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New players means new lines - What would you do?


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Let's see, the Flames have played less games but seem to be doing well. I should have waited after their games against the Leafs before posting the suggested changes. If the Flames suck, then I agree that there is no need to change anything. I am probably jumping ahead trying to fix a problem that may not exist

 

Gaudreau - Monahan - Simon                  vs               Tatar - Danault - Gallagher

Mangiapane - Lindholm - Tkachuk          vs              Drouin - Suzuki - Anderson

Bennett - Backlund - Leivo                       vs              Toffoli - Kotkaniemi - Perry

Lucic - Ryan - Nordstrom                         vs               Byron - Evans - Lehkonen

 
Giordano - Andersson                              vs              Chiarot - Weber

Hanifin - Tanev                                          vs             Edmundson - Petry

Valimaki - Nesterov                                   vs             Kulak - Romanov

 
Markstrom/Rittchin                                    vs             Price/Allen

 

 

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4 minutes ago, titanfan said:

Feeling grateful alfredoh2009 is NOT coaching the Habs!  Lol

 

Just checking, are you a closet Leaf fan?  Can't see another reason you'd want to mess with our success!

 

Nah, I am a Habs fan since always.

 

It is weird to have a team that may be "just perfect as it is" after the last few years of mediocrity and false hopes.

I want them to win so bad, that I am looking for ways to make them better.

 

But yeah, I agree.... I am a Mr. Potatohead coach at best ;)

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31 minutes ago, alfredoh2009 said:

I would normally agree on this, but the Has are giving too many goals against and balancing defense now that we have overshot with our offense may be necessary

 

Calgary is going to be a tough customer and I do not think the Habs should go into those games without adjustments

 

Not certain the issue defensively is the lines ... one HUGE issue is penalties and I expect that new lines have to gel defensively as much as offensively.

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1 hour ago, alfredoh2009 said:

 

I would normally agree on this, but the Has are giving too many goals against and balancing defense now that we have overshot with our offense may be necessary

 

Calgary is going to be a tough customer and I do not think the Habs should go into those games without adjustments

 

How does changing Anderson and Toffoli balance the defence?

 

And how does it solve the PK issue, which is where we gave up too many goals in both losses. 

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7 hours ago, alfredoh2009 said:

Well, it has been a great start to the season and the current line-up has helped the team get moe points than anyone expected.

I am wondering if the long break and extra practice time will bring some changes to the line-up.

If I am not mistaken, Toffoli and Armia had swapped sides before Armia got injured. And Toffoli just caught fire

I am wondering if we may see Anderson sheltered a bit by moving him down. Toffoli is outplaying him and I believe he has earned a promotion:

Tatar-Danault-Gallagher

Drouin-Suzuki-Toffoli

Perry-Kotkaniemi-Anderson

Byron-Evans-Lehkonen

 

On D, Edmundson and Petry are playing great, better than Chiarot-Weber at the moment. I wonder how much it has to do with who they are playing against (best adversary line) and who their playing behind (Danault's line). I would swap the D pairings, to see if they improve the overall results; if that doen;t work in the next 6 games (after the Ottawa games), then I would swap Romanov  and Chiarot:

Edmundson-Petry

Chiarot-Weber

Kulak-Romanov

 

 


Toffoli is not out playing Anderson by any means. They are both playing well and to their respective strengths.

Edmundson/Petry are not out playing first pairing.

what have you been watching?

Perry has zero experience on left wing and is barely up to speed as is.

your lines and analysis suck.

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I’ll take the criticism, and still stand by my proposal.

 

But of course, after watching the highlights of TOR vs CGY I am not as adamant about making these changes before next game.

 

Let’s see after the Ottawa games if change is needed

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17 hours ago, hockeyrealist said:

 

your lines and analysis suck.

 

While i agree with what you said above this, was this line necessary? Come on man... why you need to make personal attacks at someone?  The rest of your post was fine, but why take a shot in the last sentence?

 

You did it in another thread too. (Calling h29r names in that one)

 

Why?

 

Grow up.

