Line Combos: CBJ Roster Discussion/Line Combos/Injury Report

[Aaaarrgghh]

as someone who has put entirely too much thought into this lately, here are some of the targets i think are feasible:

• big name veterans
  • colton parayko
  • nikolaj ehlers (UFA)
  • jared mccann
  • pavel buchnevich
  • rickard rakell
  • alex tuch
  • hampus lindholm
  • mackenzie weegar
  • matt duchene (UFA)
  • brock boeser (UFA)
  • neil pionk (UFA)
• young trade or RFA targets
  • gabe viliardi
  • owen power
  • jj peterka
  • k'andre miller
  • jordan spence
  • dylan samberg
  • simon nemec
  • bo byram
  • jackson lacombe
  • luke evangelista
• potential value depth adds
  • pius suter (UFA)
  • nick bjugstad (UFA)
  • trevor moore
  • ryan strome
  • matias maccelli

i love the idea of doing a dual offer sheet to winnipeg in an effort to pry loose one of viliardi (my personal top target) and samberg. or going after ehlers as a UFA and then taking a huge swing on a defensive trade target. parayko is up there in age but he'd look extremely good in our top four.

Where, beyond his handedness, do you see the fit with Pionk? I haven't seen him a lot, but whenever I hear him described he is always portrayed as an offensive defenseman. I've also heard rumblings of him being carried by Samberg quite a lot this season. So what aspects of his game fit what the Blue Jackets need?

 

[cbjthrowaway]

I just thought "can be crazy accurate" was kind of funny since any decent shooter in the NHL fits that. His shooting percentages are nothing to sneeze at but compared to other good shooters in the league, they are subpar if anything. Not many can shoot the puck as hard as Yegor though and he's only 320 shots into his career, let's hope that number starts going up faster than it has so far.

also: shooting percentage only includes shots on net.

shots that get blocked/deflected (a ton of chinakhov's due to his slow release) or miss the net (anecdotally, a lot of his) aren't included in sh%

 

[koteka]

We are currently 11th in the league in goals with 221. We are 25th in the league in goals against with 230. We are tied with Utah at 17th in goal differential at -9.

If the objective in hockey is to score more goals than your opponent, our problem is still giving up goals. The team ahead of us in scoring is Toronto with 224 goals (and they have played 1 more game). If we could improve to a Toronto level of goals against (tied for 16th in the league) we would be solidly in the playoffs right now.

As has been true for several seasons now, we need to improve our defense.

 

[cbjthrowaway]

Where, beyond his handedness, do you see the fit with Pionk? I haven't seen him a lot, but whenever I hear him described he is always portrayed as an offensive defenseman. I've also heard rumblings of him being carried by Samberg quite a lot this season. So what aspects of his game fit what the Blue Jackets need?

he's an established top four defenseman who could be available as a free agent. it has less to do with him fitting a specific stylistic mold, although i do think he's been a bit mischaracterized as an offense-only guy. he's not some power play merchant, he's gotten really good results at both ends of the ice the last couple years.

i'd prefer samberg, sure. but it's possible that part of samberg's breakout is because he's playing with a gifted and experienced puck-mover in pionk.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

We are currently 11th in the league in goals with 221. We are 25th in the league in goals against with 230. We are tied with Utah at 17th in goal differential at -9.

If the objective in hockey is to score more goals than your opponent, our problem is still giving up goals. The team ahead of us in scoring is Toronto with 224 goals (and they have played 1 more game). If we could improve to a Toronto level of goals against (tied for 16th in the league) we would be solidly in the playoffs right now.

As has been true for several seasons now, we need to improve our defense.

I’m not sure what the current numbers say but I do recall around mid season our defensive grading analytically was middle of the pack of around there and our goaltending was near the bottom. While I do agree we need to improve defensively, I think an upgrade in net might also be needed.

I would not be surprised if we have two new goalies next year (I’m counting Greaves being backup as a new goalie). Tarasov let walk via his RFA status and Elvis bought out/traded with heavy retention.

 

[Doggy]

I think this fits here...

In AP's Sunday Gathering: The CBJ are the only team that has not pulled a goalie from a start.

 

[CBJx614]

 

[VT]

Ehlers is ideal in a lot of ways beyond just being a top line caliber forward. He doesn't need much help. He's spent almost his whole on the 2nd line in Winnipeg and usually wasn't on the top powerplay, and he still produced at a great pace, even with weaker linemates.

