SENS - Creative line juggling

BigRig77 wrote:Heater's great with the puck he has it a lot. I can see him using more of his skills than he has been. Remember when he was in Atlanta? He was always taking the puck to the net but now he's got Spezza carrying it all the time.

He's still gonna be with Spezza and Alfie on the top PP line.

So bottom line appears to be that it's integral for Heatley and Spezza to 'see other people'.

BigRig77 wrote:I'm thinking the new coach is gonna tinker with the lines for the first 1/4 of the year depending how how quick the guys mesh.

Can you imagine being an opposing Dman going back to get the puck and Bass, neil, and Ruutu are right behind you? :D AWESOME

Especially if it's Redden!

Man, November 24th can't come fast enough!!!

OR September 20th for that matter, but to a lesser extent as it's a pre-season tilt, but still!

Cronenbergfan wrote:

BigRig77 wrote:I'm thinking the new coach is gonna tinker with the lines for the first 1/4 of the year depending how how quick the guys mesh.

Can you imagine being an opposing Dman going back to get the puck and Bass, neil, and Ruutu are right behind you? :D AWESOME

Especially if it's Redden!

Man, November 24th can't come fast enough!!!

OR September 20th for that matter, but to a lesser extent as it's a pre-season tilt, but still!

yeah, a big hit on the 24th will probably bring a louder applause since the game will matter more! ...and since it'll be colder out, it will hurt more

Cronenbergfan wrote:

BigRig77 wrote:I'm thinking the new coach is gonna tinker with the lines for the first 1/4 of the year depending how how quick the guys mesh.

Can you imagine being an opposing Dman going back to get the puck and Bass, neil, and Ruutu are right behind you? :D AWESOME

Especially if it's Redden!

Man, November 24th can't come fast enough!!!

OR September 20th for that matter, but to a lesser extent as it's a pre-season tilt, but still!

The odds of Redden or Alfredsson or Heatley playing in that September 20th game are pretty slim. Spezza is a possibility, but thats about it...

Also: Hartsburg told the Sun that Spezza and Heatley would remain together.

Unfortunately, I don't see Spezza and Heatley being split up.
My dream lines given the current roster would look like this:

Fisher - Spezza - Heatley
Winchester - Vermette - Alfredsson
Foligno - Kelly - Donovan
Ruutu - Bass - Neil

Extra - McAmmond, Schubert (if he doesn't play D)

That is a tasty looking line-up. Top two lines provide lots of scoring and defensive play; line three provides a little bit of both with a brilliant checking line; line four is just the nastiest piece of work in the NHL. Quite easy to play those guys 10 minutes a game and watch them make opposing players, coaches and fans cringe every time they come on the ice.

Yeah those would be my ideal lines ^ I would ice those to start and keep the first line like that for at least 10 games, so Fisher can start to adjust to it.

"Then, I want a fourth line that is a miserable, competitive, high-energy group that people don't like play against and gets an opportunity to contribute as well." -From the OttawaSun article.

Sounds like Ruutu - Bass - Neil to me

Change Fisher and Heatley. Fisher couldn't handle LW if his life depended on it. As it is, he'll probably suck at RW, but as you guys say, keep him there for a while and see how things progress.

I would put Heatley and Alfie #1 ahead of Spezza though. If you are going to move either of them, it would be Spezza. Heatley's been consistent.

But the good news out of the Spezza front is he has supposedly smartened his play and improving his defensive play.

Winchester and Foligno are going to be tried on the Spezza Heatley line to start. From what I've been told the job is Winchesters to lose. So the lines if we were to start today would probably be:

Heatley-Spezza-Winchester/Zubov/Foligno
Alsie-Fisher-Vermette (with Vermette taking the key draws)
Ruttu-Kelly-Neil
Foligno-Bass/McCammond/Donovan/Zubov

It was said yesterday they promised Schubert a chance to play defence.

This camp is wide open!!!

Foligno on the fourth line? I can't honestly see how this team doesn't move some guys out between now and the start of the year.