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16 hours ago, hockeyrealist said:

your lines and analysis suck.

WTF is your issue? Being a real dick over & over doesnt add much, but got to be some like that i suppose. And ignore function works well if need be.

 

Have a wonderful day sir!

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Thanks for your call on @hockeyrealist

 

I did not take offense to his opinion, my analysis kind of sucked :blush:

 

What I thought about is how this pandemic/confinement is affecting our ability to discuss a topic without blowing a fuse 💣 💣 💣

 

3 hours ago, Commandant said:

 

While i agree with what you said above this, was this line necessary? Come on man... why you need to make personal attacks at someone?  The rest of your post was fine, but why take a shot in the last sentence?

 

You did it in another thread too. (Calling h29r names in that one)

 

Why?

 

Grow up.

 

2 hours ago, DON said:

WTF is your issue? Being a real dick over & over doesnt add much, but got to be some like that i suppose. And ignore function works well if need be.

 

Have a wonderful day sir!

 

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38 minutes ago, alfredoh2009 said:

Thanks for your call on @hockeyrealist

 

I did not take offense to his opinion, my analysis kind of sucked :blush:

 

What I thought about is how this pandemic/confinement is affecting our ability to discuss a topic without blowing a fuse 💣 💣 💣

 

 

 

 

That post was the second one, after he also called H29 a douche in another thread.  

 

I might have let it go on its own, but doing that twice, i thought it should be said.  We can all discuss stuff and still be adults.

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8 minutes ago, Commandant said:

 

That post was the second one, after he also called H29 a douche in another thread.  

 

I might have let it go on its own, but doing that twice, i thought it should be said.  We can all discuss stuff and still be adults.

 

Yup, all it takes is one person throwing insults and the board can go downhill quickly. The insult on H29 was totally uncalled for.  Think of how boring these boards would be if we all had the same opinion on everything. 

 

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1 hour ago, alfredoh2009 said:

I did not take offense to his opinion, my analysis kind of sucked :blush:

Irrelevant, it may have, but good on you for not taking it too seriously.:thumbs_up:

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On 1/24/2021 at 8:02 PM, alfredoh2009 said:

 

Nah, I am a Habs fan since always.

 

It is weird to have a team that may be "just perfect as it is" after the last few years of mediocrity and false hopes.

I want them to win so bad, that I am looking for ways to make them better.

 

But yeah, I agree.... I am a Mr. Potatohead coach at best ;)

LOL    Nothing wrong with bringing discussion.  Heck, I couldn't coach my way out of a wet paper bag.  

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On 10/13/2020 at 8:54 AM, GHT120 said:

Expect that, at least to start, CJ will keep TT-PD-BG together ... I also expect JD-NS and KK-JA to stay together ... so the question is who fills the empty spot

 

Tartar  - Danault - Gallagher

Drouin  - Suzuki  - Anderson ... to add physicality, and JA is fast enough to keep up

Toffolli  -    KK     - Armia ... I am confident that it was confirmed that TT can play LW before he signed

 

This has a "grinder" on each line and offence throughout

 

Currently that leaves Lehkonen, Byron, Weal and Evans ... I expect Evans to be pencilled in as the 4C ... I also hope Weal will get dumped on someone (e.g., Weal and a 2021 4th for a 2024 3rd) and I expect that Byron gets moved (Ottawa?) ... but expect the 4th line may end up looking very different than we expect (no reason, just a hunch)

 

Aside from trading Byrron bit, you got top nine correct.

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Even better i see.

On 10/13/2020 at 5:11 PM, Commandant said:

Tatar - Danault - Gallagher (no reason to split up one of the best two way lines in the league)

Drouin - Suzuki - Anderson (Drouin and Suzuki showed promise in the playoffs with Armia, Anderson is a better version of that type, if it doesn't work he can be flipped with Armia)
Toffoli - Kotkaniemi - Armia  (heavy line should be good on the forecheck and in possession).

Lehkonen - Evans - Byron (good defensively and may be able to score a few). 

