Habs Lines 2011-12

[MIASUN]

Side note: Even If he doesn't become a regular, he must play EVERY game against Tim Thomas. His 4 career goals have all been scored on Mr. Vezina!

[NewfoundlandHab]

I think Weber will rotate with Emelin and Spacek on the third pairing. I'd like to have him in the line up but if his defensive play is going to be an issue it will be risky. We saw him make a fair jump in developement last year and hopefully this continues into this season. Would love for him to become a regular on our roster!!

And given those stats, I'd love for him to play in our games against the B's but that might be when we need a bigger, physical guy (Emelin) in our line up the most.

[detritus]

Personally, I think that the whole Spacek on the first pairing idea is a ship that sailed, oh so long ago.

As a first pairing, I think we should stick with what worked last year:

Hal Gill - PK Subban

- Hal Offers the stay at home to counter act Subbie's aggressive nature. I love watching Gill in the video of Subban dancing around the Minny wild zone. I can just imagine him cursing Subbie under his breath while backing off to the red line. Still, this pairing Works. Yes Hal, on his own, is not top pairing material. However, Subbie makes up for it.

Second pairing, a little odd for some, but hear me out.

Markov - Weber

Yes, I know. Many detractors: you have 2 offensive defensemen, you have 1 oft injured puck rusher and 1 inexperienced D who isnt great in the corners. However, this offers a legitimate pairing in which both players are on their strong side. Both can make a strong first pass, and both can shoot the puck. This is a great pairing to get the puck up and out of the zone. Try and pair it with stronger (ie Cole + TP) defensive forwards, and you solve their weakness along the boards. This gives Weber a legit chance to progress in his career. Also, while Markov generally excells with large physical defencemen, I'm sure having a secondary Dman to get him the puck would be usefull. Also, while Weber is on the small side, he always fights for the puck. A little guidance from Markov as to how to pick his spots could go along way.

And lastly:

Gorges - Yemelin.

Gorges is at his best on a bottom pairing. He is, an extraordinary #5 Dman. As such, he should reliable enough to more than anchor a bottom pairing which allows Yemelin a strong Dpartner to learn off of. Yet again, we get both D playing their natural sides AND we get to see if Yemelin's career year offensively will pan out to the NHL, as he would qualify as the puck mover here. Lastly, this serves a very important on-ice role. Having Yemelin see how Gorges plays, see how he blocks shots, sacrifices the body, gets in anyone and everythings way is fantastic and will show him exactly how he has to play to be successfull. I see Gorges as a fantastic mentor for Yemelin, just as Marky would be for Weber.

[Tangelis]

Personaly I beleive having 2 offensive defencemen on the sameline is counter productive, except perhaps on the powerplay. Markov and Subban are outstanding there is no doubt but OFD's because of thier offensive playstyle have a tendency to be out of defensive positioning. Having two on the ice at the same time is more likely to be costly as opposed to productive. I think that should be avoided.

Im all for taking risks, but we do have to ask questions.....Subban despite his ability still has a lot to learn, and Markov... is he really 100% healthy? Or will he get crunched game 6 and be out 7 months? This is not a risk I would be willing to take.

Shuffling lines during the season is nothing new but to start I think we should play it safe and see what we have that will endure long term rather than sending in shock troops for 20 mins and then be stuck with the "just Ok" for 40.

Def:

Subban , Gill

Markov, Gorges

Spacek, Emelin

[ColRouleBleu]

Personaly I beleive having 2 offensive defencemen on the sameline is counter productive, except perhaps on the powerplay. Markov and Subban are outstanding there is no doubt but OFD's because of thier offensive playstyle have a tendency to be out of defensive positioning. Having two on the ice at the same time is more likely to be costly as opposed to productive. I think that should be avoided.

Im all for taking risks, but we do have to ask questions.....Subban despite his ability still has a lot to learn, and Markov... is he really 100% healthy? Or will he get crunched game 6 and be out 7 months? This is not a risk I would be willing to take.

