Hartsburg does line shuffle... AGAIN

Here is the skinny....

Winger Antoine Vermette moved to the left side with Dany Heatley on the right and Jason Spezza in the middle. Captain Daniel Alfredsson is with Mike Fisher an Nick Foligno while Jarkko Ruutu, Chris Kelly and Chris Neil form the third line. Jesse Winchester skated with Shean Donovan and Dean McAmmond.

From Garrioch...



Sun article

Hmmm.. the Winchester experiment i think may be coming to an end soon if he dosen't start producing... Could this be another Bochenski? He has looked good in some games, but not that great, especially not what he was showing in preseason...

That's just a ripoff for Winchester. He's been playing great...

Oh well. Shuffle shuffle I guess.

smash88 wrote:Hmmm.. the Winchester experiment i think may be coming to an end soon if he dosen't start producing... Could this be another Bochenski? He has looked good in some games, but not that great, especially not what he was showing in preseason...

He is great on the boards *cough* Schaefer*cough* without the hands.

Hmm, he's trying the carrot. I wouldn't mind seeing those two (Vermette, Fisher) benched for a game instead. Just to clear their heads and send a message.

MurderOnIce wrote:

smash88 wrote:Hmmm.. the Winchester experiment i think may be coming to an end soon if he dosen't start producing... Could this be another Bochenski? He has looked good in some games, but not that great, especially not what he was showing in preseason...

He is great on the boards *cough* Schaefer*cough* without the hands.

I don't agree that Winchester's been playing great... he's played alright...You can only be so good on the boards... I don't know about you guys, but I don't hear Winchester's name being mentioned too much by the broadcasters during gameplay... IMO he's been pretty non-existant... like a lot of others too...

Schaeffer had hands!?

Just because the guy has great puck possession (I've seen a few games, and he does more than own the boards), doesn't mean he should be compared to Schaeffer. Schaeffer was agonizing in that he would NEVER shoot.

Winchester has been cycling the puck well. I haven't felt he passes up on good shooting opportunities.

Time will tell. I'd say it's WAY too soon to say "the Winchester experiment" is over. He's been one of our better players IMO.

mattbond wrote:Schaeffer had hands!?

Just because the guy has great puck possession (I've seen a few games, and he does more than own the boards), doesn't mean he should be compared to Schaeffer. Schaeffer was agonizing in that he would NEVER shoot.

Winchester has been cycling the puck well. I haven't felt he passes up on good shooting opportunities.

Time will tell. I'd say it's WAY too soon to say "the Winchester experiment" is over. He's been one of our better players IMO.

Schaeffer had great hands (remember the goal he scored that he flipped the puck in the air for?). He had unbelievable hands, his problem was the first option was head to the boards. That is why he was never used on the shootout, the coach was afraid he would head to the corner with the puck.

I never said the experiment was over, my impression is that he has not played as well as he had in the preseason. He could be confused by playing with different teamates but.... he has not been exceptional at all. The fact he is playing on the fourth line is indicative of that.

This is good:

-Vermette on the left side of Spezza and Heatley
-Alfie on the right side of Fisher and Foligno
-Kelly with Ruutu and Neil

This is bad:

-Winchester on line 4. He's been our strongest player game to game, controls the boards, makes tape to tape passes, he's a prototypical 3rd liner in my eyes, with the potential to become a full time 2nd liner. I hope he gets more than 5 minutes of ice time on line 4, because there's more to the NHL than JUST putting the puck in the net.

MurderOnIce wrote:

mattbond wrote:Schaeffer had hands!?

Just because the guy has great puck possession (I've seen a few games, and he does more than own the boards), doesn't mean he should be compared to Schaeffer. Schaeffer was agonizing in that he would NEVER shoot.

Winchester has been cycling the puck well. I haven't felt he passes up on good shooting opportunities.

Time will tell. I'd say it's WAY too soon to say "the Winchester experiment" is over. He's been one of our better players IMO.

Schaeffer had great hands (remember the goal he scored that he flipped the puck in the air for?). He had unbelievable hands, his problem was the first option was head to the boards. That is why he was never used on the shootout, the coach was afraid he would head to the corner with the puck.

I never said the experiment was over, my impression is that he has not played as well as he had in the preseason. He could be confused by playing with different teamates but.... he has not been exceptional at all. The fact he is playing on the fourth line is indicative of that.

Yes that is exactly my sentiment.. he's only got 1 assist in all those games and he's played with decent people...

Exactly Heater.

504Heater wrote:This is good:

-Vermette on the left side of Spezza and Heatley
-Alfie on the right side of Fisher and Foligno
-Kelly with Ruutu and Neil

This is bad:

-Winchester on line 4. He's been our strongest player game to game, controls the boards, makes tape to tape passes, he's a prototypical 3rd liner in my eyes, with the potential to become a full time 2nd liner. I hope he gets more than 5 minutes of ice time on line 4, because there's more to the NHL than JUST putting the puck in the net.

Yeah but in the end it ALL comes down to putting the puck in the net... If he were setting guys up for good chances I'd agree with you, but he isn't.. He may own the boards but nothing good comes of it...

Remember who he was playing with though Smash: two nerds who have a combined one goal (Vermette and Fisher). Is that Winchester's fault - or is it Vermette and Fisher's fault?

Foligno has been quiet lately. I didn't really notice him (or anyone else to be fair) in the leaf game.

504Heater wrote:Remember who he was playing with though Smash: two nerds who have a combined one goal (Vermette and Fisher). Is that Winchester's fault - or is it Vermette and Fisher's fault?

Yeah but difference is, we know what Vermette and Fisher are capable of... They are just in a slump, whereas We've never seen Winchester's capabilities... Are you actually saying that Winchester's "production" was hampered by Fisher and Vermette? I'd think it would be the other way around... Winchester needs to prove he belongs here, which in my opinion other than a few pre-season games he hasn't proved to anyone he deserves a spot on this team... I'd give to Bass before i'd give to Winchester, at this present moment... But since it's a numbers games Winchester will stick....