When was the last time there was practically unanimous opinion on what the top line should be? That's pretty cool at least.
When was the last time there was practically unanimous opinion on what the top line should be? That's pretty cool at least.
This is what I’d go with as well. Maybe swap Danforth and JvR but I’m 50/50 on that.
Double-Shift Lasse
Just post better
Doggy
Registered User
- Oct 11, 2011
- 3,425
- 3,485
Doggy
Registered User
- Oct 11, 2011
- 3,425
- 3,485
Smile for the day: Marchy being Marchy 
"Hockey is Life!!!" Marchy is Dani Rojas on skates.
"Hockey is Life!!!" Marchy is Dani Rojas on skates.
I've actually really like Sillinger with Danforth and Olivier - as a winger he's simplifying and winning races and getting pucks to his teammates. Perhaps the coaches will like Silinger more as a winger and keep him there.
While I'm dreaming....
Voronkov - Monahan - Marchenko
Fantilli - Jenner - Chinakhov
JVR - LDBB - KJ
Sillinger - Danforth - Olivier
This is of course the fantasy that Evason would want four good lines that can score. And perhaps there is a fantasy element as well that Del Bel will be able to keep up in late season games.
You can list Jenner or Fantilli as center, to me it doesn't matter too much where you list them, Jenner will maybe take the bulk of the centering responsibility anyways. I don't think that line was the best use for KJ so I want to put him back with JVR and LDBB.
While I'm dreaming....
Voronkov - Monahan - Marchenko
Fantilli - Jenner - Chinakhov
JVR - LDBB - KJ
Sillinger - Danforth - Olivier
This is of course the fantasy that Evason would want four good lines that can score. And perhaps there is a fantasy element as well that Del Bel will be able to keep up in late season games.
You can list Jenner or Fantilli as center, to me it doesn't matter too much where you list them, Jenner will maybe take the bulk of the centering responsibility anyways. I don't think that line was the best use for KJ so I want to put him back with JVR and LDBB.
MoeBartoli
Checkers-to-Jackets
- Jan 12, 2011
- 14,066
- 11,622
It’s concerning at this point. The lack of information isn’t really helping anything, IMO.
I don’t think he’s “injury prone” and don’t think we should be even thinking about trading him, however. He has elite skills and “potential”.
I just want him, and the team NEEDS him, playing. The team lacks all the things he brings. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like he will be able to continue using his body offensively and on the forecheck the way he and/or we would like, and how he was playing at the beginning of the year.
Jenner needs to be on a “grinding”, heavy, defensive minded line. He holds back guys like Fantilli/KJ offensively, and they hold him back defensively. I would look to try him with a combo of Voronkov, Olivier, ZAR.
Overall, I think our lines have to be more structured as “role” lines. I’m not against the “line blender” mindset either, when things aren’t going well. Also not against breaking up the “top line”.
KJ needs to continue improving his overall fitness/conditioning. His overall skating needs to be improved. Top speed mainly.
Need a change to the defense. While scapegoated regularly, Severson and Gudbranson fill out the right side fine, IMO. As good as Mateychuk is, and as good as Werenski is, there’s a certain style of defensive partner that Werenski (and subsequently the team) needs to be impactful/successful as he can be. Fabbro may be that TYPE of player, but, he’s not THE player.
How they didn’t trade Provorov is beyond me. Mateychuk is the same, and IMO, the better player. The team really isn’t worse off playing Christiansen over Provorov. Starting the PK in overtime with Jack Johnson and Ivan Provorov on D, isn’t what I want to see from Evason or Waddell, and isn’t a recipe for success. Wasted a decent asset.
Overall, I think our lines have to be more structured as “role” lines. I’m not against the “line blender” mindset either, when things aren’t going well. Also not against breaking up the “top line”.
KJ needs to continue improving his overall fitness/conditioning. His overall skating needs to be improved. Top speed mainly.
Need a change to the defense. While scapegoated regularly, Severson and Gudbranson fill out the right side fine, IMO. As good as Mateychuk is, and as good as Werenski is, there’s a certain style of defensive partner that Werenski (and subsequently the team) needs to be impactful/successful as he can be. Fabbro may be that TYPE of player, but, he’s not THE player.