Shuffling lines during the season is nothing new but to start I think we should play it safe and see what we have that will endure long term rather than sending in shock troops for 20 mins and then be stuck with the "just Ok" for 40.

Def:

Subban , Gill

Markov, Gorges

Spacek, Emelin

I agree with this totally, specially the part in bold.

And welcome to our forum

[roy_133]

I agree having your 2 best offensive DMen together all the time is likely a misuse of assets but I equally dislike pairing either one of them with a total offensive stiff (Gill). It makes them significantly easier to defend, we're simply spending too much time playing, in essence, 4 on 5 in the offensive zone with our best players on the ice. Which is the problem with Gill as more than a 3rd pairing guy. In fact, it's probably the problem with a 3 of our DMen but Gill is the most glaring because A. he's the worst offensively and B. we just resigned him, basically over Hamrlik.

Gorges is fine because he's at least somewhat capable of making a play with the puck, same with Spacek in small doses, Yemelin we'll have to see but I'd like to absolutely avoid Gill in any kind of role off the 3rd pairing. I want a defensive presence with Subban, but one who isn't completely incapable of making a play (Gorges). Who plays with Markov is anyone's guess in that scenario. I'm not as opposed to Spacek as most but hope that Yemelin can win that spot.

[habfreak]

Once Markov settles down I won't mind giving Weber a go with him for a game or two, see how it works. Markov's accurate passing and Weber's hard shot can open up the ice for the forwards. However, to start with...I'd go with what has worked before. Markov-Jorges, Gill-Subban, Spacek-Yemelin/webber.

[BigTed3]

I agree having your 2 best offensive DMen together all the time is likely a misuse of assets but I equally dislike pairing either one of them with a total offensive stiff (Gill). It makes them significantly easier to defend, we're simply spending too much time playing, in essence, 4 on 5 in the offensive zone with our best players on the ice. Which is the problem with Gill as more than a 3rd pairing guy. In fact, it's probably the problem with a 3 of our DMen but Gill is the most glaring because A. he's the worst offensively and B. we just resigned him, basically over Hamrlik.

Gorges is fine because he's at least somewhat capable of making a play with the puck, same with Spacek in small doses, Yemelin we'll have to see but I'd like to absolutely avoid Gill in any kind of role off the 3rd pairing. I want a defensive presence with Subban, but one who isn't completely incapable of making a play (Gorges). Who plays with Markov is anyone's guess in that scenario. I'm not as opposed to Spacek as most but hope that Yemelin can win that spot.

Going into the season, it would be very difficult to see Emelin paired with Subban because of how little experience and maturity each has to their game thus far in their careers. It would be nice to see Emelin be able to jump into top 4 duty alongside Markov, but I'm not sure we can expect to see that early on in the year. Ditto for Weber being able to play top 4 early on in the year or maybe at all during the year. So really the choice of who to slide into the top comes down to 2 of Gorges, Gill, and Spacek, at least to start the season.

At this point, although I understand Gill's flaws, I think he is still the better choice going forward for a couple of reasons:

- Gill has worked well with Subban, so even if he doesn't provide offence himself, Subban was still able to create with him there. Whether you believe in chemistry or not, Gill gives Subban some confidence and direction on the ice and it works.

- Playing Spacek with Markov means Spacek plays the right and Gorges plays the left, whereas Gill in the top 4 with Subban means Spacek could play the left on the third pairing while Gorges plays the right. Gorges has clearly been the player who adapted best to playing the wrong side and Spacek was clearly the least comfortable. To maximize the playing potential of our line-up, we are best keeping Gorges on the right (with Markov) and leaving Gill and Spacek on the left. And if the choice comes down to Spacek or Gill playing with Subban, I'd rather go with the guy who's played well with Subban last year.

