Training camp

[will1066]

It's very similar to how @EdJovanovski feels about Kravtsov. Very, very similar.

 

[GENESISPuck94]

Are there any coaches still available? Maybe Babcock? There’s a few weeks before the season starts. It’s unacceptable to have Blais on the top line and Lafreniere getting third line minutes. Make the change now before it’s too late.

Even Renney recognized the teams only decent rookie forward and slapped him on PP1 with Jagr and watched him score 30 goals.

Lafreniere has more skill in his pinky toe than Prucha had in his body. Lafreniere would rack up points on PP1.

Gallant has the last high profile number one overall pick at his disposal and he buries him on line 3 so that guys like Hunt and Blais can play in the top 6.

It's not a mystery any longer why he was fired in Florida and Vegas. He's self destructive with his in-game decisions and personnel decisions.

 

[DanielBrassard]

I don't think it's a bad idea to go back to the kid line, perhaps they can build off of what they did in the playoffs and become a legitimate threat over the long haul. As long as they get enough ice time it's not a big deal.

 

[will1066]

I don't think it's a bad idea to go back to the kid line, perhaps they can build off of what they did in the playoffs and become a legitimate threat over the long haul. As long as they get enough ice time it's not a big deal.

Plus, form a formidable PP2 and then meter out the PP time between the two units, especially if PP1 does not experience the same success.

 

[Cmox]

Krav has to cut some weight.

 

[2014nyr]

gotta love the overreaction to day 1 of training camp lines

have to keep in mind this may all change significantly by game 1 anyway so nothing to even

personally dont hate going with those lines and keeping the kid line together. assuming he roles lines at es dont see any issue. only thing id hope to see is if that line is going certain nights he leans on them when he shortens the bench to close out games or looking for a tying goal at the expense of one of the top 2 lines who may not be.

and then re the pp, personally i prefer trochek in that strome spot. its by far the least involved in the play and really doesnt play to lafs strengths at all. i dont see much benefit putting him there for him or the pp.

i would really like to see gallant set a pp2 and give them equal time, including starting them when theyre hot much like st louis did last year. id rather get laf high on the left wall where he thrived in juniors and run a pp through him, and get krav/kakko/chytil or blais and hopefully jones their own pp. if that happens and theyre getting / showing they deserve equal treatment were in a far better spot and giving the kids an opportunity to thrive rather than forcing square pegs into a round hole on pp1. let krav open up on the right hash for one timers, let kakko roam down low and in front, let jones man the top, maybe have kandre and his shot out there with him or add a dedicated net front in chytil/blais.

but regardless...its day 1 of camp ahead of an 82 game season. theres a ton to play out, were coming off a conf finals appearance with a ton of reasons to be optimistic. deep breaths

 

[GENESISPuck94]

gotta love the overreaction to day 1 of training camp lines

have to keep in mind this may all change significantly by game 1 anyway so nothing to even

personally dont hate going with those lines and keeping the kid line together. assuming he roles lines at es dont see any issue. only thing id hope to see is if that line is going certain nights he leans on them when he shortens the bench to close out games or looking for a tying goal at the expense of one of the top 2 lines who may not be.

and then re the pp, personally i prefer trochek in that strome spot. its by far the least involved in the play and really doesnt play to lafs strengths at all. i dont see much benefit putting him there for him or the pp.

i would really like to see gallant set a pp2 and give them equal time, including starting them when theyre hot much like st louis did last year. id rather get laf high on the left wall where he thrived in juniors and run a pp through him, and get krav/kakko/chytil or blais and hopefully jones their own pp. if that happens and theyre getting / showing they deserve equal treatment were in a far better spot and giving the kids an opportunity to thrive rather than forcing square pegs into a round hole on pp1. let krav open up on the right hash for one timers, let kakko roam down low and in front, let jones man the top, maybe have kandre and his shot out there with him or add a dedicated net front in chytil/blais.

but regardless...its day 1 of camp ahead of an 82 game season. theres a ton to play out, were coming off a conf finals appearance with a ton of reasons to be optimistic. deep breaths

It's the fact that Gallant woke up and strolled into the training center with the stupidity of Blais on the top line bouncing around in his pea brain, that's the problem. That shouldn't even be a logical thought to normal people.

