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The Dreaded 4th Line


shinkaruk98

Fourth line issues  

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Unless he makes the 3rd line C, I think Gaunce is better off returning to his Jr team and having a winning year as captain (not to mention the possibility of the WJ team). I would like to see him have a year of working on his offensive game, as I think he has some upside there. He already has a good defensive game.

Santorelli Richardson Wiese looks to be the 4th line so far, which is better than last years'. I can't believe that the Nucks don't have a single prospect that can't outplay Sestito. Still scratching my head over that signing.

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I actually think it's better than 4th lines of the past. Richardson and Weise have more upside than a typical 4th liner, a good thing on the 4th line. Sestito worries me, but I think he can also bring a bit more than big hits and some fisticuffs.

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Agreed. You are wrong op. Weiss has a lot of potential to be a solid 3 rd liner. He is a good 4tg liner to have cuz he has size, speed and decent hands. Richardson has playoff experience and should be at least as good as lappy.. Sesito hopefully will improve cuz he is still somewhat young and is huge.. Also who knows about lain. Maybe he cracks the 4th

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A big thing is a lot of our prospects are down the middle, very little of our significant guys are wingers. You have to look at it this way, you can throw around line combinations like a NHL 13 coach but you have to consider chemistry. Coach Torts won't know how well-adjusted all the C's will be at adjusting to the wing until camp happens, and it'll only be there when we know exactly who'll be able to wing with Richardson. To be quite honest, I think Richardson is locked at 4C and Weise most likely is locked at 4RW as well. So you've got some real question marks at 3C and 4LW, perhaps at 3LW too.

Thinking quickly, I'd probably say that Gaunce has the biggest chance at cracking the 3rd line centre although JS makes a pretty good case. Though that isn't relevant, so I'll just move on. In terms of a fourth line LW, I'd say Mallet is probably a popular choice. The biggest upside to him is he's got good three-zone play and some offensive upside as well as that fourth line grit. Certainly, that's exactly what is needed. Archibald is a RW, and (in my opinion) there's no way he's shaking Weise from 4W without a miracle; I'm not prepared to call Archibald a bust but I'd say he's behind on his development. Anyway, if you want to talk about Higgins getting pushed down I'm not sure that would happen. If you think about it, he's a great third liner with great offensive upside and as well some very good two way play. He's got second line capabilities which makes him a talented guy. The dilemma I have with placing good prospects in 3rd/4th line environments is the fact that it is usually a waste of development.

Schroeder for example; he wasted a lot of his season on a mediocre stone-hands fourth line as a playmaker, it just doesn't work and it's a waste of talent and effort. If we were to slot good prospects like Gaunce and Mallet, etc. on the bottom six we need to supply them with veteran talent that can contrast with their skill. One of the flaws of AV was not considering the fact that you very much do need chemistry to produce; you can't go the NHL 13 way of slotting the best with the best and letting the play unfold; you have to try to figure out who is in the right mindset to play with whom. If we want a productive fourth line we need people with skill at not only finishing, hitting and playing defense, but also setting up others. That is the most difficult part; finding that effective playmaker. Who might that be? Who knows. Anyway, my rant aside... This'd probably be my ideal line barring any rises/falls from the top guys or any stepping up from the younger less known guys.

Mallet - Richardson - Weise

-- I think it'd be a very gritty line with a good forecheck. Mallet has the hands to finish and some reasonable speed and grit to be the fresh face to push the vets. Richardson would be the solid defensive centre and veteran playoffs player who could give the two guys some experience and keys to look at to be successful, which would be invaluable to development of chemistry. Weise has shown some flashes of who he could be in terms of a skills player with speed but it seems he hasn't developed that comfort to use his talents to actually do anything. My thinking is, and this is of course purely speculation that the addition of Richardson to give the solid, proven two-way play that our fourth-line needs could supply that reliability that it has lacked for a long time. A plus would also be an anchored player that wouldn't go down-up a line either to 3rd or farm presumably to suit Weise and have a reliable amount of time to build chemistry with Weise, which was pretty scarce as Vigneault constantly bounced player from line to line due to injury as well as unnecessary testing. My biggest question mark would be Mallet. From what I've seen from him he is at times undisciplined, which is what we don't need, the reason why we had to let Max go. That said, I haven't seen him play at the NHL level thus his level of maturity is still very much unknown until he actually plays. His upside is of course his amount of grit and size in addition to his youth; he also has some notable hands which has MOST CERTAINLY been absent from the 4th pretty much since... Well, since I don't know when. (I can't remember, most likely a couple years ago.)

That's the combo I've been looking at most, but there are so many. I can already see all the people yawning at the amount of text so I'll stop talking; I'm just interested in seeing how they all meld in the opening start of the pre-season or in some potential scrimmages.

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Agreed. You are wrong op. Weiss has a lot of potential to be a solid 3 rd liner. He is a good 4tg liner to have cuz he has size, speed and decent hands. Richardson has playoff experience and should be at least as good as lappy.. Sesito hopefully will improve cuz he is still somewhat young and is huge.. Also who knows about lain. Maybe he cracks the 4th

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If you ask me it is fine.... Every team needs a tough guy and Sestito is ours. Weise is a solid depth player who is still young with room to improve, and I would be fine with either Richardson, Schroeder, or Santorelli centring our 4th line. I don't see too many problems with it. After all, a fourth line is only a fourth line.

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"Third line" could be Booth and any combination of Schroeder, Santorelli, Jensen, Gaunce, maybe Kassian?

I can see this as an opening day line up:

Sedin Sedin Kassian

Burrows Kesler Schroeder

Booth Santorelli/Gaunce/Jensen

Higgins Richardson Hansen

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