Game Day - Carolina @ Ottawa - Thu, Feb 7, 2013

why is Da Costa playing on the 4th line?

Ev wrote:why is Da Costa playing on the 4th line?

Like Zibanejad he can earn his way onto the top 2 lines. Why should he be given top 6 mins over some of the other players who have played better and earned it to this point?

NEELY wrote:

Ev wrote:why is Da Costa playing on the 4th line?

Like Zibanejad he can earn his way onto the top 2 lines. Why should he be given top 6 mins over some of the other players who have played better and earned it to this point?

I don't think Zack Smith has earned Top 6 minutes. I'd rather play Da Costa where he could shine. Zibanejad can play on a 4th line, but I don't think Da Costa can.

Ev wrote:

NEELY wrote:

Ev wrote:why is Da Costa playing on the 4th line?

Like Zibanejad he can earn his way onto the top 2 lines. Why should he be given top 6 mins over some of the other players who have played better and earned it to this point?

I don't think Zack Smith has earned Top 6 minutes. I'd rather play Da Costa where he could shine. Zibanejad can play on a 4th line, but I don't think Da Costa can.

Zack Smith has his place on the team which he has earned and they are trying to get him going. If it continues to fail I could see Da Costa getting a shot up on that line with Silfverberg and Michalek but Da Costa can show a little something on the 4th line first IMO. He had a decent game on Tues, nothing great, nothing awful, but he can for sure do more than he did and until then Smith is the better option for a number of reasons.

NEELY wrote:

Ev wrote:

NEELY wrote:

Ev wrote:why is Da Costa playing on the 4th line?

Like Zibanejad he can earn his way onto the top 2 lines. Why should he be given top 6 mins over some of the other players who have played better and earned it to this point?

I don't think Zack Smith has earned Top 6 minutes. I'd rather play Da Costa where he could shine. Zibanejad can play on a 4th line, but I don't think Da Costa can.

Zack Smith has his place on the team which he has earned and they are trying to get him going. If it continues to fail I could see Da Costa getting a shot up on that line with Silfverberg and Michalek but Da Costa can show a little something on the 4th line first IMO. He had a decent game on Tues, nothing great, nothing awful, but he can for sure do more than he did and until then Smith is the better option for a number of reasons.

I'll concede to the actual coaches, just would like to see Da Costa's playmaking with Michalek. At least try it.

He might get some PP time if there are any struggles there. That's where he will find a spot in the top 6 IMO, after he proves he can produce with one less guy on the ice for the other team. We'll see though but I get Smith being between those two right now.

NEELY wrote:He might get some PP time if there are any struggles there. That's where he will find a spot in the top 6 IMO, after he proves he can produce with one less guy on the ice for the other team. We'll see though but I get Smith being between those two right now.

I think Ottawa had less than 1 min. of PP time total in the last game. We might have seen him for more than the 6 minutes or so he got if not for that.

NEELY wrote:I would say his entire game is awesome. Stats will come but right now he is carrying the team along with Anderson. With those 2 they can compete with anyone in the NHL. The nice thing about Karlsson winning the Norris last year is now all eyes are on him and he doesn't need the stat sheet for people to take notice. It's pretty clear everyone believes he is the best D man in the game today for the most part.

I'll believe "everyone believes" when he gets his second consecutive Norris. I don't trust some of the voters. Those ones don't watch the games and just look at the stats. Remember last year quite a few were saying that if Letang didn't get hurt he would have been right up there with Karlsson (they weren't concerned with the fact that Pittsburgh had the league MVP driving the offense bus while Ottawa had a rookie on the top line an played a quarter of the season trying out the likes of Zibanejad and DaCosta as the 2LC.

Considering how impressed MacLean was with Da Costa, I think we'll see him move up a bit tonight.

Ev wrote:

LeKing wrote:Hard to compare forwards with Defensemen, but he plays way more minutes and has way more impact on the game IMO.
Based on just this year (a WHOLE 10 games), it's Karlsson, Stamkos and the rest.

Let's just separate D and F then, because at the end of the day nobody is picking Karlsson over the legend Sidney Crosby.

Today I would. Crosby is not the same player after his concussions. He is not playing as aggressively/recklessly as before.

Ev wrote:why is Da Costa playing on the 4th line?

We don't really have a 4th line. We have 21, 2b, 2c, 2d.

SeawaySensFan wrote:

NEELY wrote:He might get some PP time if there are any struggles there. That's where he will find a spot in the top 6 IMO, after he proves he can produce with one less guy on the ice for the other team. We'll see though but I get Smith being between those two right now.

I think Ottawa had less than 1 min. of PP time total in the last game. We might have seen him for more than the 6 minutes or so he got if not for that.

Exactly. Give it some time and also, I think at some point he moves to the wing. He is not an NHL center IMO.

NEELY wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:

NEELY wrote:He might get some PP time if there are any struggles there. That's where he will find a spot in the top 6 IMO, after he proves he can produce with one less guy on the ice for the other team. We'll see though but I get Smith being between those two right now.

I think Ottawa had less than 1 min. of PP time total in the last game. We might have seen him for more than the 6 minutes or so he got if not for that.

Exactly. Give it some time and also, I think at some point he moves to the wing. He is not an NHL center IMO.

I think he won most of his faceoffs last game. If he has the vision and puck distribution skills as advertised, he might very well be a Center.

wprager wrote:

Ev wrote:

LeKing wrote:Hard to compare forwards with Defensemen, but he plays way more minutes and has way more impact on the game IMO.
Based on just this year (a WHOLE 10 games), it's Karlsson, Stamkos and the rest.

Let's just separate D and F then, because at the end of the day nobody is picking Karlsson over the legend Sidney Crosby.

Today I would. Crosby is not the same player after his concussions. He is not playing as aggressively/recklessly as before.

That's not true at all

SeawaySensFan wrote:

NEELY wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:

NEELY wrote:He might get some PP time if there are any struggles there. That's where he will find a spot in the top 6 IMO, after he proves he can produce with one less guy on the ice for the other team. We'll see though but I get Smith being between those two right now.

I think Ottawa had less than 1 min. of PP time total in the last game. We might have seen him for more than the 6 minutes or so he got if not for that.

Exactly. Give it some time and also, I think at some point he moves to the wing. He is not an NHL center IMO.

I think he won most of his faceoffs last game. If he has the vision and puck distribution skills as advertised, he might very well be a Center.

I don't think he has the defensive awareness, speed, or size to really take care of things in his own end and win draws consistent basis against the better players. You can dish and shoot from the wing just as easily as you can as a center. In the offensive zone is where his bread and butter will be... don't think he has the game to be a center. He reminds me a lot of Mike Comrie with a better shot and Comrie was a way better winger than center.

Gotta take this game. Keep the wins coming.

NEELY wrote:Latendresse has another concussion, I wish people would stop saying "whiplash". His career is basically done at this point and I would be surprised if he was so play another game as a Sen.

Or "concussion like symptoms"... Diddle what a joke. Just call it what it is. Deal with it and he's back when he's back.

Pretty much. Everyone knows his brain has been in a blender already and it isn't going to get better. He's getting 2 mil for doing nothing this year, take that, retire, and coach or something.