How they didn’t trade Provorov is beyond me. Mateychuk is the same, and IMO, the better player. The team really isn’t worse off playing Christiansen over Provorov. Starting the PK in overtime with Jack Johnson and Ivan Provorov on D, isn’t what I want to see from Evason or Waddell, and isn’t a recipe for success. Wasted a decent asset.
SteelCityCannon
Registered User
- Mar 25, 2017
- 536
- 2,617
Agree totally with Jenner. Would love to see him on the 3rd line.
It seems like DW has a good feeling he can re-sign Provorov.
Jenner's meat and potatoes is the one thing that's working on his line. I don't agree with the idea that Fantilli and KJ are going to be able to play a better skilled game if you put another skilled rush type player out there with them. They couldn't do that earlier this year. It was Fantilli working down low with the Russian topliners that woke him up, and it was slow JVR that KJ clicked with). hey have not clicked with each other in any iteration and I don't see it getting any easier in the tight checking this time of year. There's a much better argument for splitting up Fantilli and KJ than there is that they'll be better without Jenner.
Have we seen KJ-Monahan-Marchenko line all season? I think those three would mesh really well together.
Killakirillthethrill
Registered User
Doggy
Registered User
- Oct 11, 2011
- 3,425
- 3,485
What does GMDW do about Severson? Short term they are gonna lump it for the rest of this season but I cannot see him being a part of this roster next year. As bad as he was earlier in the season, he has regressed. How is he not benched. We could easily go (would it be any worse than having Severson taking penalty after penalty?
Z-Fabbro
Mateychuk-Provy
Harris/JMFJ-Guddy
Z-Fabbro
Mateychuk-Provy
Harris/JMFJ-Guddy
Yes my guess is that third pair would be significantly worse than the one led by Severson.
cbjthrowaway
Registered User
- Jul 4, 2020
- 1,765
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as bad as severson was the other night (quite bad!) it was clear that gudbranson was significantly worse.
on paper, christiansen-severson is their best third pair. in practice… i don't know. evason really leans on the top two pairs at 5v5. the PK has been really bad. maybe it does make more sense to have two PK specialists on a seldom-used third pair just to shore up that area.
the optics of taking out a guy who takes a ton of penalties (severson) to get a PK specialist into the lineup (johnson) are funny but if it reduces penalties and makes the PK unit stronger, the logic is sound. but there's no world where 3-44 is an actual effective pair on NHL ice.
the one thing they haven't tried is harris-severson as the third pair. i think harris's poise and mobility would help cover for some of severson's erratic decision-making. but also, those are the two guys the staff trusts the least.
Xoggz22
Registered User
One thing that becomes more clear after every game... the defense will need addressed significantly this off season. Now I'll throw a wrinkle... Is this a McCarthy thing or player thing? McCarthy has had three coaches and the defense of the defensive performance may not be improving. I don't know, just throwing it out there because I was a big proponent for letting him go last off season. Maybe it truly is the players can't grasp his concepts (Z, Provo and Fabbro seem to have done OK...)
I'm excited to get the back end improvements because I don't think a lot needs to happen to the Forward ranks. Still some improvements, but not nearly as much as the D.
I'm excited to get the back end improvements because I don't think a lot needs to happen to the Forward ranks. Still some improvements, but not nearly as much as the D.
Our D needs serious help but I don't have the sense that the current group is less than the sum of its parts. It's just not a lot of good parts.
Severson is Severson. Provorov is Provorov. Gubranson is Gudbranson. These guys are who they are and who they have been. Werenski and Fabbro are having the best years of their careers (so far, hopefully). Who are we saying is underperforming because of one assistant coach? They also have Ford and Haviland here who both know about coaching defense, if Evason and those guys keep McCarthy around I would assume they think he's not bad at what he does.
i guess tomorrow night decide our future. great season, was expecting a top 5 pick again this year.
only thing i wish Don did differently this year was sign a goalie maybe could have got Stolarz. with not much free agents goalies next year could see us making a trade maybe Demko or Gibson trade ?
only thing i wish Don did differently this year was sign a goalie maybe could have got Stolarz. with not much free agents goalies next year could see us making a trade maybe Demko or Gibson trade ?
