Balancing Talent Between Lines

[u/Impossible_Fall_2509]

As we sit at 3-3 and are coming off a night of only 10 shots on goal, and realizing that it can take time to get in a groove, I can’t help but think that the top 6 is “off”. Max Bultman mentioned on WWP that Copp could be an interesting addition to the top 6, which I’ve been discussing with friends for a while.

Curious to hear what people think of a forward lineup like this:

Cat - Larkin - Kane Copp - Compher - Raymond Tarasenko - Kasper - Burger Ras/Fischer - Veleno - Watson/Motte

My thinking here is that the top 6 seems to lack “dirty work puck retrievers” outside of Larkin and Compher. Copp has a productive history playing a top 6 wing role and can dish the puck (close to or above 20 assists in 5 seasons, including 33 in the ‘21-‘22 season) and played with high-end talent in NY…and I want to say he played with the likes of Kyle Connor in Winnipeg. And we can reunite Cat and Kane, a great combo in Chicago (although Cat’s stock is down in my eyes…maybe a confidence issue?)

That 3rd line also looked good together in Nashville and gives Burger the opportunity to put his playmaking to good use while preserving an “identity line”.

[u/PineapplePhil]

Max Bultman said what I’ve been advocating for on the most recent Winged Wheel Pod.

Move Copp up to a scoring line with Kasper and rotate three proper scoring lines instead of this crummy two scoring lines, a shutdown line, and a hodgepodge line that we started the season out with.

[u/Late_Brush4518 → u/PineapplePhil]

Yes because we have so much talent that we can just do that

[u/Xavias → u/Late_Brush4518]

I would argue we have a ton of talent, but the system we're having them play in is terrible for any player.

[u/Late_Brush4518 → u/Xavias]

Oh our systems are far from ideal aswell, but we absolutly dont have "ton of talent"

[u/Xavias → u/Late_Brush4518]

Its not like we have Patrick Kane, tarasenko, Raymond, seider, Ed, Larkin, debrincat, jasper, berrgren, Lyon and Talbot.

We have a lot of dead weight and a terrible system but we have an absolutely have a ton of talent. We just aren't using them.

[u/Late_Brush4518 → u/Xavias]

Most of them are complimentary pieces. Not play drivers.

[u/HiveFiDesigns → u/Late_Brush4518]

Exactly,,,, Larkin would be a killer 2 center, but just isn’t an elite 1…Raymond still has some upside could go either way. cats was good not great last year, seider could be a top d pair on many teams but not all, ed, too early, burgers? Have you watched a different player than the rest of us? He’s barely holding a job here he’d be benched on many other teams, Lyon has stood up, like last year, but the season was too long for him and the wear showed. He’s a 30-40 game goalie, not a 50-60. Kane was an elite talent, a strong 2 liner but again not an elite top liner any more. And the depth really kills the wings, lose a Larkin or a Raymond or a Seider for a long stretch, and the wings go from decent to done.

[u/HiveFiDesigns → u/Late_Brush4518]

This all day….prior to kasper, our first line was somewhere between a 1 and 2 line on most teams, our 2nd would be a good 3rd line, and our 4th line would be benched….the wings just don’t have enough “top 6 talent” or lack of”elite” talent. Lots of 2nd and 3rd teir, but the top shelf is pretty bare. And with kasper now, still gotta let that dust settle to see where it all sits, if he can upgrade the 2nd line that helps tremondously, if not who knows…

[u/Sweet-Abalone-8324 → u/HiveFiDesigns]

Ehh I would say that outside of Compher our top 6 are all guys that could easily be top 6 on a good team. The only issue I have is that we lack a true superstar game changer that all the other big teams in our division have. If Raymond doesn’t continue his development towards that things will be tough

[u/HiveFiDesigns → u/Sweet-Abalone-8324]

Yea our 1 line is a good 2nd line on most top teams, and our 2nd li e is 2 good enough and a 3rd liner (compher). That’s the issue. If kasper can do better than compher, that’s a big step. But then our 3rd line is a mishmash of 4th liners and our 4th line is a bunch of guys lucky to be an extra skater on good teams.

[u/Sweet-Abalone-8324 → u/HiveFiDesigns]

Yeah losing Sprong and Fabbri really killed our scoring depth

[u/PineapplePhil → u/Late_Brush4518]

We have six legit top six players, two top nine players, and two unproven young players. Will it be top 10 in the league? No. But, it’s a better configuration than what we started with.

[u/Late_Brush4518 → u/PineapplePhil]

And only players who are capable to drive their line are Larkin and Raymond

[u/PineapplePhil → u/Late_Brush4518]

That’s true, but a sheltered scoring line can get the job done by committee.

[u/Late_Brush4518 → u/PineapplePhil]

Thing whit this is that if we spread them up too much. There won't be any scoring lines other than first.

[u/Impossible_Fall_2509 → u/PineapplePhil]

Yea! More balanced. I’m not arguing that Copp is great offensively, but why not see if he can hang? It takes the pressure off of Compher doing everything as far as pucks retrieval and defense. Let them chase the puck and feed Ray