GDT: Carolina@Minnesota|"What's in a Name?"

[Wild Caniac]

Blueline, I think I speak for both of us when I say

ugh. this matchup is impossible to be indifferent.

 

[Novacane]

Lineup according to Chip:

Tlusty-EStaal-Semin
Gerbe-JStaal-Dvorak
Skinner-Nash-Ruutu
Bowman-Sutter-Westgarth

Sekera-Faulk
Hainsey-Bellemore
Harrison-Murphy

Gleason and Lindholm not playing tonight. Dwyer day-to-day.

To add on that, I don't know if it's been mentioned elsewhere but Muller said a few days ago that the thing keeping Gerbe out of practice was a lower body concern (meaning not something caused by Grabner's hit) and Dwyer got his injury from practice. He seemed to not be too concerned about either injury. Almost laughing when talking about Dwyer.

Now let's rehash how Muller is never honest about injuries.

 

[Frank Booth239*]

Why the hell is Skinner on the 3rd line?

 

[Wild Caniac]

Because of his chemistry with the linemates he has. I do however think he should be with Dvorak, so we can bump Ruutu back to the 2nd line with Jordan and Gerbe.

 

[Sens1Canes2]

Why the hell is Skinner on the 3rd line?

You mean like every other game so far?

 

[Oenatzu]

To add on that, I don't know if it's been mentioned elsewhere but Muller said a few days ago that the thing keeping Gerbe out of practice was a lower body concern (meaning not something caused by Grabner's hit) and Dwyer got his injury from practice. He seemed to not be too concerned about either injury. Almost laughing when talking about Dwyer.

Now let's rehash how Muller is never honest about injuries.

According to the Canes website Gerbe was held out of practice because of an upper body injury from the hit. So about Muller...

 

[Novacane]

According to the Canes website Gerbe was held out of practice because of an upper body injury from the hit. So about Muller...

Here's the thing from Muller

http://www.wralsportsfan.com/hurricanes/video/13024654/#/vid13024654

 

[rocky7]

i really like j staal's line w/o dwyer here. dwyer is a decent player, but he's been over-slotted in my opinion over the past yr or so in the top 9. he just doesn't have the offensive skill to justify a top 9 slot.

hopefully dvorak can mesh w/ j staal and gerbe so dwyer can be slotted into 4th line role more suited to his talent level (scoring-wise at least).

i like the lines as a whole as well, slot lindholm back into the 3c when he gets back, then either slide nash down to center sutter and dwyer, or maybe eventually malhotra is signed for that 4c role...

yep, agree with all and maybe get rid of one back to the farm. I don't know much about Malhotra though.

 

[Frank Booth239*]

Because of his chemistry with the linemates he has. I do however think he should be with Dvorak, so we can bump Ruutu back to the 2nd line with Jordan and Gerbe.

I'd rather see Skinner- Nash- Dvorak as the 2nd line than Gerbe- Staal- Dvorak...

Is there just no way he can build chemistry with Jordan? Any thoughts on why that is?

 

[Joe McGrath]

I'd rather see Skinner- Nash- Dvorak as the 2nd line than Gerbe- Staal- Dvorak...

Is there just no way he can build chemistry with Jordan? Any thoughts on why that is?

Because he still can't play any defense and Jordan lines up against the other teams best offensive players. Jordan starts almost every shift in the defensive zone. Little to do with lack of chemistry.

 

[rocky7]

I'd rather see Skinner- Nash- Dvorak as the 2nd line than Gerbe- Staal- Dvorak...

Is there just no way he can build chemistry with Jordan? Any thoughts on why that is?

I can't see Jordan on the third line where he belongs, ever on this club.

 

[Joe McGrath]

I can't see Jordan on the third line where he belongs, ever on this club.

There is no 3rd line. It doesn't exist. There are two scoring lines, a checking line, and a 4th line.

 

[the halleJOKEL]

Because he still can't play any defense and Jordan lines up against the other teams best offensive players. Jordan starts almost every shift in the defensive zone. Little to do with lack of chemistry.

his defense this year is head and shoulders above where it was last year

 

[Joe McGrath]

his defense this year is head and shoulders above where it was last year

Because he hasn't had to do it nearly as much, given more offensive zone starts against worse competition.