As the year goes on, hopefully Emelin steps up and becomes able to fill the right side next to Markov or the left side next to Subban. But to start, I think we're better off going with what works best rather than taking a chance on an unproven rookie or a declining veteran.

[Habs_Hockey_Nutz]

With the talent available...

Cole-Gomez-Gionta

(the best way to insure Gomez and Gionta have their most productive years for the Habs IMO)

Cammalleri-Plekanec-Kostitsyn

(Cammalleri and Kostitsyn are still viable offensive weapons to play with Plekanec)

Pacioretty-Desharnais-Trotter

(AHL reunion of a very potent offensive line)

Moen-(Enqvist)Eller-White

(some toughness and defensive responsibility)

Darche (great spare in many positions)

Markov-Subban (offensive attack)

Gill-Gorges (defensive specialists)

Spacek/Yemelin-Weber/Diaz (flexible 3rd-pairings)

Price/Budaj

[PatrickProvost]

im gonna try something a little different, how bout:

Cammalleri-Plekanec-AK

Cole-Gomez-Gionta

Paccioretty-Desharnais-Eller(if healthy)

Darche-White-Moen

(Trotter, Palushaj)

Markov-Subban

Gill-Georges

Yemilin-Spacek

(weber)

Price (62 games)

Budaj (20 games)

this is my explanation:

I personally like AK and is criticized too harshly. he had just one point less than Gionta last year, he hits, hes big and has a scoring touch

Cole provides size in front of the net as-well as a good scoring touch for gomez to dish to (expect a good year from gomez)

Paccioretty and Desharnais worked magic in the AHL and even in the NHL (overtime goal vs boston) and combined with Eller thats a line with good skill, size and speed (especially for a 3ed line)

our 4th line with Moen White and Darche is all heart and all hustle

just wanted to go against the grain a bit... what do you think?

[Noob616]

I think as of now, what we need to start the year on D is Markov-Gorges as our first pairing, and Gill-Subban as the second. As others have said, having Markov and Subban on the same pairing is a waste of their talents (besides the PP). I would argue that looking at our roster, Markov is our best defenseman, and Gorges would be our best shutdown defenseman (not including Subban). I think Markov-Gorges would be a decent top pairing, until we can evaluate Emelin's development. The best case scenario is that Emelin develops quickly, and can slot in with Markov on the top pairing, allowing Gorges to play next to Subban (Gorges is a far better player than Gill IMO), and Gill can play on the third pairing with Weber, Diaz, or Spacek, and play on the PK.

[Noob616]

I think as of now, what we need to start the year on D is Markov-Gorges as our first pairing, and Gill-Subban as the second. As others have said, having Markov and Subban on the same pairing is a waste of their talents (besides the PP). I would argue that looking at our roster, Markov is our best defenseman, and Gorges would be our best shutdown defenseman (not including Subban). I think Markov-Gorges would be a decent top pairing, until we can evaluate Emelin's development. The best case scenario is that Emelin develops quickly, and can slot in with Markov on the top pairing, allowing Gorges to play next to Subban (Gorges is a far better player than Gill IMO), and Gill can play on the third pairing with Weber, Diaz, or Spacek, and play on the PK.

Overall, I'd like to see this to start the year.

Cammalleri-Plekanec- Cole

Pacioretty-Gomez-Gionta

Kostitsyn-Eller-Desharnais/Moen/Darche

Moen-White/Engqvist-Darche

Markov-Gorges

Gill-Subban

Spacek-Emelin/Weber

[13Habs14Fan21]

Straight up, this is how I see the Habs lineup this year:

