How is Kaprizov not on the first line? You should be playing that kid 25+ minutes per game.

Kaprizov reportedly turned down 9 Mil x 8 years, not sure how true it is just sharing a link.

https://www.nhltraderumors.me/2021/09/kaprizov-rejects-massive-contract-offer.html

Because the Eriksson Ek line is one of the top lines in hockey. Players like Huberdeau and Panarin don't play on their teams top line. He'll still play a lot of minutes.

Really? The entire line combined for 36 goals all season. Kaprizov himself had 27.

It's not black and white. It's a completely different deployment. Greenway-Ek-Foligno were matched up against other top lines every night. They were the line sent out there to play against MacKinnon, Kopitar, Stone, etc. They took the hard defensive assignments. Kaprizov's line was deployed purely offensively. They got the OZS%, they were put out there when we needed to score, PP, etc. It's not as black and white as "this is the first line because it's the best" or "Kaprizov should be on the first line cause he's the best".

Line numbers don’t blank-ing matter!

Lines should be numbered based on TOI. Kaprizov's line should get the most minutes.

Yeah that's not how it worked here last year, so...

I mean Kaprizov did get the most ice time of any forward, followed by Eriksson Ek, then Fiala. Like I said, it's not black and white.

At even strength, Kaprizov (15:02) and Zuccarello (14:20) led the team in TOI/GP. Eriksson Ek (14:12) and Greenway (14:10) were next, followed by Fiala (13:28) and Foligno (13:15). Kaprizov and Zuccarello's most often 3rd wheel, Victor Rask (12:27) came in 9th.

Based on that, I'd say that the Kaprizov line was the 1st line and the Eriksson Ek line was the 2nd, considering 2/3 of the line were at the top of the TOI charts for the team, if only by a little.

Russo reported this months ago. That's why this has taken so long to get done. Kaprizov didn't want a contract that would be 6+ years long. The negotiation started as Guerin offering 7-8 years and Kaprizov asking 1-3 years.