#2: Hemsky - Gagner - Nail

[Kevotron]

Trade Gagner for Marty Sakic and we are set! Problem solved

 

[BadMedicine*]

Gagner has faced top defensive pairings many a time to go with playing the other teams top 2 lines. Horcoff has been hurt many times during Gagner's career, and i seem to remember Penner-Gagner-Brule being the teams #1 line. Gagner even now is not a sheltered player, he plays top 6 opponents. For example Sam Gagner played similar or tougher competition compared to other centers (part time too) Benn, Ribeiro, Vermette, Statsny and Duchene (by alot too), Sharp, P.Kane, Hodgson, Bergeron (although he had a tough zonestart), ect... Sam Gagner by the way had a positive RelCorsi and was a plus player last season to go with easily top 50 production for his position.

I've said it before and i'll say it again the only players the same age or younger to outscore Gagner as centers are Stamkos, Tavares, Hopkins, O'Reilly, Henrique (Parie-Kovalchuck linemates), Stepan (same ppg basically), and Seguin who played RW. Couture and Kane (who played alot of center last season) scored more too but they are both nearly a full year older despite going in the same draft. So basically other than the first 5 centers taken in their drafts we have, Henrique a Calder canidate who had arguably the best linemates in the league, Stepan who's scoring at an identical rate and is a smaller center on a team with a "soft" 1st line center too (they also happen to be a top team), O'Reilly who looks like Bergeron 2.0, and Couture who like i said is older and is a very very good player. Gagner it seems to me is doing just fine if he's in the tier below those guys and is in or even slightly below the next group of up and coming centers with the Henriques and Stepan's of the world. We need to appreciate what we got here and not devalue quality young players like Gagner or Paajarvi just because they can't keep pace with elite players. Gagner in particular has been outstanding up to date for his age. He's not a PKer but he produces at evens and can play quality competition and outshoot them. He's not a Selke caliber two way center but he could easily end up as Stephen Weiss type player.

Very well spoken.I agree.I might add that Gagner and Nuge are our best multi=dimensional players by a long shot.They are both well balanced offensive catalysts that will only make the "pairs"that Ralph puts with them better and better.

The only major line changes we will likely see is switching the centermen up so they can each bring an opposition dictated style of attack from time to time when needed.

I would love to see some double shifting this year in specific instances,it is a terminal dynamic that no one uses anymore,we have the players who are elite enough at their personal specialties that we have to see opportunitys to double-shift to break opposition teams down.No team in the NHL has the team defense to stop all of our skilled assets if they are utilised properly,no one.Just the thought of Hemsky using his speed from the 3rd line makes me drool.The thought of throwing Ykupov up with Eberle and Nuge makes me sweat.Or hall down with Gagner and Yakupov.

If we give Sam the ability to catalyse his own line we will see more huge multi-point games from him,its a vision and leadership issue and the longer it takes us to identify our key leaders the longer we will stutterstep.

Sam and Nuge need to create on ice dynamics to give us their best,so we need to give them the system platform and system committed linmates that will allow them to maximise their lines effect on every game they play,we need them to be like lock-picks with that type of flexibility so they can dismantle opposition systems,not opposition personell.A sledgehammer is effective for getting through the door but is one dimensional and cant be used without everyone knowing your intent,a lock-pick is two dimensional and allows you to do the same job the hammer does with much more tactical control.Putting hemsky on the 2nd line makes it one dimensional and turns it into a sledgehammer weilded by Hemsky--putting MPS there makes it a lock-pick weilded by Gagner.

Sledgehammers will get very very heavy to carry with the compressed schedule we will see this year,my guess is that all the hammer carrying teams will be at the bottom of the drink come playoff time.

 

[Koto]

The first line has never been good.. The trio of Hall-RNH-Ebs IMO just doesnt work..
I give it 5 games max before Yak moves up on RNH's line.

Not sure if serious...they were dominant together.

Although i do like these combos:

Yakupov-RNH-Eberle (i'd put yak RW, but w/e)
Hall-Gagner-Hemsky (potential power on power line).

Doesn't address or change the overall size/toughness complaints of he top 6 though.

I think Harti would be perfect on this line. He adds some grit and goes into the corners.

Harti-Gagner-Hemsky
Smyth-Horcoff-Yakupov

Give Yak some sheltered minutes with some defensively responsible players to start the year. Just a thought.