Cammalleri Plekanec Kostitsyn

Cole Gomez Gionta

Pacioretty Eller Moen

Darche Desharnais White

Gorges Markov

Gill Subban

Spacek Weber

Price

Budaj

You gotta keep the chemistry with the first line, they had it going enough times the past 2 years, Gomez-Gionta only needed that big presence infront the net and got it with Cole, Eller and Pacio can bring some energy and speed and easily contribute to minimum 30 goals this season together, and the 4th line is going to bring some great chemistry and toughness together and play a solid 5-7 minutes a game which should be more then enough for them to work and kill penalties. Markov and Gorges will be the top pair this year if they both stay healthy and both will have a great season both offensivly and defensivly if they play a full 82 games, minimum 24 minutes each. Gill Subban will be a great pairing of both full out offense from Subban and excellent defense from Gill, especially after a very good rookie season from Subban, he'll score for sure an other minimum 10 and sky rocket the PP with Markov. Spacek and Weber is gonna be the 3rd pair which once again can contribute to both offense and deffense, Weber should be able to have a solid season if he gets some PP time which he should, and contribute a lot. Price is going to look to add to his 38 wins he had last year, tying him for the lead to Luongo, and I see him winning even more, maybe 40-44 wins this year and with Budaj as backup, the Habs can possibly pick up a good 50 wins this year and put them at the top 3 spot this year and have an excellent playoff run.

[NewfoundlandHab]

There is no doubt in my mind that Erik Cole was acquired to play along side Tomas Plekanec and Mike Cammalleri, at least to start the season. Cammalleri-Plekanec-Cole gives us a good mix of yound guys in their prime and a good, physical goal scoring vet. This line could be great for us. Second line will be Pacioretty-Gomez-Gionta. Gionta obviously will not drop as he has been our best goal scorer the past two seasons. Gomez will and should be given a chance to bounce back but I would have his leash fairly short. After seeing the magic this line had last season when Pacioretty was put on it, theres no way it gets split up unless Max is not himself after the injury. Third line is ?-Eller-AK. Yes, DD is the best player to put there if we want to get the most out of our 3 scoring lines but JM seems to like Moen. I also wouldnt mind seeing Darche there. DD and Darche are the top candidates for this spot. Fourth line depends on what happens with the third. It is either Moen-DD-White or Moen-White-Darche. I would like to see a bottom six of DD-Eller-AK, Moen-White-Darche. This gives us great scoring depth and a big gritty fourth line. Eller and AK had some chemistry last season and with DD setting them up they should do even better. I would not doubt, however, that JM would keep DD at center, but having him play with any 2 of Darche, Moen or white is not how we can fully utilize his skil set.

[BigTed3]

There is no doubt in my mind that Erik Cole was acquired to play along side Tomas Plekanec and Mike Cammalleri, at least to start the season. Cammalleri-Plekanec-Cole gives us a good mix of yound guys in their prime and a good, physical goal scoring vet. This line could be great for us. Second line will be Pacioretty-Gomez-Gionta. Gionta obviously will not drop as he has been our best goal scorer the past two seasons. Gomez will and should be given a chance to bounce back but I would have his leash fairly short. After seeing the magic this line had last season when Pacioretty was put on it, theres no way it gets split up unless Max is not himself after the injury. Third line is ?-Eller-AK. Yes, DD is the best player to put there if we want to get the most out of our 3 scoring lines but JM seems to like Moen. I also wouldnt mind seeing Darche there. DD and Darche are the top candidates for this spot. Fourth line depends on what happens with the third. It is either Moen-DD-White or Moen-White-Darche. I would like to see a bottom six of DD-Eller-AK, Moen-White-Darche. This gives us great scoring depth and a big gritty fourth line. Eller and AK had some chemistry last season and with DD setting them up they should do even better. I would not doubt, however, that JM would keep DD at center, but having him play with any 2 of Darche, Moen or white is not how we can fully utilize his skil set.

I think it's clear Cole was acquired to play in the top 6, but it's less clear to me whether the intention is for him to play with Plekanec or Gomez. Many people have assumed that Gomez will be paired with Pacioretty and Gionta again, simply because Pacman was the only winger who got the two vets going. But let's not forget that Cole has experience with Gomez and Gionta on the U.S. national squad and he may be just as good a fit on that line too. It's easy to say Pacman was the only one who played well on the Gomez line last year, but when the other players used there were Moen, Lapierre, Pyatt, Pouliot and a streaky AK46, none of those players stacks up to Erik Cole.

