Soon Duchene will be back and it's looking like Avs will be fully healthy. It presents some interesting options. Do you go with two scoring lines or three balanced lines? Where does Duchene fit in now that we have two lines clicking? My preference would be:
I know some here really like van der Gulik, but I think he'll be the odd man out given that he is on a two-way contract and the team has invested another year in Kobasew.
The first line is obvious, you don't break that up. All three of them have looked good lately.
Moving Mueller off the O'Reilly line isn't ideal, but Duchene needs help on his line and Winnik with Duchene would be brutal.
I love everything about your lineup EXCEPT for McLeod. I would any day put VDG in over him. He brings more to the on-ice product than McLeod does, hands-down. Granted, this is coming from someone who has never liked #55. But yes, I bet VDG will be the odd-guy out (sadly).
VDG has a chance to stick. He's only been a healthy scratch once, right? Sacco seems to trust him as well, as he's been getting pretty significant PK time.
I'd certainly play him over McLeod, but McLeod seems to have escaped being a healthy scratch all year.
Winnik and Duchene actually had very good chemistry last year. Just saying....
Jones-Stastny-Hejduk needs to be a constant.
I think the next thing to do is go for pairs:
Lando-O'Reilly-
-Duchene-Mueller
Those seem the obvious choices. But do we want to break up the O'Reilly line with Mueller? Im not so sure. To be honest, I'd like to see VDG get a chance to play in the top nine instead of Winnik. Winnik kills plays offensively.
Duchene is a bit of a soloist offensively anyways and he just needs guys to dig the puck out of the corners for him and crash the net, two things VDG and Gally are good at. Duchene can create by himself, but I think Lando and Radar need a finisher like Mueller with them.
Either way getting Duchene back makes us 4 lines deep. It gives us 3 lines thar can score, and legitimizes our fourth line with actual strong defensive NHLers.
Soon Duchene will be back and it's looking like Avs will be fully healthy. It presents some interesting options. Do you go with two scoring lines or three balanced lines? Where does Duchene fit in now that we have two lines clicking? My preference would be:
Jones-Staz-Duke (it has worked before) Landeskog-O'Reilly-Galiardi (Could be absolutely a horrible line to play against) Mueller-Duchene-Kobasew (Kobasew brings grit to the otherwise great offensive line) Winnik-McClement-McLeod (McLeod sucks but he is better than Porter as VDG has too low of a salary) Porter
8 defensemen(Can't keep VDG up due to Cap, otherwise he would be in instead of McLeod)
Of course if Olver is brought up as VDG is sent down (with Porter or Barrie)
Then it would be:
Jones-Staz-Duke (it has worked before) Landeskog-O'Reilly-Galiardi (Could be absolutely a horrible line to play against) Mueller-Duchene-Olver (Should be a good offensive line) Winnik-McClement-Kobasew (should be a good 4th line) McLeod,Porter (if Barrie is sent down)
I'd never put Winnik on a top-3 line again. Never ever with O'Reilly, Staz or Duchene. (some of you might laugh as I put Koby with Dutchy, but I still think he is more of an offensive threat than Winnik)
That card has been seen too many times with poor results.
Problem is, the only 2 guys on the team that Duchene has any shown Chemistry with are Hejduk and Mueller. He played OK with Stastny, but it was just OK. He did well with Olver last year, but he's not going to get called up unless there is a trade or an injury. I hate to say it, but I think Jones will be the victim, and gets dropped to the 3rd or 4th line to make room for Matty on Satz's line.
I think a Landy-Radar-Gally line would be too much of the same. It needs a finisher/skilled player like Mueller.
While, I see what your saying about too much of the same but I just feel that line would be a pain in the ass to play against. I think it could be a our most effective line. TBH
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill Peckerskull
I hate to say it, but I think Jones will be the victim, and gets dropped to the 3rd or 4th line to make room for Matty on Satz's line.
If Sacco does that he really is retarded. Jones has played about 10X better in the last week with Stastny than Duchene ever has.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nzap
It worked out very well with the Duke
Oh wait....
That's a fair point but Mueller has been working well with that line. So, far.
Quote:
Originally Posted by forsbergavs32
I'm willing to bet that Sacco throws Duchene right back on Stastny's wing.
If you havent noticed the Duke is not the same player he once was. Not even close.
That's correct, but I would like to see how that line would fair.
Defensively it would be good, and I have a feeling it could work offensively as well.
Me to, i personally think people underrate, landys vision passing and shot guy can pick his spots when he got a good chance and its only gonna improve. can't wait a few years so we all can see what landys made of offensively gonna be a treat. i see no failure in this guy, with the work ethic he got i can see him pulling of 40/45 seasons. call me crazy if ya want. same goes for O'reily i can see him as a 25-30 goals max with 50-55 assists. since i first watched RoR his skating+shot have gotten so much better same with his stickhandling.
Last edited by Landeskog The Viking: 02-14-2012 at 06:15 AM.