 

[EdJovanovski]

Krav has to cut some weight.

Huh? He doesn’t look fat at all lol

 

[mike14]

It's the fact that Gallant woke up and strolled into the training center with the stupidity of Blais on the top line bouncing around in his pea brain, that's the problem. That shouldn't even be a logical thought to normal people.

You've got KK who he scratched in the playoffs, and Kravtsov who he wants to see with Panarin. Assuming his preference is to keep Laf on his natural side, who else is there?
I get you like to whine about everything, but you've really been scrapping the bottom of the barrel recently

 

[ElLeetch]

unfortunately, Blais just might be our 9th best forward. If you want that 2nd and 3rd lines to be as they are, then Blais has to play with Kreider and Zib. Thats really all there is to it.

Who else? Gauthier? Goodrow?

Our only other hope is if Othmann or Cuylle somehow make the team, or a trade is made. For now, it is what it is.

If I'm Othmann, i have a three foot erection right now. the door is open.

 

[savebyrichter94]

Things will inevitably change numerous times over the course of the season, I understand people getting upset to a certain degree but it’s also Day 1

Gallant wants to see how things shake out so he’s starting from a familiar base of combinations and then he can tweak as he sees fit

Trochek on PP1 was always going to happen because for as deadly as that unit was they probably could’ve been even more deadly if they had a guy who could win a damn faceoff and start with possession instead of chasing and wasting 20-30 seconds to get setup which I think is part of the reason why they end up staying out there so long so for those hoping for more PP2 ice time this might lead to exactly that

I like the idea of the Kids and Jones having their own unit where they don’t feel the need to defer to vets and as others have alluded to, if the ice time is spread pretty evenly, which I know is a concern for some given what we’ve seen in the past, the Kid line should in theory be able to feast on 3rd pair defenders and bottom 6 lines if they can carry over their playoff performance and continue to build off of it

 

[savebyrichter94]

unfortunately, Blais just might be our 9th best forward. If you want that 2nd and 3rd lines to be as they are, then Blais has to play with Kreider and Zib. Thats really all there is to it.

Who else? Gauthier? Goodrow?

Our only other hope is if Othmann or Cuylle somehow make the team, or a trade is made. For now, it is what it is.

If I'm Othmann, i have a three foot erection right now. the door is open.

I think Gallant kinda alluded to this, he said something akin to “ if a kid comes in and blows the doors off then you have to reassess things” so I don’t think he has these combos written in stone and he’s kinda dangling the carrot so to speak for guys like Othmann etc to come in and make them notice to the point where maybe things have to change

 

[will1066]

I think Gallant kinda alluded to this, he said something akin to “ if a kid comes in and blows the doors off then you have to reassess things” so I don’t think he has these combos written in stone and he’s kinda dangling the carrot so to speak for guys like Othmann etc to come in and make them notice to the point where maybe things have to change

I had a Charlton Heston Ten Commandments with the line combos photoshopped onto his stone tablet all planned out for today....

 

[2014nyr]

It's the fact that Gallant woke up and strolled into the training center with the stupidity of Blais on the top line bouncing around in his pea brain, that's the problem. That shouldn't even be a logical thought to normal people.

honestly depending on how he plans on deploying his lines / managing ice time it makes some sense. blais has never put up big numbers but hes been hurt a lot and hasnt played much on top lines. but stl had used him on their top line and believed he could be a top 6 staple too - he just kept getting injured but he does have a ton of skill. so in terms of can it work? yea i absolutely think theres that possibility with him...he can get it on the forecheck and come in heavy, hes got some filthy hands, vision is decent. the skillset is there...does he put it all together now/can he stay healthy? who knows. but as an idea in terms of the options for the best possible roster it could be a nice fit.

on the other side given you lose vatrano whod been solid there and have trocheck and kravtsov penciled in on a very rebuilt panarin line...having the kid line together after their playoff run makes some sense as a line that has continuity and ideally has taken another step where you can really count on them, especially early. it also keeps laf on the left and all 3 in spots theyre obviously comfortable.

