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Nov. 15, Devils vs Habs, 7 PM


dlbalr

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1 hour ago, Habs Fan in Edmonton said:

 

Agreed, he has been great on that line and building confidence. If he is better on the wing then he is better on the wing, don't mess with a good thing just because we want another center. 

Well, to win often, you need more than 1 good line. And we saw NJ shut down the one loaded line to 2 shots and was an easy win.

#1 line has been 'great' for what... a week? 

So long term, who knows how long St Louis will keep the trio together. Is all good for Dach to produce more and gain confidence, but i bet if Slafkovsky replaced him, the big kid would do similar.

But, no hurry at all to make the #1 line any younger than already are; but, am curious how Slafkovsky would do with bigger role and much much more skilled linemates. 

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3 hours ago, xXx..CK..xXx said:


I definitely misread that part so my mistake.

 

The point stands in a different way though, in that if they are organizational centers, they would be good enough to replace Suzuki on the first line within a few years. I’d be ecstatic if that were the case but I personally think there is generally a little too much naive enthusiasm when it comes to the potential of the unknown and future prospects jumping in to save the day. At some point, we need to utilize what we have, or know for sure. Otherwise we will always be a franchise looking to the future rather than competing in the now. 
 

With that being said, I don’t think the actual organization operates to such an extreme and so that is where the dichotomy that I was pointing out lays. 


Its all speculation of course. 
 

I think HuGo’s first plan was Dach but since he is playing so well on the wing they might leave him there. 
 

Hype about drafting and prospects aside, I keep hearing that the top 5 of this draft are miles ahead of Slafkovsky for example. 
 

All five in my understanding are forecasted to be Suzuki or better. As you rightly pointed out that everything is speculation and anything can happen with drafting. 
 

Surely HuGo are looking at the draft as a potential solution - not THE solution but a potential one. Perhaps Dubois is the answer or perhaps they transition Dach back to centre. 

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2 hours ago, DON said:

... but i bet if Slafkovsky replaced him, the big kid would do similar ...

 

IMO it is not about "the now" (i.e., whether Slafkovsky would do as well as Dach now), but rather about optimizing Dach's value (to the rebuild, NOT for a trade) after he had some struggles in Chicago ... and no hurry to force feed Slafkovsky minutes against top lines and D-pairings at this point. 

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I don't think 18 year old Slafkovsky is close to as good as 21 year old Dach.  

 

Dach is also doing a lot of carrying the puck through the neutral zone and generating strong zone entries for that line, something that at this point in his development, Slafkovsky is not going to do at the NHL level.  

 

So no, Slafkovsky today is not going to be as good on that line as Dach is. 

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