No thanks.

Didn't Krueger say he liked Duos more than Trios somewhere? Splitting up Yakupov/Hall/Eberle/RNH on 2 lines could be more effective than just loading the first one.

The way i see you keep Yakupov and Hall apart because they both posses the ability to really pressure the opposition through the neutral zone, but you also have to keep RNH and Eberle together because they have by far the best synergy on the team.

So 2 and 2 would be hard to do in my mind.

 

[AM]

Gagner has faced top defensive pairings many a time to go with playing the other teams top 2 lines. Horcoff has been hurt many times during Gagner's career, and i seem to remember Penner-Gagner-Brule being the teams #1 line. Gagner even now is not a sheltered player, he plays top 6 opponents. For example Sam Gagner played similar or tougher competition compared to other centers (part time too) Benn, Ribeiro, Vermette, Statsny and Duchene (by alot too), Sharp, P.Kane, Hodgson, Bergeron (although he had a tough zonestart), ect... Sam Gagner by the way had a positive RelCorsi and was a plus player last season to go with easily top 50 production for his position.

I've said it before and i'll say it again the only players the same age or younger to outscore Gagner as centers are Stamkos, Tavares, Hopkins, O'Reilly, Henrique (Parie-Kovalchuck linemates), Stepan (same ppg basically), and Seguin who played RW. Couture and Kane (who played alot of center last season) scored more too but they are both nearly a full year older despite going in the same draft. So basically other than the first 5 centers taken in their drafts we have, Henrique a Calder canidate who had arguably the best linemates in the league, Stepan who's scoring at an identical rate and is a smaller center on a team with a "soft" 1st line center too (they also happen to be a top team), O'Reilly who looks like Bergeron 2.0, and Couture who like i said is older and is a very very good player. Gagner it seems to me is doing just fine if he's in the tier below those guys and is in or even slightly below the next group of up and coming centers with the Henriques and Stepan's of the world. We need to appreciate what we got here and not devalue quality young players like Gagner or Paajarvi just because they can't keep pace with elite players. Gagner in particular has been outstanding up to date for his age. He's not a PKer but he produces at evens and can play quality competition and outshoot them. He's not a Selke caliber two way center but he could easily end up as Stephen Weiss type player.

I have high hopes for Gagner, and you bring up a good point.

Having all of the young players in the lineup is a sure way to lose. Nothing to do with Horcoff.

 

[Hopelesslucicfan]

I feel like the hall rnh ebs line didn't work last season because when they hit a bad stretch, nobody else would score to make up for it, so they got seperated to spread the wealth.

This line of yakupov gagner and hemsky should really help that problem this season. With some secondary scoring, we won't have to go into panic and rebuilt the lines mode as soon as the kids go cold. I believe that in order to continue to develop chemistry they need to work themselves out of funks Like that, and thanks to yak, they will have that chance.

 

[Suxnet]

This line might actually be better than the top line. RNH and Eberle played mostly sheltered minutes, so it's going to be a bigger challenge for them going up against top competition as compared with Hemsky and Gagner who already have that experience.

 

[Eytinge]

I think Yak and Gagner will have some good chemistry. Both are skilled players that don't mind getting their noses dirty along the walls or in front of the net. Plus they played pretty well with each other through-out camp.

 

[eS7]

I feel like the hall rnh ebs line didn't work last season because when they hit a bad stretch, nobody else would score to make up for it, so they got seperated to spread the wealth.

This line of yakupov gagner and hemsky should really help that problem this season. With some secondary scoring, we won't have to go into panic and rebuilt the lines mode as soon as the kids go cold. I believe that in order to continue to develop chemistry they need to work themselves out of funks Like that, and thanks to yak, they will have that chance.

I agree with you, good point. When they went into a scoring drought the team couldn't afford to wait and see how long it will take to get out of it because no other lines were producing. If they weren't producing we weren't going to win, so they had to spread the wealth around and try something new as a shake up.

 

[McArthur]

Is there too much pressure on nail yakupov?

 

[Suxnet]

Is there too much pressure on nail yakupov?

???

Where did this come from?

 

[tiger_80]

This line might actually be better than the top line. RNH and Eberle played mostly sheltered minutes, so it's going to be a bigger challenge for them going up against top competition as compared with Hemsky and Gagner who already have that experience.

