The Canucks are virtually locked into 1st or 2nd in the conference. In essense, the rest of the regular season means nothing.
I'd like to see Kassian tried out with the twins. Why not? That line is struggling anyway - see what the kid's got. Maybe it would get the Sedins going and give Kassian some confidence.
I'd also like to see AV trade starts between Luongo and Schneider for the rest of the season.
I like him best on the '4th line' with Lapierre and Malhotra. That seems to be where he fit best, and it seemed to spark Lapierre as well, with Malhotra acting as a bit of a 'safety net' when those two went on a seek and destroy mission on the forecheck.
Give that '4th line' decent minutes roughly split with the 'Raymond-Pahlsson-Hansen' '3rd line', and give Kassian the famed 'post-PK shifts with the Twins' as a change of pace.
I just don't see his defensive game being ready for the top-6, especially considering he'll be opposite Booth whose defensive game is also quite suspect. And those defensive shortcomings kind of rule him out of the '3rd line' if we're going for the Pahlsson-centric 'shutdown unit', where both Hansen and Raymond are more reliable defensively. I also don't see the point in putting him on the same line as Hansen and forcing one of them out of position...and it would make for a somewhat confused line as well, in that it wouldn't be the 'shutdown unit' AV seems to want, but it leaves the other bottom-6 line weaker without Hansen's contributions to a 'shutdown unit'.
4th line down the stretch. Give that line more minutes and manage our high end players time down the stretch. We need to get Malhotra going I'm not worried about the top two lines like everyone else, start to crank them up in April right before the playoffs and they'll be fine. In the playoffs there will be an injury somewhere so it's kind of a moot point predicting right now where Kassian goes at that juncture
Pretty bang on, this will be a good learning experience for Kass this season/playoffs, then in the offseason he has to get physically stronger and a smidgen more quicker on his skates by taking power skate training (Learn to move your body on the ice with maximum efficiency and minimal effort.)
4th line. I don't understand why people constantly do the "PUT KASSIAN ON THE TOP SIX!!" thing when he hasn't shown any success or potential there yet. Unless he really plays like we haven't seen from him before, I don't want him anywhere near the top six in the playoffs.
1st line in Chicago with Schroeder and Reinprecht.
He looks sorely lost and out of place on most shifts. The boy needs some more time to work on his game in the AHL. I think you'll see Reinprecht take his spot once the Playoffs begin, folks.
1st line in Chicago with Schroeder and Reinprecht.
He looks sorely lost and out of place on most shifts. The boy needs some more time to work on his game in the AHL. I think you'll see Reinprecht take his spot once the Playoffs begin, folks.
He can't play in the AHL the rest of this season + playoffs.
