I’ve been outspoken about this throughout the season but imo Kessel needs to be in the top 6 in order to be effective — unfortunately he’s no longer the player he was during those Pittsburgh cup runs (or maybe we are not as talented as those teams were — probably a mix of both). Interesting idea pairing Kessel with Grabs that might be really good for Grabner. That said I’d suggest the following (if Schmaltz is back)
Hall - Dvo - Garland
Keller - Schmaltz - Kessel
Grabner - Stepan - Vinnie (or Crouse)
Soda - Richardson - Fischer
1) Hall, Dvo, Garland were our #1 line for most of the season after the Hall trade, they actually played well together and were the only line that consistently generated offensive chances. Not sure why they haven’t played together this playoff, Garland hasn’t been great away from Hall
2) Last year, we acquired Nick Schmaltz and immediately signed him to a long term deal, Tocchet had him centering Keller before the injury and the two had lots of chemistry. To the point where Tocchet said something like “Of course we’re going to play Schmaltz and Keller together I’d have to be an idiot not to” so of course this year Schmaltz moved to wing and both Keller and Schmaltz were invisible for much of the regular season.
3) Keller - Schmaltz - Kessel will be maybe the softest line in the entire league, but we get last change so if you can keep them away from physical players we should be ok. The way Keller’s been after the puck during this postseason that line has game-breaking potential
Looking forward to tomorrow’s game!! Puck drop at noon. Let’s see if we can play the same way we did today and get a win this time
