Pre training camp, I believe these are the most likely line combos to start the year.
Line 1: Toff - Suzuki - CC is a purely offensive first line. They'll have success.
Line 2: Line 2&3 wingers are more interchangeable. I wouldn't be surprised if Drouin - Dvorak - Anderson go into a slump to start the year. Drouin and Anderson are quite inconsistent, and I don't think Dvorak is good enough to drive his own line. I could see this line getting into trouble in their own end, unless Dvorak is much better defensively than expected. I have Drouin with Dvorak and Anderson because they'll need a playmaker as CD & JA are more "shoot first" type of players.
Line 3: Poehling and Gallagher should do pretty well at feeding Hoffman. Gallagher is going to have his work cut out for him in his own end to support the liability in Hoffman and the rookie Poehling. Besides that, I think they'll do fine and should be a threat in the offensive zone, especially if they're not being paired against top lines.
Line 4: Very solid shutdown line. One of the best, if not the best, 4th line in the NHL. Hopefully they can take on some hard matchup minutes away from our first and third line.
D core: Not a big fan of it.
(Weber thoughts): To be honest, I wasn't impressed one bit with what Weber was bringing to the table in the regular season last year, so I think Savard can effectively fill in those shoes. Weber was also really bad on the power play. I personally don't think its as big of a loss as some people are making it out to be. I would love for him to be available for the playoffs tho in a role with less minutes.
(Danault thoughts): He might be one of the most overrated players in the NHL. I chirped him all season long for not producing offence despite getting top 6 minutes and playing with really good wingers in Tatar and Gallagher. 5 goals isn't enough for a top 6 centre. He also only had 1 goal in 23 playoff games. He played a good shutdown role for us but it wasn't a one man job. Gallagher, Evans, Lehkonen all being under credited for their participation in shutting down top line in the playoffs. I don't mind his departure, don't think we'll miss him too much. Dvorak will provide more offence and is just as good on face-offs. Evans will hopefully take on some of Danaults defensive responsibilities. Last, Gallagher was carrying Danault to a certain extent and inflating his analytics.
TBL - x
FLA - x
MTL - x
TOR - wildcard
BOS
OTT
DET
BUF
Reasoning: I think this team is better than last years team. Our power play was an area of major concern and was holding us back. With the arrival of Caufield, Hoffman, Dvorak and the departure of Weber and Tatar, it should be MUCH improved and could even turn into a point of strength.
Our forward group is very deep and will be hard to handle for many teams. This team should be scoring more goals than last year. Defence is similar to last years (concerning). Price hopefully has a bit of a bounce back regular season. All in all, I think we've improved slightly. Suzuki, Caufield, Romanov, Poehling, Evans all taking steps forward, no one taking steps back should be enough to make the playoffs.
Let me know what you guys think heading into this season. Im open to talk. Go back to university on Wednesday and I'm bored for now.
I agree with almost everything. Gallagher is NOT good defensively tho Danault Lehkonen Evans are really good tho
Danault is very good don't get me wrong. But if you look at the analytics, when Gallagher is away from Danault, Danault is significantly worst. Danault away from Gallagher, Gallagher stats don't even change.
Our power play was an area of major concern and was holding us back. With the arrival of Caufield, Hoffman, Dvorak and the departure of Weber and Tatar, it should be MUCH improved and could even turn into a point of strength.
this
If people see MTL in the playoffs, it's because the PP would be at least top 15. MTL never really found someone to play the bumper : that could very well be Dvorak role. Hoffman only job is to play PP too. Having Drouin back will also help (maybe 5 forwards 2nd unite if Romanov/Wideman isnt working?). Anyway, lots of tools
Our power play was an area of major concern and was holding us back. With the arrival of Caufield, Hoffman, Dvorak and the departure of Weber and Tatar, it should be MUCH improved and could even turn into a point of strength.
this
If people see MTL in the playoffs, it's because the PP would be at least top 15. MTL never really found someone to play the bumper : that could very well be Dvorak role. Hoffman only job is to play PP too. Having Drouin back will also help (maybe 5 forwards 2nd unite if Romanov/Wideman isnt working?). Anyway, lots of tools
I'm not that high on Poehling though
I just find it weird if Evans was to centre wingers like Hoffman / Gallagher. He's an amazing bottom 6 centre in my eyes. I think Poehling could have a little more offensive upside then Evans and would be better suited to play in between 30 goal scorers.
Poehling starts in Laval. Evans, Paquette and even Perreault are ahead of him in the depth chart.
Lehkonen - Evans - Gallagher
=>Neutralize and annoy the opposition's top line
Hoffman - Paquette - Armia
=> Balance Hoffman one way play with Paquette and Armia defense awareness. Hoffman gets 1st PP time.
hmmm.. Gallagher is entering the first year of his 6.5 million dollar contract. Are we already just using him in a defensive role in the first year of this new deal? I don't think so..
Hoffman getting first PP time is gonna be hard when suzuki and Caufield are gonna be in his natural PP spot. Suzukis shooting percentage on the PP in his career is over 20%. Hoffman is a second unit guy in my eyes to start the year.
Danault is very good don't get me wrong. But if you look at the analytics, when Gallagher is away from Danault, Danault is significantly worst. Danault away from Gallagher, Gallagher stats don't even change.
It was the same with Plekanec before him.
I don't know where that opinion that Gallagher isn't good defensively comes from.
hmmm.. Gallagher is entering the first year of his 6.5 million dollar contract. Are we already just using him in a defensive role in the first year of this new deal? I don't think so..
Hoffman getting first PP time is gonna be hard when suzuki and Caufield are gonna be in his natural PP spot. Suzukis shooting percentage on the PP in his career is over 20%. Hoffman is a second unit guy in my eyes to start the year.
Gallagher could play anywhere on the first 3 lines so Im not going to argue.
But Hoffman is 100% starting the PP unit over Caufield. It's litteraly his speciality and the only reason he got signed.