We also don't know how well Pacioretty has healed from his injuries and the intention may be to ease him back into the line-up by pairing him with DD or Eller on the third line. Personally, I'd like to see Pacioretty in the top 6 if he's ready to go because I think he's the closest thing to a legit power forward in our line-up, but you just never know. As it stands right now, we know JM likes to create pairs with chemistry and I'd vouch that he has 4 at this point:

- Pleks/Cammy

- Gomez/Gio

- DD/Pacman

- Eller/AK46

One could also argue that Pacman could be paired with Gomez or that AK46 could be paired with Pleks, but these are the pairings that make the most sense going forward right now. It just depends whether JM intends to split up Pacman and DD onto separate lines and where exactly he plans to squeeze Cole into that formation.

[NewfoundlandHab]

I think it's clear Cole was acquired to play in the top 6, but it's less clear to me whether the intention is for him to play with Plekanec or Gomez. Many people have assumed that Gomez will be paired with Pacioretty and Gionta again, simply because Pacman was the only winger who got the two vets going. But let's not forget that Cole has experience with Gomez and Gionta on the U.S. national squad and he may be just as good a fit on that line too. It's easy to say Pacman was the only one who played well on the Gomez line last year, but when the other players used there were Moen, Lapierre, Pyatt, Pouliot and a streaky AK46, none of those players stacks up to Erik Cole.

We also don't know how well Pacioretty has healed from his injuries and the intention may be to ease him back into the line-up by pairing him with DD or Eller on the third line. Personally, I'd like to see Pacioretty in the top 6 if he's ready to go because I think he's the closest thing to a legit power forward in our line-up, but you just never know. As it stands right now, we know JM likes to create pairs with chemistry and I'd vouch that he has 4 at this point:

- Pleks/Cammy

- Gomez/Gio

- DD/Pacman

- Eller/AK46

One could also argue that Pacman could be paired with Gomez or that AK46 could be paired with Pleks, but these are the pairings that make the most sense going forward right now. It just depends whether JM intends to split up Pacman and DD onto separate lines and where exactly he plans to squeeze Cole into that formation.

I simply believe these were/are the original intentions. Who knows what could happen in training camp, pre season and early in the season. I did mention Pacioretty possibly not being able to play in the top 6 right away. I really don't care what line combinations we see as long as they WORK! I would love to see a line of Cammi-Pleks-Patches! I think one of those duos has to get split up and that to get the most out of Pleks and Cammi they need either Patches or Coe on that line. Kostitsyn hasn't been consistent enough to be put on the 1st line IMO. And of course we will see tonnes of line juggling this season so who knows what kind of combos we'll have by the end of the season!

[JuniorSTLB]

1.Cammalleri-Plekanec-Cole

2.Gionta-Gomez-Pacman

3-A.Ak46-Eller-Moen

3-B.Trotter-Desharnais-Darche

First and second line: Not much to say about it.

Third line: It worked pretty well last season.

Second third line: Power grinders. They'll find a way to contribute

But seriously, I refuse to put Desharnais on the 4th line simply because he is NOT a 4th liner.

If we need a real 4th line, I'd like to see this:

3.AK46-Eller-Desharnais

4.Darche-White?-Moen

[NewfoundlandHab]

I just want to get the most that we can out of our offensive players. To do this it makes sense to put DD on the wiing with Eller and AK. The main problem with going with 4 sets of duos is that then we essentially have 4 scoring lines. Sure all lines will have at least one player who can hit but i'd rather have a gritty, physical, defensive 4th line to make life tough on opposing teams players. Unfortunately I don't see JM putting DD on the wing for some reason.