so in theory, i can see why hed start this way. dont get me wrong i am the biggest laf fan around, i really really want to see him break out in a huge way this year, so a top line spot is tantalizing to think about and what would facilitate that. but if we have 3 lines that can kill you and gallant will ride any of them that are going on a given night when he shortens the bench and uses a 2nd pp equally it works fine.

all that said, again even if you think blais is trash and its insane to even try....its day 1 of training camp. if hes trash on that line theres plenty of time to reconfigure. i wouldnt go so far as to say a coach always knows more than any of us, but i do feel like gallants been a winner and is coming off taking the team to the ecf so i feel like hes at least earned a wait and see approach with his preseason lineup

 

[RGY]

People are complaining as if Gallant threw Gauthier on Line 1 and then has one or more of the kids from the Kid line on Line 4.

Its officially hockey season.

 

[savebyrichter94]

I had a Charlton Heston Ten Commandments with the line combos photoshopped onto his stone tablet all planned out for today....

If things don’t work out you can always rely on Kreider to smash the tablet

 

[chosen]

Kakko got benched because strome f***ing lied about "can I go" .

Kakko was a huge part of the reason the kid line was as effective. Some of those chytil goals, kakko does some really heavy work on the boards.
If he did what we all wanted, and gained some speed, kakko could be really impressive.
If Laf did what we all wanted and gained some burst, That entire line is gonna be unstoppable.

If Lindgren developed an offensive game, he could be an all star.

If Gauthier had hands, he could be a goal scorer.

If Tinordi had more talent, he could be a top-6 dman.

I think Kak and Laf will have fine careers, but I doubt either gets any faster. How many players get faster? They get bigger, stronger, and smarter.

 

[chosen]

It's the fact that Gallant woke up and strolled into the training center with the stupidity of Blais on the top line bouncing around in his pea brain, that's the problem. That shouldn't even be a logical thought to normal people.

Lose in the semis and fans are now upset about an idea being entertained by Gallant before pre-season.

Too bad we can't have some of the fans here coaching.

 

[Psycho for Perreault]

If he is willing to play the 3 lines fairly equally it's fine. If "line 1" gets all the time and PP time and line 3 gets 12 minutes, that's a problem. GG is saying he is hoping the kids just got better with the extra year. Hopefully he realizes that also means their ice time needs to change if that is the case.

 

[SA16]

If he is willing to play the 3 lines fairly equally it's fine. If "line 1" gets all the time and PP time and line 3 gets 12 minutes, that's a problem. GG is saying he is hoping the kids just got better with the extra year. Hopefully he realizes that also means their ice time needs to change if that is the case.

If he wants to win he will not play all 3 lines equally. This isn't a rec league.

 

[Psycho for Perreault]

If he wants to win he will not play all 3 lines equally. This isn't a rec league.

So maybe he looks at the advanced statistics and gives the lines that are doing the best at 5v5 more time. That would be phenomenal. Lets hope.

 

[SA16]

So maybe he looks at the advanced statistics and gives the lines that are doing the best at 5v5 more time. That would be phenomenal. Lets hope.

Sure. Are you willing to wait a month or two? Because "advanced stats" over a couple of games tell you nearly nothing.

 

[ElLeetch]

Hilarious

 

[GENESISPuck94]

You've got KK who he scratched in the playoffs, and Kravtsov who he wants to see with Panarin. Assuming his preference is to keep Laf on his natural side, who else is there?
I get you like to whine about everything, but you've really been scrapping the bottom of the barrel recently

You think it's normal to reduce a 1st overall pick to the bottom six? It's unprecedented in the last several decades. Barry Melrose was fired for exactly this in Tampa Bay when he clearly had it out for Stamkos. How'd it work out for Tampa Bay and Stamkos when they corrected the issue? I don't bury my head in the sand and pretend all is peachy. There's a huge issue.

 

[Psycho for Perreault]

Sure. Are you willing to wait a month or two? Because "advanced stats" over a couple of games tell you nearly nothing.

Absolutely. I'll give him some time. But eventually line 1 and 2 5v5 vs production PP1 needs to be assessed. That's all. If they are a liability even strength, just limit it. Probably better to do that anyway. We hopefully have a few years of playing lots of extra games ahead of us. Resting the vets throughout the year so they have more to give at the end isn't a bad thing.