Jive Pawnbroker
One day next week
Last night was my first opportunity to watch Kunin in person and more than a couple of times I asked myself "What in the hell is he doing?".he also thinks Kunin is good at what he does
cbjthrowaway
Registered User
- Jul 4, 2020
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that rush on the PK where he didn't have a stick, went to the bench, then tried to get into the offensive zone while the puck was already going the other way was infuriating.
that said, kunin has been a bit unfairly maligned on this board imo.
they didn't get him because they needed a top six goal scorer, they got him because they needed a warm body to play forward and kill penalties. they barely gave anything up, and that's in a seller's market.
he's been an adequate fourth line guy. evason loves to roll all four lines, but the construction of those lines has been very old school (two scoring lines, two checking lines) and kunin fits into that dichotomy. and he's not even the worst checking line player they have in the lineup right now (imo he's been far better than ZAR).
i'm not saying he's a good player (he's not), but he's not worth the amount of energy people are spending to complain about him.
cbjthrowaway
Registered User
- Jul 4, 2020
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andersen's going to be a UFA and don has familiarity with him. i've liked jake allen for a long time, too, and he's set to be a UFA. could be a one-year overpay situation. and anton forsberg could be a cheaper UFA option for a timeshare scenario.
on the trade market, beyond the guys you mentioned, i could see boston making a move. doubt they'd part with swayman (i'd love to bet on him as a bounce-back guy) but i could see them moving korpi.
Jovavic
Gaslight Object Project
Maybe Vegas flames out in the first round with their goaltending being blamed, maybe they make a move there. Elvis playing for Vegas should happen before he goes back to Europe.
Since goaltending is all the rage now, here is the total GP and GSAx as well as average GSAx/60 (per Moneypuck, blame me if the numbers are wrong) over the last three seasons of a few potentially available goaltenders compared to the ones in Columbus' system right now:
*Brossoit has not played during the 2024-25 season.
Of these, only Brossoit, Lyon and Greaves have GSAx numbers above 0 in all three seasons. If I had more time on my hands, I would be interested in breaking this down by shot difficulty and team effects as well as looking at the variance of their game scores.
I think what CBJ should be looking for is someone who is consistently above average and who would willing to sign a deal for two or three years. To me, Alex Lyon seems like the ideal candidate in that regard only based on these numbers. But, as I've said, Allen might be the most likely candidate. Andersen is injured a lot and Brossoit is a question mark after being out for this entire season.
| Name | TGP | Sum GSAx | Av. GSAx/60 |
| F. Andersen | 68 | 23.50 | 0.51 |
| L. Brossoit* | 34 | 19.00 | 0.57 |
| J. Allen | 104 | 15.70 | 0.21 |
| A. Lyon | 87 | 12.10 | 0.22 |
| I. Samsonov | 110 | 11.60 | 0.10 |
| J. Greaves | 16 | 7.80 | 1.22 |
| A. Forsberg | 84 | 4.00 | 0.06 |
| D. Rittich | 76 | 3.00 | 0.05 |
| J. Reimer | 87 | -3.50 | 0.06 |
| J. Gibson | 128 | -5.80 | -0.73 |
| D. Tarasov | 60 | -10.30 | -0.22 |
| D. Vladar | 76 | -22.20 | -0.35 |
| E. Merzlikins | 121 | -40.40 | -0.44 |
Of these, only Brossoit, Lyon and Greaves have GSAx numbers above 0 in all three seasons. If I had more time on my hands, I would be interested in breaking this down by shot difficulty and team effects as well as looking at the variance of their game scores.
I think what CBJ should be looking for is someone who is consistently above average and who would willing to sign a deal for two or three years. To me, Alex Lyon seems like the ideal candidate in that regard only based on these numbers. But, as I've said, Allen might be the most likely candidate. Andersen is injured a lot and Brossoit is a question mark after being out for this entire season.
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