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Joined: Feb. 2018
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I think our lines will be:
Johnny - Monahan - Lindholm
Tkachuk - Backlund - Jankowski*
Lucic - Dube - Bennett
Mangiapane - Ryan - Czarnik
I would have no problem seeing how these work out, Dube was taken advantage of as a rookie twice last year in blind side hits, does it still happen this year, maybe, but if it does you don’t have Hamonic breaking his jaw in a fight standing up to Gudbranson.
I saw you mention that you are happier with Neal in Edmonton and you’d be crazy not to be, in Calgary though Neal wouldn’t be pushing for top 6 minutes just due to his standing with Peters and how last year went. I think he will bounce back but it certainly wasn’t going to happen in Calgary. Lucic fits a role the Flames were desperately missing since Engelland left for Vegas, optimistically for me, Lucic plays with Bennett and allows him to open up offensively a little more. We have seen flashes from Bennett but he’s been trying to find a balance between being a crash and bang guy while still trying to put up big points I don’t think he will ever live up to 4th overall but I’m hoping Lucic filling a role helps a few guys out in our bottom six. Essentially we got a slower, tougher, more experienced version of Garnet Hathaway.