Stop breaking the lines that works now i wouldnt touch the pac-plek-gio or the pouliot-DD duo as long as it works. Once cammy is back you put him with gomez and if gomeZ still sucks u send him to the press box and put cammy with poulio and DD as second line very simple
And i dont care about kostitsyn i hope hes not here march hes useless for 75% of the season
Stop breaking the lines that works now i wouldnt touch the pac-plek-gio or the pouliot-DD duo as long as it works. Once cammy is back you put him with gomez and if gomeZ still sucks u send him to the press box and put cammy with poulio and DD as second line very simple
And i dont care about kostitsyn i hope hes not here march hes useless for 75% of the season
I agree. Don't break up the lines that are producing. Try Cam - Gomez - AK for a while, in case it works, but I'm pretty sure that line was tried early on in the year and it was terrible, so I don't expect much out of it.
Keep this line together...i like the chemistry developing between Pleks and Gionta. Patches can do the dirty work in the corners and in front of the net.
Cammalleri-Desharnais-Kostitsyn
DD, arguably our teams best playmaker gets our teams two most natural goal scorers.
Pouliot-Gomez-Darche
Darche is there to keep the talented, but highly inconsistent linemates in order.
Moen-Halpern-White
A nice crash and bang fourth line that can play responsible hockey in their own end.
they've had great chemistry in the past, maybe if JM wasn't forced to mess with it early in the season to get gomez going, A.Kost would have 'broken out' the way he showed signs of through the first 20 games
MaxPac - DD - Gionta
DD is getting better every game... as is MaxPac... Gionta as a pure sniper and a workhorse would fit right in. It's a line I want to see now, but that I bet we'll seen next season.
Pouliot - Gomez - White
I'd prefer Gomez gone, but as long as he's here we have to pencil him in. Hopefully White's energy, and Pouliot new-found commitment to sound, intense 2-way hockey is enough to either get Gomez going, or hide his stumbling.
Moen - Halpern - Pyatt/Darche
energy line, plain and simple. Flip Halpern on to the 3rd line if gomez drags them down too much.
Hate leaving Eller out, but as long as we're stuck with Gomez, not much choice. DD is cementing himself as our next best centre after pleks imo, Halpern is very good in his role, and I ultimately I think that Eller is better served playing a key role in Hamilton than shuffling between lines/linemates/positions in Montreal.
I agree completely with your post (even the part about getting rid of Gomez) but I would switch DD with Gomez in your lineup.
they've had great chemistry in the past, maybe if JM wasn't forced to mess with it early in the season to get gomez going, A.Kost would have 'broken out' the way he showed signs of through the first 20 games
MaxPac - DD - Gionta
DD is getting better every game... as is MaxPac... Gionta as a pure sniper and a workhorse would fit right in. It's a line I want to see now, but that I bet we'll seen next season.
Pouliot - Gomez - White
I'd prefer Gomez gone, but as long as he's here we have to pencil him in. Hopefully White's energy, and Pouliot new-found commitment to sound, intense 2-way hockey is enough to either get Gomez going, or hide his stumbling.
Moen - Halpern - Pyatt/Darche
energy line, plain and simple. Flip Halpern on to the 3rd line if gomez drags them down too much.
Hate leaving Eller out, but as long as we're stuck with Gomez, not much choice. DD is cementing himself as our next best centre after pleks imo, Halpern is very good in his role, and I ultimately I think that Eller is better served playing a key role in Hamilton than shuffling between lines/linemates/positions in Montreal.
Max Pac-DD-Gionta? Smallest line ever.
Moen-Halpern-Darche/Pyatt? Slowest line ever.
I think that this gives us the best balance and really 3 lines that can contribute well offensively and a responsible 4th line that might chip in a goal once every few games.
I'd rather have MaxPac with DD to be honest, but I don't think that Gomez-Gionta-Pouliot would work right now the way Gomez has been playing. If we want to get anything out of this line, I think MaxPac is needed.
But a lot of the wingers could be swapped in those lines.
I think that Eller needs some times in Hamilton right now because he's only regressed in the last month, I found him a lot better earlier in the season. I think he just has no clue how to play winger (AND SHOULDN'T HAVE TO LEARN, HE'S A CENTER!), and he's not contributing much the way it's going. I have full confidence in his potential, but he needs the Pacioretty treatment.
But if with these lines after 4-5 games AK and Gomez are not producing still, I'd quickly switch them down and go for:
Pacioretty - Plekanec - Cammalleri
Gomez - Desharnais - Gionta
Pouliot - Eller - Kostitsyn
Moen - Halpern - White
Gill - Subban
Hamrlik - Spacek
Weber - Wisniewski
Price
Auld
-----------------------------------------
FOR THE PLAYOFFS:
Pacioretty - Plekanec - Cammalleri
Gomez - Desharnais - Gionta
Pouliot - Arnott - Kostitsyn ( or trade AK and play Neil on the 3rd line and White on 4th line)
Moen - Halpern - Neil
-Cammalleri will be rusty coming back from his injury and he'll need Plekanec to get going. This line has worked before and Andrei has good chemistry with Plekanec and might get going too.
-Our 7.4 million man, Gomez, needs to get going too and played better with Patches and Gionta. Also, I agree that Gainey and PG made their bed when they signed Gionta to go along with Gomez and they should lie in it now.
-Personnally, I would go with Pouliot-DD-White as the 3rd line because they are working now and they complement each other well: Pouliot being the shooter, DD the passer and White the grit.
-Finally. the 4th line is the rest and that's about it. Darche has good chemistry with Halpern and we can't sit Moen.
Edit: I believe Eller would be best served playing in the AHL like Patches did, but this is a topic for another thread.
I wouldn't mind replacing Kostitsyn if we can go and get somebody, but hopefully that line regains its chemistry. Ditto for the 2nd line. I'd love for Pouliot to be in the top 6, but it doesn't look likely unless he's willing to play on the right wing on line 1.
Aren't the arguments to not break up the current top line are kind of ridiculous? The truth is that any line that Pleks centers tends to work so you're best off trying to make the most out of the Gomez line and then stick the remaining 2 wingers with Plekanec.
When Cammy comes back I want Max and Gio back with Gomez. When you have guys like Ak and eller with Gomez on a line your asking for it. You need defensively responsible players on each line so I want the lines to go back as they were.
When Cammy comes back I want Max and Gio back with Gomez. When you have guys like Ak and eller with Gomez on a line your asking for it. You need defensively responsible players on each line so I want the lines to go back as they were.
they've had great chemistry in the past, maybe if JM wasn't forced to mess with it early in the season to get gomez going, A.Kost would have 'broken out' the way he showed signs of through the first 20 games
MaxPac - DD - Gionta
DD is getting better every game... as is MaxPac... Gionta as a pure sniper and a workhorse would fit right in. It's a line I want to see now, but that I bet we'll seen next season.
Pouliot - Gomez - White
I'd prefer Gomez gone, but as long as he's here we have to pencil him in. Hopefully White's energy, and Pouliot new-found commitment to sound, intense 2-way hockey is enough to either get Gomez going, or hide his stumbling.
Moen - Halpern - Pyatt/Darche
energy line, plain and simple. Flip Halpern on to the 3rd line if gomez drags them down too much.
Hate leaving Eller out, but as long as we're stuck with Gomez, not much choice. DD is cementing himself as our next best centre after pleks imo, Halpern is very good in his role, and I ultimately I think that Eller is better served playing a key role in Hamilton than shuffling between lines/linemates/positions in Montreal.
