The thing that bothers me about Gallant is he should be shuffling the lines when it is obvious the team isn't scoring. He seems fixated on this top 6 bottom 6 crap like it is set in stone. He really needs to drop that mindset and open it up. Now is the time to experiment with lines but he seems to not get it.
As I think about how to say this more, my biggest complaint is HOW he shuffles lines, not that he shuffles lines. All coaches will shuffle lines to some degree, and sometimes it's as much about sending a message than actually believing a particular combo will work.
Panarin Zibanejad Tarasenko and Kreider Trocheck Kane are good lines.
When they come out flat, and the coach feels the need to shuffle it up, however, he always reverts back to combinations he's tried before that don't work.
Panarin Trocheck Kane - no chemistry. Neither Kane nor Panarin really wants to shoot. Neither Panarin nor Kane is consistently capable of zone entries without a speedier player who can utilize them. Both Kane and Panarin prefer to work with linemates who will carry in, drop off to them high in the offensive zone, then continue towards the net to create space. They both love to post up at the top of the circle and either look for a cross ice pass or the trailing weak side D coming in from the point. Trocheck is good at zone entries, but prefers to carry deep, and since he plays more of a grinding north/south style, IF he drops the puck off to someone he's not going to immediately get in a scoring area, he's going to go behind the net in anticipation of keeping the cycle going. Whenever these three are on the ice, you will inevitably find no one open in a scoring area - the only one who will go to a scoring area is Trocheck, and when he does he'll be covered. This line combination should never happen, but yet it's one of GG's defaults with these players.
Kreider Zibanejad Tarasenko - also no chemistry at even strength. Kreider and Zibanejad work together on the PK because they can use their speed to disrupt plays and counter attack off the rush. At even strength, however, this combination simply does not work because it takes the team's two best shooters (93/91) and puts them with arguably the team's worst assist man in the top 9. This results in Tarasenko doing the wall work, Zibanejad not really having a role at even strength, and Kreider screening the goalie/helping cycle but never putting 91 or 93 in a shooting position when he makes a pass to one of them.
I find it ironic that whenever GG starts screwing with the lines, the lines that usually score in that game are the ones he's left alone - happened again in Buffalo.
Also in the last week or so, the D pair usage has been really questionable. It's obvious that Harpur Schneider should only be on the ice when Kreider/Trocheck/Kane or the 4th line are on the ice. It makes no sense to pair them with the kid line where the kids will cycle for 40 seconds, the puck will make it to the point, and one of them will kill the shift by floating a muffin at the net that's either gloved for a faceoff, or blocked and immediately cleared. They also should not be playing with the top line generally because they simply don't help them create. For a gritty fourth line, or a second line that has Kreider and Trocheck presumably buzzing around the net, I don't mind their limpdick wristers, but not when it destroys possession or wastes 40 seconds of sustained pressure and the opportunity to create against a tired group of defenders. Kid line as good as they are forechecking are not nearly as good in their own zone, and I think saddling them with two of the worst Dmen among playoff teams in zone exits is far from a good idea.
Finally I think my thoughts about the PP are well documented at this point. The PP was killing it with Zibanejad in the bumper, Panarin on the left side, Tarasenko on the right, Fox at the point, and Kreider in front of the net until the coaching staff decided to force feed Kane onto PP1, and inexplicably change the PP setup altogether. Meanwhile, PP2 would benefit immensely from Kane's playmaking abilities.