I don't want to bring in a guy where we feel strongly obliged to "get him going" and give him attention and PP minutes at the expense of Fantilli, KJ, etc... Certainly if a newcomer is playing better, I don't mind, but the great appeal of Ehlers for me is that he can lift up others and doesn't need to be carried.

Ehlers would be perfect with Fantilli and Johnson. Jenner, Sillinger and someone could be at third. Danforth/Olivier/Aston-Reese. The question is what to do with Chinakhov. Although I'm willing to bet he could stand to be healthy on another team.

 

[Cheddarcheese]

i think you gotta move boone to the 3rd line and slot chinny in.

 

[CBJx614]

 

[CBJWerenski8]

 

[CBJx614]

 

[Viqsi]

Wait. Wait wait wait. For so many years we've asked "just to be healthy" for critical stretches, and now all of a sudden we're getting exactly that?

Maybe the hockey gods don't hate us after all no, no, that's still too absurd of a conclusion, never mind

 

[ViD]

Wait. Wait wait wait. For so many years we've asked "just to be healthy" for critical stretches, and now all of a sudden we're getting exactly that?

Maybe the hockey gods don't hate us after all no, no, that's still too absurd of a conclusion, never mind

We can now dress a suitable third line with Sillinger and Chinakhov.

Kunin and ZAR should rest a few games.

Personally I would go

Marchenko - Monahan - Voronkov
Chinakhov - Fantilli - KJ
Sillinger - Jenner - Danforth
JVR - Kuraly - Olivier

 

[majormajor]

We can now dress a suitable third line with Sillinger and Chinakhov.

Kunin and ZAR should rest a few games.

Personally I would go

Marchenko - Monahan - Voronkov
Chinakhov - Fantilli - KJ
Sillinger - Jenner - Danforth
JVR - Kuraly - Olivier

Marchenko - Monahan - Voronkov
JVR - Fantilli - KJ
Chinakhov - Jenner - Sillinger
Kunin - Danforth - Olivier

I'm not sure I love Fantilli with KJ but we kind of need them to figure it out together. They're a bit of a one and done mess and Chinakhov isn't going to help anyone figure it out right now. I want to see Chinny with more meat and potatoes for a bit. JVR couldn't help Fantilli earlier in the year but he's still the best candidate to help those guys control the puck in the offensive zone and get away from the one and done.

Danforth and Olivier have been two of our better players lately, Olivier especially. So I figure we can keep them together, and Kunin has some very good underlyings in recent games.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

Looks like Sillinger is a go, and we have our fully healthy forward lineup for the first time all year.

Wonder who comes out for Sillinger. JVR, ZAR, or Kunin.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

Looks like it’s JVR out

 

[CBJx614]

Looks like it’s JVR out

He might need the rest, not a terrible idea to rotate some of them to keep em fresh

 

[stevo61]

He might need the rest, not a terrible idea to rotate some of them to keep em fresh

4 days off sounds like plenty of rest. I like Evason but some of his lineup moves are... well, pretty stupid. He fights the obvious things sometimes and it can get annoying

 

[MoeBartoli]

Looks like it’s JVR out

I realize Kuraly-Kunin put up good numbers last game but it was one game. JVR and Chinakov are easily better players than ZAR and Kunin. Much of the 4th lines best play has been because of JVR. Evason has been great for us, but…..Decisions like this piss me off.

 

[cbjthrowaway]

don't really get the sillinger-on-the-wing thing. danforth hasn't been very good lately. i'd rather see something like:

10-23-86​

21-19-91​

38-4-24​

59-7-11/17​

He might need the rest, not a terrible idea to rotate some of them to keep em fresh

long gap between games but point taken. 35 in the NHL means he's basically The Oldest Man Alive

 

[ViD]

Scratching Chinakhov when the team is really struggling to score is really head scratching

 

[Monk]

Scratching Chinakhov when the team is really struggling to score is really head scratching

I fear it's health/pain management related

 

[ViD]

I fear it's health/pain management related

I hope so

ZAR - Kuraly - Kunin line really doesn’t inspire any confidence even for pure grinding

 

[Xoggz22]

Don't get some of the lineup decisions, but hey...I'm not an expert. That said, here's how I would go with this group:

Marchenko - Monahan - Voronkov
Jenner - Fantilli - KJ
Danforth - Sillinger - Chinakhov
JVR - Kuraly - Olivier

Could play around with the bottom 6 a little but I like the overall depth of this forward group. Now can they find the right combinations and gel in the last 12 games to make a difference???