ezcreepin
Registered User
- Dec 5, 2016
- 2,693
- 2,443
Frozen tools doesn't give all linecombos apparently, but the majority of his time at even strength was with Noesen and Coleman, and then with Wood and Zacha. Now I don't know how fast Wood is to his peers, but Maroon did manage to get 3 of his 9 ES points while on a line with Wood and Zacha. 99% of his points with guys like Hall and Hischier came on the pp. I don't necessarily believe he has to be on a impressive defensive line given his production, plus his zone starts. I don't disagree that him playing with ROR and Tarasenko is exploitable, just presenting my belief that he can reach his career numbers playing with them. Tbh, I believe he'll find success anywhere on this team.The biggest thing there is that a huge chunk of his recent success has come from playing on lines with guys who have speed. McDavid is a burner and one man transition show. In NJ he was playing with guys like Grabner, Wood, and Hall.
It's not that I don't think he can't find some measure of success with slower skilled guys, but I do think the overall play of his line is nowhere near as effective when you don't have a dynamic skater who can push the transition pace himself and get back quickly to help cover for any gaffes/turnovers that might happen while guys like Maroon catch back up to the play.
On defense, it's basically just ROR by himself back there. Tarasenko and Maroon contribute rather little in the defensive zone. Maybe that's enough for some of the matchups they'll get given the help they'll have behind...but it definitely won't be for some.
I just don't see it as the dominant sort of line composition that people seem to be hyping it up as. It's fine in the offensive zone, but flawed (and thus exploitable) elsewhere.