Cirelli isn’t a 3rd line guy lol. The kid is a stud and should be playing 2c. I do agree though that Killorn should probably head to the 3rd line. They basically have a first line and two medium end second lines.

Johnson should be on the 3rd line. Do you think Cirelli is/will produce enough to be 2C? I don't. I don't understand why they are changing so many things from last season when they did so well last season.
What's wromg with:
Johnson Stamkos Kucherov
Palat Point Gourde
Killorn Cirelli Joseph ?

Give Cirelli PK and PP2 and he'll easily get 16-17 mins a game

What? That second line of Palat-Cirelli-Killorn is great shutdown line with good chemistry. Cirelli is getting better and better and definitely deserves to be 2C.

Stamkos as a center on the same line with Kuch didn't work very well. And your idea of Johnson with them is simply terrible.

That line has only gotten like 2 points together. Plus an EN. Not including PP points. Shut down lines are 3rd and 4th lines.

Isn't that how it was last season when they were blowing up offense?

What about that Joseph-Johnson-Gourde line? Much worse and you can clearly see it on the ice.



No. It was Johnson-Point-Kucherov.

Cooper is just testing things, no need to overreact.
Our focus this year = defense. And taking less penalties. It failed miserably so far, but that's ok. (Toronto game doesn't matter, we are unstoppable vs soft teams with our speed + skillz)

Forget about last year's historic run. It's a completely new season. We are playing bad hockey. But it's just a testing phase.
For us, this regular season is kinda like preseason 2.0 for a long while... At least the first 10-40 games.
Remember how much regular season results impacts playoffs? We learned our lesson, and don't push in the regular season anymore, when it's not needed.

We also need to prepare for injuries, so any chemistry will be useful come playoffs time.
Yes, you can say that if we play bad hockey with non optimized lineups, then we might miss the playoffs, but we are above the field so much in depth and skill & speed, that in the long run it's almost impossible that we go 0-4 vs teams like ottawa or montreal,detroit,NYR,Devils,CBJ,Flo etc... in reg season, which would result indeed that we would miss the playoffs.
Average result vs those teams should be 3-1 even with unoptimized lineups. If not, and things are looking really bad at january. We can go for a long push. Or not, if it's not needed and wait until feb-march.

The only goal for us is to prepare for playoffs, and make it to the Stanley-cup finals, or at least conference finals. Any other result doesn't matter, including reg season and 1st or 2nd round exits. Those will be considered huge disappointments. Let's say we play 1st round... we win... then we rip in 2nd run vs ...
Cooper's job won't be that stable anymore... So he tries his very best this year, that our chance in the playoffs will be maximized. We need shutdown lines and super good defense with depth, and multiple working D pairs. One Hedman injury and we look like an AHL team vs CBJ = not acceptable, even if Hedman is a beast.

Fingers crossed this strategy will work, with an added trade deadline RH D player or a physical forward. Our goalies are set. Our goals are set. Now it's preparation & execution. It's a copycat league. We are now officially copying Boston, Colorado etc... with an insane 1st line... idk 300 points... looks like those lines don't fail in the playoffs... they are just too good = impossible to shutdown. At least we will have options, if things are not working, so 2nd-3rd line doesn't matter, if the 1st line wins you the game... If 1st line fails, going back to balanced lines, if that means we will win a playoff game vs a random team. It's all about chemistry + options.

Let's see today vs montreal, if anything changes after the loss vs ottawa... Maybe we win today... maybe...(even with bad lines)... if not, that's also ok... It's all about the long run. I prepared for any reg season game loss now. I just can't prepare myself for another bad playoffs run. If we lose, at least lose 2-4, or 3-4... that's hard to swallow, but at least we had the chance in game 6 or 7. Going 0-4 is unacceptable anymore...( except Nashville in finals, but that's ok, maybe won't be there, if we get lucky)

TLDR: Don't be concerned with lines, it's all about testing. Results doesn't matter. All we need is chemistry + consistency " FOR PLAYOFFS".

Alright, now it's gametime...


Let's go !