[BigTed3]

1.Cammalleri-Plekanec-Cole

2.Gionta-Gomez-Pacman

3-A.Ak46-Eller-Moen

3-B.Trotter-Desharnais-Darche

First and second line: Not much to say about it.

Third line: It worked pretty well last season.

Second third line: Power grinders. They'll find a way to contribute

But seriously, I refuse to put Desharnais on the 4th line simply because he is NOT a 4th liner.

If we need a real 4th line, I'd like to see this:

3.AK46-Eller-Desharnais

4.Darche-White?-Moen

I too don't see DD as a 4th liner and I think we're likely to see him tried on the wing at some point. But I'll say it again, that I personally believe DD is more ready than Eller to take the next step and if I had to choose which to give more minutes to at even strength, I'd favor DD right now. I think it's also important to see DD paired with at least one winger who can finish and it would be nice if that guy had some size to complement him, meaning that comes down to Cole, AK, or Pacioretty. Of those guys, I think the one we're more likely to see with DD is AK46, simply because Cole wasn't signed to play the third line to start the year and Pacioretty is likely to get the first crack at getting Gomez going early. I agree that that throwing Trotter (or Palushaj) intot he mix gives us a nice lower-line scoring option, but at this point, because of our lack of PK guys in the bottom 6, I don't think we have the flexibility to afford keeping another scorer in the lower lines. We can't sit Moen right now and White and Darche bring value to the team. So if anything, the third line is going to be completed by Darche (if Eller is kept on the 4th). So I'd foresee something like this to start the year:

Cammy-Pleks-Cole

Pacman-Gomez-Gio

AK-DD-Darche

Moen-Eller-White

That said, I think it may also be interesting to see DD paired with both AK and Pacioretty and have Darche slide up onto one ov the top two lines. He's an adequate fill-in there and may allow us to have a more balanced attack and a very potent third line that could take advantage of favorable match-ups.

[BeanCountingHab]

I too don't see DD as a 4th liner and I think we're likely to see him tried on the wing at some point. But I'll say it again, that I personally believe DD is more ready than Eller to take the next step and if I had to choose which to give more minutes to at even strength, I'd favor DD right now. I think it's also important to see DD paired with at least one winger who can finish and it would be nice if that guy had some size to complement him, meaning that comes down to Cole, AK, or Pacioretty. Of those guys, I think the one we're more likely to see with DD is AK46, simply because Cole wasn't signed to play the third line to start the year and Pacioretty is likely to get the first crack at getting Gomez going early. I agree that that throwing Trotter (or Palushaj) intot he mix gives us a nice lower-line scoring option, but at this point, because of our lack of PK guys in the bottom 6, I don't think we have the flexibility to afford keeping another scorer in the lower lines. We can't sit Moen right now and White and Darche bring value to the team. So if anything, the third line is going to be completed by Darche (if Eller is kept on the 4th). So I'd foresee something like this to start the year:

Cammy-Pleks-Cole

Pacman-Gomez-Gio

AK-DD-Darche

Moen-Eller-White

That said, I think it may also be interesting to see DD paired with both AK and Pacioretty and have Darche slide up onto one ov the top two lines. He's an adequate fill-in there and may allow us to have a more balanced attack and a very potent third line that could take advantage of favorable match-ups.

Jacques also showed he wasn't afraid to double shift someone like Cammy on the lower lines to take advantage of match-ups. Throwing out Cammy with DD and AK a couple times during certain games would be fun.

[BigTed3]

Jacques also showed he wasn't afraid to double shift someone like Cammy on the lower lines to take advantage of match-ups. Throwing out Cammy with DD and AK a couple times during certain games would be fun.

100% agreed. With the wealth of top 9 guys we have this year, it wouldn't be a bad idea.

