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Top 6 without Malkin

Puttting Neal on Crosby's line is basically saying "Hey we have a 1st line a 3rd line and two 4th lines... D up!" Bennett - Sutter - Dupuis would not produce IMO. Better to leave Crosby's line as is and scoring well, and put Bennett and Neal with Sutter. That should produce decently. Sutter has some moves and some offensive instinct so that at least keeps teh D honest. Put Neal on line 1 and we become the easiest team in the league to match up against IMO.
 
Kunitz Crosby neal best line in the world
Cooke sutter dupuis defensive line
Bennett Jeffrey tk buzz line 2.0

Sutter will likely handle the bulk of dzone draws no matter what and Jeffrey will be more sheltered with ozone draws. I don't want Bennett and neal starting the majority of their shifts in our own zone. Lets face it we are a one line offense without geno. Make if the best line possible IMO. Then specialize the two third lines a bit.
 
I'd personally go with:

Kunitz - Crosby - Neal
Bennett - Sutter - Dupuis
Cooke - Jeffrey - Kennedy
Glass - Vitale - Adams

I know that's not leaving much offense for lines 2 to 4, but I think it's the best line up to take advantage of the players' relative strengths.

I know Sutter's not Staal offensively, so it's not quite like last year's roster. But at the same time, I think Kunitz/Crosby/Neal can be what Malkin's line was last year, with the other three lines playing solid defense and chipping in every once in a while.

Regardless, I think Crosby/Neal is a no brainer. If Bylsma doesn't eventually switch to that tandem, he should get a kick in the head.
 
I think if Neal is with Crosby, that line improves less with Kunitz over Dupuis than the second line would. Mostly because Dupuis is the better skater. And it would be a cool audition for Bennett. If he sinks we can always put Kennedy there to see if he is revitalised like in the past with Kunitz Staal.
 
All I care now is tha Neal needs an elite playmaker. How many healthy ones we have at the moment?

Kunitz - Crosby - Neal
Bennett - Sutter - Dupuis

Also would be fun to see our PP now that there is one playmaker less. I have a feeling that it won't be worse ar all.
 
Chancellor Vitale said:
Puttting Neal on Crosby's line is basically saying "Hey we have a 1st line a 3rd line and two 4th lines... D up!" Bennett - Sutter - Dupuis would not produce IMO. Better to leave Crosby's line as is and scoring well, and put Bennett and Neal with Sutter. That should produce decently. Sutter has some moves and some offensive instinct so that at least keeps teh D honest. Put Neal on line 1 and we become the easiest team in the league to match up against IMO.
Click to expand...

Thank you. I can't understand why everyone wants to mess with Crosby's line. The urge is based purely on the assumption that Neal will not produce without Malkin or Sid. The facts we actually have are that Crosby's line produces as is so why would we interfere with that?
 
My fears of the Malkin injury go beyond him.

Arguably our best goal scoring weapon of the past two years, who's game is that of a complimentary scorer as history has proven... Saw a great deal of success with Brad Richards in Dallas and huge success with Evgeni Malkin. When put up with Mark Letestu and Alexei Kovalev he was, well, lets say he wasn't well acquainted with his friend, the scoresheet. I get it, new environment, linemates...adjustment period. Although he adjusted rather quickly with No. 71 the following season. I know he will see ample power play time with Sidney Crosby (who he has looked good with btw), but my concern is he sticks on the second line playing even strength with a guy like Brandon Sutter, who doesn't have the creativity or smarts of a Richards or Malkin. I am not just looking at the potential loss of last year's MVP and Art Ross winner, but the trickling effect it may have on a guy like Neal, who could see a quarter to a third of his production cut. That's a lot of offence missing from the lineup. Sure, this is all speculation at this point, and is subjective, but it was a thought I had mulling in my head. It's like, not just one head was cut off when Geno got hurt, the potential is there for a two headed serpent losing both of its heads.