 

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I think part of what is happening too is Toffoli-KK-Armia got the opportunity to take advantage of the other team's third and fourth lines.  The Habs match Danault against the other team's top line.  The other team is putting their best defensive line out against Suzuki-Drouin.  And then the KK and Evans lines, get to play against the other team's bottom six.  Our bottom six is better in most cases and a guy like Toffoli who is a legit top 6er, and KK who we hope will become a top 6er can really take advantage of these weaker opponents. 

 

Its also facing the third defence pair too. 

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8 hours ago, Commandant said:

I think part of what is happening too is Toffoli-KK-Armia got the opportunity to take advantage of the other team's third and fourth lines.  The Habs match Danault against the other team's top line.  (...)

It does depend on who is the home team (and has the last change), though. On road games, the Habs don't have full control over the line matching. There is line matching going on, for sure, but if you look at the shift charts after the game, it's rarely a clear-cut "this line always plays against that line."

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10 hours ago, Commandant said:

I think part of what is happening too is Toffoli-KK-Armia got the opportunity to take advantage of the other team's third and fourth lines.  The Habs match Danault against the other team's top line.  The other team is putting their best defensive line out against Suzuki-Drouin.  And then the KK and Evans lines, get to play against the other team's bottom six.  Our bottom six is better in most cases and a guy like Toffoli who is a legit top 6er, and KK who we hope will become a top 6er can really take advantage of these weaker opponents. 

 

Its also facing the third defence pair too. 

That is very true ... and an advantage that forward depth (finally) provides.

 

1 hour ago, tomh009 said:

It does depend on who is the home team (and has the last change), though. On road games, the Habs don't have full control over the line matching. There is line matching going on, for sure, but if you look at the shift charts after the game, it's rarely a clear-cut "this line always plays against that line."

Also true ... and also an advantage of having a legit top-6 winger, an emerging (likely/hopefully) top-6 centre and a legit 3rd line winger (Armia/Perry for now) as the third line ... it stands up to top 6 lines far better than most 3rd lines.

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2 hours ago, tomh009 said:

It does depend on who is the home team (and has the last change), though. On road games, the Habs don't have full control over the line matching. There is line matching going on, for sure, but if you look at the shift charts after the game, it's rarely a clear-cut "this line always plays against that line."

 

Its not clear cut, but the Kotkaniemi and Evans lines have shown enough defensive ability to not be a total liability for a short period of time against the other team's top lines.  And Julien usually tries to get them off quickly with a change on the fly if they are matched against someone like McDavid or Pettersson. 

The other team also does line matching, so they are still putting their best defensive forwards and top defence pairs against the Suzuki and Danault lines.  So even when the other team gets last change, KK, Toffoli, and Armia/Perry have gotten some good matchups. 

Thats another reason not to change the lines.  Toffoli gets plenty of ice time.  He gets favourable matchups at ES and he's still getting his minutes as he's part of the PP rotation too. 

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  • 1 month later...

Interesting thoughts by Eric Engels .. I like the forward line suggestions:

 

Drouin-Nick Suzuki-Josh Anderson

Tyler Toffoli-Jesperi Kotkaniemi-Brendan Gallagher

Artturi Lehkonen-Phillip Danault-Paul Byron

Tomas Tatar-Jake Evans-Corey Perry

 

With the suggestion that the 4th line be given a more offensive role than usual. challenging Evans to use his speed to drive the line at both ends.  But not certain it is yet time to try the D pairings he suggests, Romanov has only just started to again look like the player we initially saw:

Alexander Romanov-Shea Weber

Brett Kulak-Jeff Petry

Ben Chiarot-Joel Edmundson

 

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24 minutes ago, habs#4,9,10,33 said:

Line up for tonight’s game 

 

Tatar-Danault-Gallagher
Drouin-Suzuki-Armia
Toffoli-Kotkaniemi-Anderson
Lehkonen-Evans-Perry
 

Chiarot-Weber
Edmundson-Petry
Kulak-Romanov


not to thrill about Armia on that line. 

 

Agree about Armia ... at very least I'd flip Armia and Gallagher.

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