louisstamos
Active member
Floyd said:
sooo....
Kessel - Connoly - Lupul
Kulemin - Bozak - Frattin
Lombardi - Steckel - Crabb
Rosehill - Dupuis - Orr
:S
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sooo....
Kessel - Connoly - Lupul
Kulemin - Bozak - Frattin
Lombardi - Steckel - Crabb
Rosehill - Dupuis - Orr
:S
Redleaf
Active member
Agreed. That 2nd line had gone stale. Maybe a patched-up 2nd line can actually find some chemistry and start to contribute on a regular basis. At least that is my hope 
We still need the goaltending issue to work itself out, and find some consistency before we can get back on track though. I think we'll see a vet tender brought into the fold within a week or so.
We still need the goaltending issue to work itself out, and find some consistency before we can get back on track though. I think we'll see a vet tender brought into the fold within a week or so.Mikhail Bloodnovsky
New member
louisstamos said:
This looks abysmal. They already had problem scoring. This is something else.
Your second line has combined 3 goals.
Mikhail Bloodnovsky
New member
RedLeaf said:
Is this right, would Kessel have more goals than the 3 other lines combined?
BlueWhiteBlood
New member
RedLeaf said:
Yeah, I'm pretty confident that Kadri will be called up. Even though Henny thinks it's not expected, I think they need to.
louisstamos
Active member
Mikhail Bloodnovsky said:
Yup. Kessel - 13, Bottom Nine - 12.
Fanatic said:
Folks will attest that I haven't always been Grabbo's biggest fan. I know he doesn't win faceoffs as well as Bozak does. But the guy has earned my respect more for his improvement in two way play than his finesse and points.
To say "he wasn't doing anything anyway" to a .56ppg forward (3rd on the team in scoring among forwards) and 4th in +/- among forwards when his linemates were struggling is under assessing his contributions in my opinion.
I think they'll miss him in both ends of the ice.
Bender said:
Ignoring their offence, he and Connolly are the best two way centers they've got. They're both pretty decent defensively.
Steckel is great on faceoffs and big and strong but slow as molasses - his lack of mobility has cost them at times. Bozak can be clueless and physically intimidated/easily pushed off the puck - but he's improving that way.
Lombardi, I have higher hopes for and the jury is out for me. Some of his low +/- is due to poor passing to him - errors by others. I'm not sure but I hope he'll eventually return to center for a spell. I'd be interested to see him play with Kessel because those two could really burn it up the ice - maybe the fastest pairing in the NHL.
We're going to miss Grabo... he's easily one of our best forwards whether he's scoring or not. He can make things happen offensively (when god knows guys like Lombardi, Steckal, Frattin, Brown, etc just can't).
I get he hasn't played as well as last year but we're going to miss him. I don't see anyone we currently have, save for maybe Kulemin, being able to pick up their play and giving us what Grabs typically gives us.
The only good news out of this is that the 2nd line had gone stale and this might be a good way to jumble things up, get some guys going.
I get he hasn't played as well as last year but we're going to miss him. I don't see anyone we currently have, save for maybe Kulemin, being able to pick up their play and giving us what Grabs typically gives us.
The only good news out of this is that the 2nd line had gone stale and this might be a good way to jumble things up, get some guys going.
maplesyrup
New member
Seem Colborne might be okay for action by Friday... Maybe a day late but not a dollar short?
Erndog said:
Both Frattin and Kulemin have been snake bit. A number of Frattin's best chances came with Grabbo's line. If just a few of those had gone in, Grabbo would be .7xppg, a plus player and few would be saying much.
Yet when they were playing well, nobody noticed how key Grabbo and his line was in moving the puck out of their D zone - even when they didn't score. It was wonderful, really good hockey that I complimented them on in the game day thread.
Bender said:
Your sarcasim aside, he simply wasn't producing any goals. I could elaborate and talk about his linemates etc. but the fact remains that he hasn't done anything. My real beef here is that Wilson keeps those three locked together despite the fact that Kulemin is in a deep funk. If Grabo going out for two weeks forces Wilson to try other things that jump starts Kulemin then all the better, but if someone comes in and is not able to score in that role then it will be about the same.
cw said:
I know, I often see Grabbo back in our zone, even behind our own net, getting the puck and passing or skating it out. He's certainly bee one of the better defensive forwards.
I know Frattin is snakebitten but he's even gone above that now.
I don't have much confidence in our forwards at this point considering other than Lupul and Kessel it looks like pretty much everyone we have skating for us now will be lucky to even get in double digits goals for.
Fanatic said:
His five goals is top 25 in the NHL for centers. His 10 points is top 41 for NHL centers - above average for a second line center.
He was on pace for a 22 goal, 44pt season. He's had some snake bitten linemates who missed glorious scoring opportunities and whose ice time and 1st PP ice time has dropped due to Kessel and Lupul playing so well.
I just can't accept "he hasn't done anything". He's probably been their third best forward.
Edit: and that is coming from someone who has harshly criticized him in the past.
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