CBJ lineup hot take

Team: 2018-19 Columbus Blue Jackets

Initial Creation Date: Sep. 28, 2018

Published: Sep. 29, 2018

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

some thoughts from tonights preseason game n person and watching streams throughout the preseason here...

the top line is awesome. please stay for the love of god breadman.

the second line... foligno had a solid night, as did bjorkstrand. wennberg was alright, but still isn't back to his form from 2016-17. seemed to do better of faceoffs but he needs to shoot the puck more to open up playmaking options.

third line pleasantly surprised me. dubinsky is noticeably quicker and more engaged in the play this season. was solid offensively and defensively tonight. jenner scored and provided some energy and physicality that the team needs. anderson showed some speed but was neither fantastic or terrible. he brought some good physicality but didn't impress offensively.

fourth line is where things get interesting. duclair had another good game. his speed and skill was very evident, and he had numerous chances. nash looked steady and solid, did a good job on the pk alongside dubinsky.

the elephant in the room continues to be sonny milano. he didn't look too good tonight and he's failed to impress during camp. he's fast and skilled, but he's not very strong on the puck at all, and he doesn't seem to think the game quickly. where as the best players know where they're going with with puck and what their options are before they receive the puck, milano seems to do that after he gets the puck. as a result, he runs out of room to use his skills leaving him unable to pass the puck off or take a shot, and usually he'll get muscled off the puck and stripped of it.

with kevin stenlund still hanging around and the preseason he's had, combined with his skills, i think that stenlund should start the season on the nhl roster, with milano going to the ahl. both players are waivers exempt, but stenlund has outperformed milano, has the size and strength to play against men and hold onto the puck, and has the offensive skillset to be a useful player. he also is a natural center who can play wing, which allows for versatility based on the line he's on. a duclair-nash-stenlund line would be something i'd love to see.

the defense is pretty shaky though. werenski looks healthy and back to his old self. savard was solid last night. a top pair of werenski and savard would be ideal until murray and jones return. even once they're back i wouldn't mind splitting up werenski and jones to try and spread out the offense a bit.

on the second pair, kukan looked good last night. clendening has had a good preseason as well. of the 6 defensemen who are healthy and available, kukan and clendening have been the 3rd and 4th best players.

on the third pair, it's two guys who have talent but need to be sheltered as much as possible... nutivaara struggled mightily last night. he gave up multiple odd man rushes against and seemed to get caught flatfooted a lot. there were a few instances where a penguins player blew right by him and he struggled with the speed of the game. carlsson was just ok last night. nothing special offensively, but he didn't have any major defensive gaffes either. he'd be a decent stabilizing presence to try and steady nuti's game out a bit early in the season.

and now in net...

bob struggled last night. on breakaways against, he was moving backwards deeper into his own crease on every single occasion, making himself small in net instead of challenging the shooter at the top of the crease. now, it's on the defense to not give up 4 breakaways, but going 0/4 on breakaway saves isn't good at all either. on top of his other preseason start (5 ga, low-mid 800 sv%), there's definitely reason to be concerned about bobrovsky. for one of the two opening back to back games, i'd like to see what korpi can do.