Could the Blues recreate the Holloway-Schenn-Kyrou line as a third line?
Neighbours-Thomas-Buchnevic
Holloway-New C-Kyrou
Bolduc-Schenn-Snuggerud
WTF
That Schenn line would be a complete mismatch for teams to deal with. Imagine the way Holloway-Schenn-Kyrou looked but having that with two line. The Thomas line wouldn't have very good speed but they would be a possession juggernaut
I really like our potential top 9 if we can bring in a 2C and push Schenn down to the 3C. But that 3rd line you have would be a completely different looking line than the Holloway/Schenn/Kyrou line. They would be playing vastly different styles, vastly different roles, and as much as I like what I've seen of Bolduc/Snuggy, they aren't close to the level of players that Holloway/Kyrou are unless they take a few leaps forward in development. I wouldn't consider it a 'recreation' of the Holloway-Schenn-Kyrou line.
I personally don't like that 3rd line as constructed. You have 3 shoot-first players on the line and Schenn isn't good enough defensively to pick up the slack in Snuggy's defensive game. If you're going to have two trigger men in Bolduc/Snuggy on the same line, I think you need a plus-defensive playmaking center between them. I don't think Schenn is creative enough with the puck to maximize having both those guys as his wingers but I also don't look at that line as good enough defensively to handle tough defensive assignments. There is plenty of talent on that line to create mismatches, but I think the addition of a 2C gives us enough talent to create that 3rd line talent mismatch with almost any combination of the 9 forwards.
I think I'd be looking to swap one (or both) of Neighbours/Buch with one (or both) of Bolduc/Snuggy. The construction you list would probably force the Thomas line into super-defensive usage and I want Thomas to have more offensive leeway than he'd get with that construction.
If we bring in a 2C upgrade, I'd probably enter camp looking for something like this to start the year:
Neighbours-Thomas-Snuggy
Holloway-2C-Kyrou
Bolduc-Schenn-Buch
Buch isn't going to get 3rd line minutes. I'd still expect him in the top 5 among our forwards for even strength minutes every night. Not sure if you accomplish that by having Thomas replace Schenn on that "3rd" line for defensive usage or have Buch replace Snuggy on the "1st" line for defensive usage. But I'd expect a lot of mixing and matching around Thomas throughout the year as game situations dictate. Now matter how exactly they get there, I think it is a safe bet that Monty wants Thomas playing several more minutes than all of Snuggy, Bolduc, and Neighbours.
One reason I really want the Blues to get a 2C that can bump Schenn down to 3C is to help our young wings develop. I don't want our 3rd line to be a shutdown line out of necessity. I don't want to have 1 or two of our young wingers having to carry their center. If we can get a center that can legitimately bump Schenn to 3C, I think we will have the ability to really, really put all of Neighbours, Snuggy, and Bolduc in positions to succeed and grow instead of having a situation like this year where one of them always feels like the odd man out. I'm
thrilled about how Bolduc grew his game this year. I htink his path into being an effective top 6 player for a contender required him to really round his game out. But I don't think he needs another year of that role because I think he has added those tools. While Snuggy needs to round his game out, I think he's best suited playing with skill and focusing on a breakout offensive season. And I think Neighbours will always need at least one person on his line who excels at playing with the puck on their tape. From a pure development standpoint, I don't want to see any of them getting a similar role to what Bolduc got this year. I think that long-term, this young wing group is best developed if we have 3 centers with enough offensive skill to roll out 3 lines that are threats to score.
