Does Dallas have the best top 9 forwards in the NHL?

[olli]

Robertson's scored more than 80 points once. A very, very good goal scorer, but hasn't been a top tier game breaker that you dread touching the ice for a while now.

Rantanen's finding out how hard it is to produce when you don't have MacKinnon on your line. Given how the rest of Dallas' forwards stack up, Rantanen would have to be a true S-tier player for them to beat out Florida's Barkov factor. And an S-tier player he is certainly not.

Robertson has 4 ppg seasons including this one lol way to manipulate stats.

Who are the “S tier” players in the league? Where’s the cut off? I would say he’s in the tier behind McDavid/Drai/Mac/kuch/. But I’d say he’s not as good as Pasta or Matthews.

 

[hangman005]

Yay! I love jinx threads!

I do if they work on teams I want to lose... but when they work on my team

 

[BB88]

Nope. Florida’s top two lines might have the best player compared to Dallas, but the Dallas lines are better compared 3 to 3. There is no weak link. And no question Dallas has a better third line.

Florida had the best 3rd line in the league last year and was a major reason they won

This year they are even deeper at F

Floridas top9 is a top9 that doesn’t have a weakness, it’s more skilled than Dallas’, it’s more versatile, better defensively, physical

Outside of Marchand they are all under 30 and in their primes. Dallas has Seguin, Benn, Dadonov, Duchene in their top9 who are past their prime

Verhaeghe- Barkov- Reinhart

Dallas doesn’t touch that

Marchand- Bennett- Tkachuk

Dallas doesn’t touch that

3rd line is close

So no way can you say Dallas has a better top9

& weak link is not having a superstar 1C, like Mackinnon, like Barkov, like McDavid.
Robertson has been also too much of a complimentary player. I take this current Reinhart over Robertson any day, superior 2way play and performs when it matters


Vs any other team I take Dallas top9

With Marchand in Florida it’s easy

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Florida and Colorado clear

 

[TheSuperElite]

Robertson has 4 ppg seasons including this one lol way to manipulate stats.

Who are the “S tier” players in the league? Where’s the cut off? I would say he’s in the tier behind McDavid/Drai/Mac/kuch/. But I’d say he’s not as good as Pasta or Matthews.

I can see how it might have come off like that, but I was suggesting that he's more of a ppg player and not 70 or less given that he never scores at that pace. I'm not the one that brought up a 30 game stretch though

He's not in the tier that Barkov's in. He'd have to be there or higher for Dallas' group to be better than Florida's.

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

Nope. Florida’s top two lines might have the best player compared to Dallas, but the Dallas lines are better compared 3 to 3. There is no weak link. And no question Dallas has a better third line.

Agreed

Dallas 3rd line is easily a 2nd line on a lot of NHL teams.

Duchene is still a top 6 player. He's well worth his contract. Can play C too if needed. Fits in Dallas perfectly.

Granlund is a good #2C or a high end #3C. He's even better than Lundell. I can't think of any other team that has a better #3C than Dallas.

Benn isn't the player he once was but hes still an asset in the playoffs. Plays a heavy game and can play in the top 6 if needed. Very effective in a bottom 6 role.

There are no weaknesses in Dallas forward group.

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

Rantanen cashed out in Dallas because he already has a cup and doesn't need another. He just needed to get the money. After taxes he has most than almost all the NHL players.

 

[Pablo El Perro]

No

 

[JoeSakic13]

Rantanen cashed out in Dallas because he already has a cup and doesn't need another. He just needed to get the money. After taxes he has most than almost all the NHL players.

You make it sound like he signed with the Sharks or the Blackhawks.

Whether or not he’s a good fit in Dallas is yet to be seen, but he certainly didn’t “cash out”.

 

[ElGuapo]

Nastee

Robertson-Hintz-Granlund
Benn-Johnston-Rantanen
Marchment-Duchene-Seguin
Steel-Bourque-Dadonov

 

[a mangy Meowth]

The question is…will whoever walks away from the epic war between Dallas/Colorado in round 1 have anything/enough left for the rest of their playoff run…?

Are either of these teams particularly physical?

I mean they each have a few players who play the body... but I don't think of Dallas as a very tough team - and Avs even less so.

 

[Benneguin]

Benn and Seguin drag it down

What'chu talkin' 'bout, Willis?

 

[MessierII]

They are deep but there still isn’t a lot of high end talent. Which Rantanen do they get?

 

[Dave92]

That top line is pretty mid even with Rantanen so i'll say no

 

[RoyIsALegend]

Yes, I believe they do have the best top 9 in the NHL.

Counter question... does Dallas have the worst right side defense in the entire NHL?

Lyubushkin, Ceci, and Dumba... yikes.

 

[viper0220]

As far as sheer firepower? Probably.

But if i had to pick a top 9 to go to war with this upcoming playoffs im taking:

Verhaeghe-Barkov-Reinhart
Marchand-Bennett-Tkachuk
Luostarinen-Lundell-Rodrigues

Will Tkachuk be back for the playoffs?

 

[viper0220]

I think Edmonton has too been in this conversation, they have #97, when you have #97, that alone is worth a lot.

 

[Lemontree]

Nothing impressive about the Cs. Hintz is on the lowest end of #1 C.

 

[Nikki Potnick]

Nothing impressive about the Cs. Hintz is on the lowest end of #1 C.

They're not high end, but all 3 are on pace to have at least 70+pts. Any other team have a 3rd line center scoring 70+pts?

 

[SimpleJack]

Are either of these teams particularly physical?

I mean they each have a few players who play the body... but I don't think of Dallas as a very tough team - and Avs even less so.

That's a killer matchup for an opening round, it would take a lot out of whoever wins it you would think. But it might also help the winner round into form, i suppose depends how you look at it. One hell of a series if it does go down that way. Can't wait.

 

[Hazy Little Thing]

On paper, they have 3 1st lines, but the West is so ridiculously deep. You can tell me anyone of the Stars, Jets, Avs, Golden Knights, or the Oilers made it out of the West in 3 months and I'd just think to myself 'it was so obvious all along', you can really convince yourself that anyone of those 5 teams are the favorites to make it out of the west.

Lol, list the 3 1st lines.

 

[Freaky Styley]

They might have the deepest forward group offensively, yep.

However, I'd take the Panthers group over theirs, I prefer the Panther mix.

And the Avs have the best forward and deepest center group of all 3.

So really it's a coin flip. Not upgrading Ceci/Dumba is what's going to hurt Dallas this year, especially since Tanev was so key to their success last year. Will be interesting to watch it play out

 

[TheSuperElite]

On paper, they have 3 1st lines, but the West is so ridiculously deep. You can tell me anyone of the Stars, Jets, Avs, Golden Knights, or the Oilers made it out of the West in 3 months and I'd just think to myself 'it was so obvious all along', you can really convince yourself that anyone of those 5 teams are the favorites to make it out of the west.

They have a first line and two second lines.

 

[Ghost of Murph]

Dallas looking studly on paper multiple years hasn't done much in the way of translating to a Cup. That's for sure a nasty top 9, but there's several other WC teams that also have a great top 9, and possibly better chemistry. I could not be more fired up about the WC playoffs.

 

[Valushkin]

As an Avs fan, I was a big Mikko fan and was sad to see him go, but if Dallas is getting the Canes or 4 nations version of Mikko, that contract is probably gonna look pretty bad