As we wait for Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals so I decided to take a crack at coming up with some forward lines that will give the team their best chance to succeed. The current makeup isn't working well enough for all the lines involved and you aren't going to beat great teams with one line this late into the year.
First things first we have some defensive pairing updates
D-pairs in #Pens practice this morning:
— Josh Getzoff (@PensJG) May 15, 2016
Dumoulin-Letang
Daley-Lovejoy
Cole-Schultz
Pouliot-Maatta
Great news on the injury front to see both Dumoulin and Letang at practice. You will also notice Olli Maatta has been demoted to the healthy scratch pairing. I think that is an appropriate move for right now. Although I think we all thought a Pouliot-Maatta would be utilized in a much different way.
OK, so back to the forward combos.
The HBK line has been great. I am going to attempt something that will keep that line in tact while giving some other players a chance to succeed.
Here is the new first line:
Malkin-Crosby-Hornqvist
Load up. It's that simple. Crosby and Malkin aren't producing at 5v5 right now and it is because Nick Bonino currently has the two best playing wingers on the team. This isn't 2009 where you can put a guy like Max Talbot with Malkin and he'll just make chicken salad out of you know what. Sid and Geno are still great but they also aren't 22 years old anymore. They do need *some* help. I love that the team was willing to try Conor Sheary in an expanded role based on his skill set but to keep that job you need to produce a little bit more. For Patric Hornqvist he needs to do his best to put pucks into places for Sid and Geno to get to them. He can't just run out of room in the neutral zone and smash it in. Sid and Geno will carry the mail for the most part if they are put into positions where they can. This will allow Hornqvist to do the things that he is very good at. For this line to work Hornqvist is going to have to flash some more playmaking ability. Nothing crazy, just not mindless dump ins. Controlled entries will be the lifeblood here.
There has always been some fiction floating around that Crosby and Malkin don't play well together but that isn't true. People just have unrealistic expectations when they play together. They dominate play while playing in a league that is low scoring. They both aren't going to score multiple goals each game just because they play together. They are going to create for one another and do good things. Don't over think concepts that don't need that kind of attention. Great players can play with great players.
Hagelin-Bonino-Kessel
Nothing to add here. This line has worked well for the lion's share of its existence. The idea with all of this is to improve some of the other lines so this one isn't the only one constructed to have consistent offensive success.
Kunitz-Cullen-Rust
For this whole revamp to work Matt Cullen is going to have to play some third line minutes. I believe he can and I believe this can work by improving his left winger. Tom Kuhnhackl has been a great surprise this year for the team but he's still at the bottom of the left wing depth chart. Bumping Cullen up doesn't give Kuhnhackl a promotion as well. Kuhnhackl has the lowest rel SAF on the team this year at -6.78% (regular and playoffs combined). Chris Kunitz is still fine on the possession front but his offense isn't consistent enough to be logging Crosby/Malkin minutes all the time. I would probably give him the first shot at that left wing spot with Cullen.
Kuhnhackl-Fehr-Sheary
This line isn't going to get a ton of minutes. It is time to ride the horses at this point. The important thing to remember is that penalties screw with the best laid 5v5 plans so these guys may still wind up in other combos. Fehr and Kuhnhackl will still receive shorthanded minutes. While I would structure the forward lines like this Mike Sullivan can still use mild tweaks throughout the game to get players more minutes with different combos. Although to this point he it looks as though he usually sticks with the lines in an as is approach more often than not.
Pittsburgh needs more 5v5 offense and the way I see it this gives their most talented players the best chance to succeed on that front. Championships are won at even-strength.
Thanks for reading!