kipwinger

Barring any roster changes I'd go with the following (when all are healthy). I don't like keeping Pulk out given that he's scoring, but he's not better than any of the three skill guys, and scratching Jurco for him means you have to put two little guys together no matter what you do: Tatar-Dats-Helm (It worked last year) Larkin-Z-Abby (It's working this year) Nyquist-Sheahan-Jurco (2 out of 3 ain't bad?) Miller-Glendening-Ferraro Larkin isn't an upgrade in Helm's role. He's a better player no doubt, but that's like saying that Jason Pominville is an upgrade over Abby because he scores more points. Not really when you consider the role.

If Larkin is in the top six as a winger, then the other line will probably have Nyquist and Tatar together. That combo has completely sucked to this point. I don't mind having Larkin in the top six as a winger, but that means that one of Tatar or Nyquist gets bumped to the third, and Pulkkinen gets to sit down. 5 of the 6 wingers in our top 9 can't be skill guys under 200 lbs. It's just not going to work.

I'm sick of two skilled wingers playing on the same lines. No wonder we lose puck battles when Tatar is the "gritty one" on his line. I don't want any of Larkin, Nyquist, Tatar, or Pulkkinen playing on the same line at the same time. Sure they've got skill to burn, and will score the occasional pretty goal (Pulkkinen's breakaway), but they'll consistently lose the possession game. Which is clearly a problem right now.

Even Dave Lewis wasn't as bad as the "Dave Lewis" of lore. So I'm not sure how Jeff Blashill could be.

Careful, by that rationale Daniel Alfredsson wouldn't be a good captain because all he had was stats and no Cup.

Right, but Athanasiou isn't just some scrub center. He's a future top guy. You don't screw with his development like that. I agree that he can be an effective fourth line winger now. Or he can be an effective second line center in a year or two. But probably not both. Name a single other quality top center who started out on their teams' fourth line? None. So there's probably something to it.

Holy, hell. I pretty much hate all these pairings and all these lines. Should be an interesting game tonight.

If we had an injury at 3rd line center, and needed a replacement, I'd be beating the drum for the kid. But not as a top six complimentary winger. He's REALLYgood. But I've never been a believer that any player is just as suitable for a role as any other player. I'm a firm believer, however, in specialization. If your centers are bad, bring in better centers (Athanasiou). If your wingers are bad, find better wingers.

I've watched him a lot. And it pains me to have these discussions with you because it always seems like I'm anti-Athanasiou. Which couldn't be further from the truth. Prior to this season I actually had him higher than Larkin in my evaluation of the prospects (clearly I was wrong lol). I really, really, like AA's game. But as I've said, I think that kid has top six center potential. And I want to see the team be very careful in developing him toward that goal. I don't want to see his development derailed by putting him in a position he has no long term future playing. He needs to be "the guy" on a team, an everyday scoring threat. Not a complementary player. If we need a banger, crasher, type, we can get one. I'd look to teams that started badly and see what's to be had. We've got tradeable assets, valuable ones. Lets see what we can do with them. I'd be looking to exploit Columbus right now if I were Ken Holland. Boone Jenner is the kind of guy that would help us, and I'm sure they'd be amenable to the right offer given their defensive needs.

I didn't say fast. I said big. A digger. Nyquist is fast. Tatar is fast. Larkin is fast. But when you put two of those guys together you have a line that can't win puck battles or play on the inside. I'm talking about a Justin Abdelkader, Troy Brouwer, Drew Stafford type of guy. Not exactly slow, but their value isn't in being fast, it's in being big(ish) and tough.

I actually agree with a few others that we need one more big bodied, digger. Either that or we need Jurco to step up in a hurry. I've said before that I don't like any line that has two of Tatar, Nyquist, or Pulkkinen on it. You can now add Larkin to that mix as well. I just don't like two small wingers. I don't think we need some superstar power foward or anything. But with Franzen hurt, and Jurco still struggling, we need another Abby for the second line.

Nothing. By then Larkin will be a number 1 center, and we'll have Sheahan, AA, and Zetterberg still on the roster. Pavel is an amazing player, but losing him isn't the same as losing Lidstrom. We'll be fine.

Sweat all season long if you want. 76 games is a long time. I'm not ready to throw my hands up in exasperation after 6 games. Particularly when we've been here before, and we've got a better team now. We'll be fine.

Just to put things into perspective, we're 3-3 through our first six games right now. We've scored 16 goals, and given up 16 goals. Last year we were 3-3 through our first six games. We had scored 12 goals, and given up 10. Our team isn't looking great right now, but it's not like we're in some kind of a dire situation. We'll get it sorted out.

Well Kindl at least looks OK tonight.

Yiiiiiiikes. We are a mess right now. Holy hell. Get it together boys.

Well its nice to see our special team are playing well again. If they don't come around in the remainder of this game I hope Blashill bag skates them to death. I don't mind losing as much if the effort is there. But we just look undisciplined.

Those were my "bold" predictions before the season. I also said that Pittsburgh would miss the playoffs, but that was less "bold" than Montreal so I had to go with the shocker. Either way, Dylark is going to run wild on McDavid's punk ass tonight. Because that's what Michigan guys do. They beat Canadians at stuff.

This coming from Frank. The first guy to complain about how Crosby was the "anointed one" a few years ago. Apparently Crosby is an entitled punk who never earned anything. McDavid? Teams should be privileged just to watch him play, because he's "something else".

Still calling it. Neither McDavid nor Eichel win the Calder, Montreal misses the playoffs, and Kessel scores less than 35. Screw those punks. Dylark is leading us to the promised land.

I wish Dylark were centering his own line, just so we could see him go head to head with McDavid tonight. Sadly, I'm expecting McDavid to have a big game as I don't think Sheahan or Richards can handle his speed in the head to head matchup.

Two scratches in a row for Smith. Blashill says he'll get in on this roadtrip. It would interesting if Kindl scored a couple of points tonight. See if they'd be willing to scratch someone else or if it will always be one of those two.

I don't think we have any actual interest in him or anything. I just heard his name bandied about in the rumor mill, and I like the idea of having another Abby on the team.

Does this make it more, or less, likely that we can fleece the BJs on a trade for Kerby Rychel? That guy has Abdelkader 2.0 written all over him.

I'm actually saying that Dan Boyle isn't a quality defenseman.