They looked fine skating against Sedins today.

 

[NeverForget06]

The line has to be given a few more games to try to grow some chemistry before the deck should be re-shuffled, once Yakupov gets his game going this line is going to be just fine.

 

[StoveTopStauffer]

I want to see the line for another 5-10 games; however, I think for FO/Defensive development purposes I think RNH should be second line with Hemsky and Yak; however, still on 1st PP. AHL proved to me anyone (Arco) can center Hall and Eberle and Gagner can get them the puck more often through FO wins.

Just my opinion, I am probably wrong.

 

[CornKicker]

I want to see the line for another 5-10 games; however, I think for FO/Defensive development purposes I think RNH should be second line with Hemsky and Yak; however, still on 1st PP. AHL proved to me anyone (Arco) can center Hall and Eberle and Gagner can get them the puck more often through FO wins.

Just my opinion, I am probably wrong.

i agree with this and have said it several times. gagner was with hall and eberle when he had his 8pt night

 

[Perfect_Drug]

i agree with this and have said it several times. gagner was with hall and eberle when he had his 8pt night

I think it could be cool to switch up the lines for Road Games.

RNH always looks a little out of his element on the road. He's used to a more sheltered matchup, not the Sedins.


At home I'd want to see him with Hall and Ebs.



That said, (as we saw last game), if Hemsky really is 'BACK', he will feast on the weaker second lines. Once Yak gets going, it'll be the same.

 

[CornKicker]

if hemsky has 2 more games like he did last night then the defence will have to cheat to his side and play him closer, this will open up so much more space for Yak and that line will destroy other 2nd lines.

 

[dem]

I've been of the mind that Gagner should be with Eberle for awhile now...

I'd like to see RNH with Yakupov.

Is there too much pressure on nail yakupov?

I'd say there is almost no pressure on Yakupov compared to what Hall and RNH went through.

 

[Valic]

I've been of the mind that Gagner should be with Eberle for awhile now...

I'd like to see RNH with Yakupov.




I'd say there is almost no pressure on Yakupov compared to what Hall and RNH went through.

I'd say Yakupov puts a ton of pressure on himself. I'd agree that there is little pressure on Yak from fans and management. Some of the old Russian hatin' media types are off to a wonderful start however.

 

[McArthur]

I've been of the mind that Gagner should be with Eberle for awhile now...

I'd like to see RNH with Yakupov.




I'd say there is almost no pressure on Yakupov compared to what Hall and RNH went through.

This is the most competitive team we've iced in years and he was a obvious -2. Hopefully it just takes time to pick up the systems.

 

[Aerchon]

Sam had a terrible game. Pretty much let that rookie walk right in with no pressure and tap it in. The puck died on his stick all night and he was weak defensively/positionaly in general as well.

He made up for it nicely tho, with a nice set up on Hemsky's goal and his beauty SO goal.

People pointing out Yak's -2 are kinda rediculas. His positioning was weak but it was Sam's terrible positioning that led to one of thos goals and the other was all Dub. Yak looked good in his first NHL game. I dont think Gagner or Hemsky gave him much to work with all night long. They seemed to ignore him more often than not.

Nuge had a great game. But got beat ONCE obviously defensivly that tunred into nothing. So every fan is saying he played bad. He missed on a great scoring chance. Two things all night that were sub par and so many people are putting him down. wtf... How is that no one noticed his positioning was damn well perfect all night long. 1000 times better than Gagner's. And he picked 3 pockets Datz style. He was great.

Whiteny was hella slow but had nice passes and decent postioning to offset it.

Dub had a weak goal but then played ammazing the rest of the game and SO.

All in all everyone played very well.

PK was outstanding.

 

[Replacement*]

Sam had a terrible game. Pretty much let that rookie walk right in with no pressure and tap it in. The puck died on his stick all night and he was weak defensively/positionaly in general as well.

He made up for it nicely tho, with a nice set up on Hemsky's goal and his beauty SO goal.

People pointing out Yak's -2 are kinda rediculas. His positioning was weak but it was Sam's terrible positioning that led to one of thos goals and the other was all Dub. Yak looked good in his first NHL game. I dont think Gagner or Hemsky gave him much to work with all night long. They seemed to ignore him more often than not.

