Perreault or Juneau??

[TheAussiePosse]

Sounds easy enough... but it ain't

Sure, one has trade value, the other not so.

But Juneau can get away with being on the 3rd line for the rest of the year. Perreault/Riberio can't fit in instead.

One's cheaper than the other (duh), though both are still 2 mil. plus.

Who would you rather have?

[Habs77]

That's the age old debate... 3 offensive lines or 2 offensive lines and 1 defensive line?

As I remember it Therrien, looking at the stupid overload of "offensive" players Savard had assembled for him, felt he had to use 3 offensive lines to start the season.

Since most of our "offensive" players are defensive liabilities... they kept getting burned by the opposition's top lines.

So Therrien switched back to the Juneau defensive line, matching it against the opponent's 1st line.

The new problem was that the Juneau line (which produced NO offense) got 1st line ice time and our top lines weren't on the ice long enough to muster much offense... we'd get outshot 40-15 on a regular basis.

Then Julien came in... decided to match Koivu's line up with the opponent's 1st line. That helped bring us more even in the "shots" column on most nights... but the problem was Koivu's line is not as potent as other #1 lines and was a defensive liability. They would regularly end up on the wrong end of the +/- column and we kept losing.

I think that to be successful we need a defensive 3rd line. BUT we need a 3rd line that can create at least some offense... and we one that is more physical than the pathetic Dackell-Juneau-Sundstrom line.

But knowing CJ he'll stick with matching up #1 lines, so what use is left for the "defensive" line?... none.

I'd dump Juneau and keep Perreault... we'll need his extra goals if we're going to lose the #1 vs #1 matchup.

It also gives us insurance in case either Koivu gets hurt or Ribeiro can't deliver the whole year.

It's much easier to replace a defensive player who can't score like Juneau (Kilger comes to mind) than find an offensive replacement if a top line center goes down.

I'd sit Juneau or play him on the 4th line, he's not the type who'll take it well... I say tough. If he doesn't like it he can do us a favor & stay home.

Next year we decide once & for all whether Ribeiro is our #2 center or not... if so, great. If not then we have to decide whether to re-sign Perreault or bring in an upgrade through UFA or trade.