Thoughts? Geno does open a lot of room for Neal.... Think there maybe a chance he gets moved up to Crosby's line? That also would hurt us. Make us a one line juggernaut, much like the Sens were several years ago with Dany Heatley, Jason Spezza, and Daniel Alfredsson and we saw how easily Anaheim handled them.
 
Hobodrifter said:
Thank you. I can't understand why everyone wants to mess with Crosby's line. The urge is based purely on the assumption that Neal will not produce without Malkin or Sid. The facts we actually have are that Crosby's line produces as is so why would we interfere with that?
Click to expand...

Don't see how replacing Kunitz with Neal is 'messing' when Neal is better suited to convert Crosby's passes, and Kunitz is better suited to grind and play defense first than Neal. Seems like making lemonade to me.
 
I'm trying to look at this as an opportunity for Sutter to show something that his role as 3rd line center hasn't revealed. He's a young guy who is still adjusting to The Pens game. Concensus seems to be that he's got a great hockey IQ and of course his genetic material gives that some credibility. There's really nothing good about Malkin's injury and fears about Neal could be realized, but if there can be a 'silver lining' my bet is on Sutter proving he's a better offensive force than he's been able to demonstrate with Cooke and Kennedy as his wingers.
 
Bennett is really going to need to step up as the likely puck carrier of that line now to really get Neal going ES. Remember, Neal really hasn't been going very strong at ES even with Geno.
 
Personally I'm looking forward to seeing Sutter centering a line with Bennett and Neal to see if his game can provide some offense. The guy is a savvy player and if he's capable of doing things beyond his 3rd line center role this is the time for him to step up and show it. Might work, might be a trainwreck but I'll be watching with interest.
 
Per Dejan:

Dejan Kovacevic ‏@Dejan_Kovacevic

Neal moved to Crosby line at #Pens skate, Kunitz staying at LW. Bennett-Sutter-Dupuis and Cooke-Jeffrey-Kennedy next two. #TribHKY
Click to expand...
 
Sutt moves up...that is all.

Kunitz-Sid-Dupuis
Cooke-Sutt-Neal

Anything else is unnecessary for the time being.

Nothing against Neal moving up onto Sid's line, but there is no reason to adjust every line, just because Geno got hurt. Sid's line is doing just fine, thank you very much and I don't see the need to rearrange.
 
PKV Jungle Friends said:
Sutt moves up...that is all.

Kunitz-Sid-Dupuis
Cooke-Sutt-Neal

Anything else is unnecessary for the time being.
Click to expand...

Guess you haven't checked the Penguins' website. Here are the practice lines:

Kunitz-Crosby-Neal
Bennett-Sutter-Dupuis
Cooke-Jeffrey-Kennedy
Glass-Vitale-Adams
 
Welp as of now we probably need a RW, not a LW (for Geno, not Sid).

Kunitz - Sid - Neal will stick indefinitely IMO (as long as they're healthy) *knock on wood*.

Those guys will produce and that's all the excuse the coaches need.
 
Shockmaster said:
Guess you haven't checked the Penguins' website. Here are the practice lines:

Kunitz-Crosby-Neal
Bennett-Sutter-Dupuis
Cooke-Jeffrey-Kennedy
Glass-Vitale-Adams
Click to expand...

:laugh:

Saw it literally seconds after I posted...ha.

That said, I really don't see the need to adjust everything just because of Geno. Move Sutt and move on until Geno isn't dizzy anymore or you make a trade.

Am I wrong?
 
PKV Jungle Friends said:
:laugh:

Saw it literally seconds after I posted...ha.

That said, I really don't see the need to adjust everything just because of Geno. Move Sutt and move on until Geno isn't dizzy anymore or you make a trade.

Am I wrong?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't have minded if they would've just moved Sutter up and left everything else alone. Keep in mind though that Dupuis scored most of his 25 goals last year without Crosby, so it's not like he's completely dependent on Crosby to produce.
 
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