Correction Merkulov is a lefty and plays LW/C

Cap Friendly is trusted so if he’s a C he’s a C

I just don't see the same hype fans have for McLaughlin.

He is a left shot, but his shot distribution is really tilted to the right side.

He really stepped up when he took over for Lettieri, but what does a slightly under 50 percent faceoff win percentage in Providence translate to at the NHL level

Merkulov article



He fills a role. I think Geekie is likely locked into the third line for now and if he’s not available for fourth line duty, you are really looking at two players with poor face off abilities (Boqvist and Heiden) vs a couple of journeyman types.

McLaughlin is fine for as long as he is cheap. I wouldn’t be shocked to see Farinacci get a shot at that role before season end

I agree to an extent, but he's probably the only decent option they have.

-Geekie: Will likely have a top9 role
-Frederic and Boqvist: Mostly played wing, poor on faceoffs and would get dragged down by Lucic
-Brown and Megna: Not good enough for the NHL and 31yo & 33yo respectively (not getting better now)
-Merkulov: Doesn't fit on a defensive 4th line
-Beecher: Lacks offense, probably not ready
-Farinacci: Hasn't played a pro game yet

Unless Beecher/Farinacci really kills it or Frederic/Boqvist end up being able to play C, McLaughlin is the lone option internally. Didn't crush it but pretty good in the AHL last year, league minimum cap hit, young and potential to improve.

Anyways, Brown is highly likely to be the 4C due to his FO/PK experience, his one-way salary and Sweeney's comments so I think we're wasting our time.

I would agree that Brown is like the 4C but its likely because Brown actually has played decent as a 4th liner over the last few years. If you took his last two seasons and averaged it out, for 82 games you're looking at:

6G / 10A / 208 Hits to go along with a 55.8% success rate in the dot

If we look at Nosek's 82 game average in his two seasons with Boston it looks like:

6G / 14A / 89 Hits to go along with a 56.4% success rate in the dot

While Nosek isn't the most physical guy, Brown hits way more because he rarely has possession of the puck. Being good on faceoffs is useful, but it's one part of the game and what you do after winning the faceoff matters more. In Brown's case, his line rarely keeps possession for long after winning the faceoff. Nosek also had a different deployment. He had 7% of his faceoffs in the offensive zone while Brown had 21% of his last season at 5v5. Looking at Brown's other possession metrics, he's often outplayed. He's been on bad teams, but he's likely one of the reasons his line was poor and he'll have Lucic who's barely an NHLer.

In other words, he's the new Wagner. Really physical because he rarely has the puck, responsible defensively, but a complete liability offensively and useful on the PK. Brown's past 2 seasons and Wagner's last 2 NHL seasons are really similar if we look at their basic stats. I'm hoping I'm wrong, we'll see.