Quoting: VeeMerk
Some good thoughts here but I disagree with some aspects. We definitely need more consistency winning faceoffs but that doesn't mean that Danault HAS to play on the top line. He's done a great job but he will get tired quickly cause he's a very hard battling player. Suzuki is a natural C but plays a lot better on the RW (a position I think we're weak on). He's played RW for the last 2 seasons but takes the important faceoffs when needed (a system we can easily deploy). If Domi continues his great form at C we may have just unlocked a potential nobody knew about (yay us). We also need to sign Poehling next season because I don't think we should risk him being able to go to NCAA UFA. Whether he starts in Montreal or Laval is yet to be seen but if we do play him, we need to have some skill with him. He's going to be Danault 2.0. Also, FYI, even though Evans is playing great for laval as of late, I don't think he's ready for NHL yet. Needs another year.
I also disagree with your lines. In a perfect world, I think we should eventually see this rolling out every night. We're a young team so get our rookies out there and give them the chance to flourish and learn playing respectable minutes with good players. We will also have to trim a lot of the fat this off season
Tatar - Kotkaniemi - Gallagher
Drouin - Domi - Suzuki
Byron - Danault - Lehkonen
Hudon - Poehling - Armia/Scherback
yes , it 100 % does when 2/3 centers are rookie's and Poehling conditioning will take time .
IF Domi could win a faceoff then totally different but expecting Danault , Domi and Poehling to shoulder 4000/5000 faceoffs is just bizarre to me .
also RW is probably stronger then our LW depth wise with Evans,Scherbak and Ylonen but more importantly under Bouchard big Mike Mccarron has been one of Laval's best players bar none because Bouchard is developing him as he was drafted like a RW only with no Center option and big Mac has thrived . for LD depth we got Pezetta and thats about it .
Danault's one of the better defensive forwards in the NHL using his time in MTL to model his game after Plekanec ,
you're setting Kotkanemi up for injury playing him to line minutes as the Del Zotto's ,Paquette's and Kassian's have already started targeting him long before he's ready for that .
really why you'd think Hudon and Scherbak will last the season when MB alreadys sent a message to the other 30 GM's saying both were available as per HNIC .
personally i think if your trying to build chemistry for Kotkanemi you want him to be in a situation like Suzuki where there is room to grow as Tatar and Gallagher will both be traded before becoming UFA's as we have to many youth players counting on those spots as since 2015 draft we've been doing more in 1 draft then in the first 3 under MB combined .
we could end up with Kakko yet if he has a bad world tournament in april or others simply just have better years then he could fall out of top 10 in the draft this year because its so stacked .
regardless we're only set up to take 3000/5000 faceoffs with your system which means we'll never amount to anything in the playoffs when it matters .