 

[PaulProteus]

John Forslund tweeted earlier today that it looks like Josh Harding is in net for the Wild tonight.

edit: Which everyone and their mother appears to know, but had not actually been mentioned here.

 

[Frank Booth239*]

Because he still can't play any defense and Jordan lines up against the other teams best offensive players. Jordan starts almost every shift in the defensive zone. Little to do with lack of chemistry.

Aha. So, then, really the 2nd line is the 3rd line in everything but name. And it is the "checking" line, which from what I gather the 3rd line is supposed to be.

 

[the halleJOKEL]

Because he hasn't had to do it nearly as much, given more offensive zone starts against worse competition.

his positioning is better and he is actually backchecking. i don't think it matters what level of competition he is regularly playing against as those two skills are the same regardless.

last year he looked pretty bad on defense against all levels of competition because he had no idea where to be in the defensive zone and was "backchecking" like eric staal.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Do we care about designation of 2nd or 3rd line? In terms of TOI, here's how the Canes forwards rank:

Staal: 21:15
Semin: 20:04
Jordan: 19:59
Gerbe: 18:08
Skinner: 16:05
Dwyer: 15:48
Tlusty: 15:31

 

[Joe McGrath]

his positioning is better and he is actually backchecking. i don't think it matters what level of competition he is regularly playing against as those two skills are the same regardless.

last year he looked pretty bad on defense against all levels of competition because he had no idea where to be in the defensive zone and was "backchecking" like eric staal.

Perhaps I was harsh with my original assessment, but I still don't think he belongs anywhere near a shut down line. The way he's being used now is the best for him and the team at both ends of the ice.

 

[the halleJOKEL]

Perhaps I was harsh with my original assessment, but I still don't think he belongs anywhere near a shut down line. The way he's being used now is the best for him and the team at both ends of the ice.

100% agree with that

i would much rather see him on the first line in tlusty's place (if he were being moved up at all) because tlusty could actually slot into a 2nd line role fairly well. i also don't see any good reason to break up the first line, despite their slow start due to kirk muller's defensive system. getting dvorak back on skinner's line would be optimal. they've worked very well together, and riley nash has been very competent as a #3 center. definitely weird having multiple "good" lines for once.

 

[garnetpalmetto]

John Forslund tweeted earlier today that it looks like Josh Harding is in net for the Wild tonight.

edit: Which everyone and their mother appears to know, but had not actually been mentioned here.

It's apparently Harding's Hope night - $5.00 of each ticket the Wild sells will go to the Harding's Hope charity, the team will be selling autographed pucks, and will also be giving away sticks, pucks, and posters autographed by Harding. It'd be kind of gauche to NOT start him tonight.

 

[PaulProteus]

It's apparently Harding's Hope night - $5.00 of each ticket the Wild sells will go to the Harding's Hope charity, the team will be selling autographed pucks, and will also be giving away sticks, pucks, and posters autographed by Harding. It'd be kind of gauche to NOT start him tonight.

Meanwhile, the internets speculate that tonight would be the perfect night to start Backstrom.

 

[Lynk]

Canes win 6-1.
Ron Hainsey scores 6 goals.

 

[Wolfpuck]

It's apparently Harding's Hope night - $5.00 of each ticket the Wild sells will go to the Harding's Hope charity, the team will be selling autographed pucks, and will also be giving away sticks, pucks, and posters autographed by Harding. It'd be kind of gauche to NOT start him tonight.

Harding shutout confirmed

 

[spockBokk]

100% agree with that

i would much rather see him on the first line in tlusty's place (if he were being moved up at all) because tlusty could actually slot into a 2nd line role fairly well. i also don't see any good reason to break up the first line, despite their slow start due to kirk muller's defensive system. getting dvorak back on skinner's line would be optimal. they've worked very well together, and riley nash has been very competent as a #3 center. definitely weird having multiple "good" lines for once.

another 100% agree with the eventual slotting of skinner w/ e staal and semin. d pairings would have nightmares about that combo, but for now there's no reason to change what's been working (skinner on 3rd line) and the top line w/ tlusty hopefully rounding into form.

tlusty and j staal also looks good on paper (shadows of brindy and j williams), but it definitely is a good problem to have to have 3 "good" lines. i think dvorak and ruutu you could flip flop on the right side of j staal and nash/linholm. i'm just more than happy to see our top 9 actually have "top 9" caliber players...