[MIASUN]

Remaining lineup needs:

1 - Defensive center

2 - PK forward

3 - Mobile D-man for 2nd unit PP

4 - Secondary scoring

5 - Increased physical play along the boards

In an ideal world, my lineup would look like this by October but realistically January:

Cammy - Pleks - Cole

Board play, speed, passing and shooting. Bonafide top-line status.

Pax - Gomez - Gionta

Contrary to popular belief the key to this line is actually Gionta. If he gets off to a good shooting start Gomez's stats will be inflated and Pax will have less pressure.

DD - Eller - AK

Eller and DD on the same line makes sense for 3 reasons: face-offs, platmaking and board play. Neither are aces in the circle but Eller is far better along the wall, while DD is clearly the visionary. Both of these will lead to pucks on AK's stick which should produce goals at a 16-23 goal range.

Darche - Enqvist - White

Darche along the wall is always solid, White IMO can replace Moen and fights more and Enqvist is necessary because not only is he a center but he's right handed and defensively responsible. Also, White is an option for face-offs here as well.

Markov - Emelin

Again, this is ideal world. Russian pupil meet mentor. Skill meet sandpaper. Ideal.

Gorges - Subban

Judge Reinhold and Eddie Murphy. One does everything you ask in solid fashion, the other guy is a blockbuster waiting to happen.

Gill - Weber

2 specialists with limited even strength ice-time.

Price

65 games should be a max.

Budaj

Would like him to hit the 20 game mark - ideally.

Shipped out: Spacek and Moen.

Extras: Henry, Willsie and Blunden - 3 older AHLers that won't "undevelop" in the stands.

[habs-24]

There is no doubt in my mind that Erik Cole was acquired to play along side Tomas Plekanec and Mike Cammalleri, at least to start the season. Cammalleri-Plekanec-Cole gives us a good mix of yound guys in their prime and a good, physical goal scoring vet. This line could be great for us. Second line will be Pacioretty-Gomez-Gionta. Gionta obviously will not drop as he has been our best goal scorer the past two seasons. Gomez will and should be given a chance to bounce back but I would have his leash fairly short. After seeing the magic this line had last season when Pacioretty was put on it, theres no way it gets split up unless Max is not himself after the injury. Third line is ?-Eller-AK. Yes, DD is the best player to put there if we want to get the most out of our 3 scoring lines but JM seems to like Moen. I also wouldnt mind seeing Darche there. DD and Darche are the top candidates for this spot. Fourth line depends on what happens with the third. It is either Moen-DD-White or Moen-White-Darche. I would like to see a bottom six of DD-Eller-AK, Moen-White-Darche. This gives us great scoring depth and a big gritty fourth line. Eller and AK had some chemistry last season and with DD setting them up they should do even better. I would not doubt, however, that JM would keep DD at center, but having him play with any 2 of Darche, Moen or white is not how we can fully utilize his skil set.

cammalleri plekanec cole... that line works well in NHL 12 so might as well go with it lol

[BigTed3]

Any more thoughts on AK46-DD-Darche as a line? I still think this could be a great third line, with each player complementing the others well in terms of what they bring to the table. One sniper, one great passer, and one plugger. And all three have some offensive ability. Yes, it's hard to leave Eller on the 4th, but I think DD is the better player right now and I think he's going to be more productive with those two wingers, whereas Eller is pretty good positionally and could do well anchoring an energy/defensive line. It would also give him more of a chance to get back up to game-speed to stat the year.

[NewfoundlandHab]

The main problem I, and I think a lot of Habs fans, have with having DD at third line center is dropping Eller to the fourth. A number of factors like the trade for Halak, his impressive size, and good play toward the end of last season make is VERY difficult to see him on the fourth. While it seems very unfortunate to have to put one of our talented young guys on a line on which he likely wont produce very well, this is a pretty good problem to have. I, as I said would like Eller on the third with DD on the wing but in the end I;ll support whatever JM decides to do as long as it works out and can't wait to see how everything gels together come October 6th!

Go Habs Go