Nuge had a great game. But got beat ONCE obviously defensivly that tunred into nothing. So every fan is saying he played bad. He missed on a great scoring chance. Two things all night that were sub par and so many people are putting him down. wtf... How is that no one noticed his positioning was damn well perfect all night long. 1000 times better than Gagner's. And he picked 3 pockets Datz style. He was great.

Whiteny was hella slow but had nice passes and decent postioning to offset it.

Dub had a weak goal but then played ammazing the rest of the game and SO.

All in all everyone played very well.

PK was outstanding.

Gagner's fault on the 2-0 goal. He left his man and drifted away for no reason. Simply can't do that in the NHL. It was the kind of thing that Omark would do that would drive me crazy. For a Center to do it in the slot is a worse sin. Yak is at fault for the other goal as he forced a pass high creating a counter and we got caught. Just a bad decision, it happens. NHL with the smaller ice will take some adjustment and you can't force stuff up high without getting burned.

That said the Gagner line had the Sedins most of the night. Thats a handful for anybody in regular season games for years. On most nights you'e not going to be able to shut those guys down and just the way it is. The two goals Nucks got were surgical precision.

I thought Gagner rebounded well and had an excellent third period. Had some jitters early on as did most of the players.

J Schultz was just on another planet. First game in the NHL and you walk through it making anybody else look clumsy. Silky smooth outlet passes all night, good positioning, good composure own end, jumping into the play seamlessly. Great to see the kid in hdtv for once and really break it down.

Topline had an ordinary night and only a spectacular top corner tuck by Eberle got them a point. Luongo played that extremely poorly. No brains. 3 secs left and you're down in the butterfly on a bad angle shot? Why? Luongo got beat high because he was on his pads. You don't need to go down on that play that late in the period. Luongo goes down too much imo and both Eberle and Hemsky spotted that. Hemsky on fire btw. A handful most of the night.

 

[Draiskull]

couldnt disagree more with the above 2 posts..

The 2-0 goal was mainly on Whitney not Gagner.. When 4 guys are focused on puck carrier, there are a lot of ice open for other opponents.. Gagner wasnt suppose to come back all the way to blue paint and cover a guy who was 3 feet away from Whitney.

Gagner to me was the best forward on ice for us and was carrying his line. Not sure why others did not see it. Yakupov is just rusty and should be fine ala Hall in his rookie season.

Also, to say Nuge had a great game is flat out wrong.

 

[PaPaDee]

couldnt disagree more with the above 2 posts..

The 2-0 goal was mainly on Whitney not Gagner.. When 4 guys are focused on puck carrier, there are a lot of ice open for other opponents.. Gagner wasnt suppose to come back all the way to blue paint and cover a guy who was 3 feet away from Whitney.

Gagner to me was the best forward on ice for us and was carrying his line. Not sure why others did not see it. Yakupov is just rusty and should be fine ala Hall in his rookie season.

Also, to say Nuge had a great game is flat out wrong.

Nuge was very solid defensively, but below average offensively.

 

[Replacement*]

couldnt disagree more with the above 2 posts..

The 2-0 goal was mainly on Whitney not Gagner.. When 4 guys are focused on puck carrier, there are a lot of ice open for other opponents.. Gagner wasnt suppose to come back all the way to blue paint and cover a guy who was 3 feet away from Whitney.

Gagner to me was the best forward on ice for us and was carrying his line. Not sure why others did not see it. Yakupov is just rusty and should be fine ala Hall in his rookie season.

Also, to say Nuge had a great game is flat out wrong.

Gagner was practically touching the guy a second before the goal and skates away from the open cover as 4 oilers all get sucked in watching the puck carrier and get moving that way. Positionally speaking I can agree with you the Whitney could be in the area but when a forward skates right by a wide open guy who then scores i have a problem with that, whether its Omark(classic culprit) or Gagner, or anybody doing it. Makes no sense for Gagner to have his thumb up his ass staring at the play as the guy he could have had easily deposits the goal. If you watch Gagner after the goal he knows it as well. Stupid play and he got caught daydreaming.

 

[OneMoreAstronaut]

Whitney was just as close as Gagner was, Gagner at least had the opposite side of the ice to cover whereas Whitney was standing at the side of the net picking his nose.