik and Byfuglien. Leave all those guys for 19 year old Clifford to deal with! Ha. Are you serious...Murray isn't that stupid.
Maybe you can sit him against Vancouver b/c they traded Hordi and OB, and Rypien is hurt....but Atlanta is considered one of the biggest, toughest teams out there right now in the entire NHL. I didn't even mention Ladd or Kane either....
I agree with Reaper, Clifford hasn't looked nearly as good as he did in the pre-season.....
I agree with Reaper, Clifford hasn't looked nearly as good as he did in the pre-season.....
Clifford is finding his groove and I will bet you that a big reason is because he doesn't want to overstep his bounds in terms of mixing it up with Westgarth there. Westgarth leads the way, Clifford is there to back him up. Take Westgarth off the line and I am positive you will see Clifford starting to mix it up a lot more both in terms of hitting, trash talking and fighting.
In terms of playing hockey, Clifford has been fine.
If the Poni-Handzus-Simmonds line doesn't do SOMETHING, they need to move Poni off that line and replace him with Richardson. Besides Poni's penalties, that line has been totally invisible.
Yesss Loktionov gonna be on the first line, I absolutely love it. It'll be interesting to see if Loktionov gets to play on the PP with Kopi and Schenn or if it'll stay the same
Yesss Loktionov gonna be on the first line, I absolutely love it. It'll be interesting to see if Loktionov gets to play on the PP with Kopi and Schenn or if it'll stay the same
Murray likes to keep someone like Smyth or Handzus on the PP to get in front of the net. It's effective when the PP's clicking so I doubt he changes that. PP should be
