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Vrbata or Burrows with Sutter?


IBatch

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He may one day be a great player. He will have to work hard though. I wish him well he's got great hands! But I am almost certain he's in Utica next year. That's all I'm saying, I'm not condemning him at all, he's a young guy lots of skills lots of potential. Currently a great AHLer.

He can't play in Utica next year. Not a chance he makes it through waivers

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Sedin Sedin Vrbata

Baer Horvat/Sutter Burrows

Dorsett Horvat/Sutter Hansen

Prust Vey Grenier

I don't believe Sutter is a lock for the 2C role. Horvat had a pretty impressive rookie campaign and has a year with the core players on this team. I think he gets the inside track for the job. I think it's going to come down to who establishes the best chemistry with the wingers.

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I say neither... personally, I would actually trade both Burrows and Vrbata for picks and prospects, promote two of our NHL-ready prospects to take their place.

Far as Sutter goes, I would skate him with Cassels and Prust. Together, they will form a devestating checking line capable of defending against any opponent, while producing a fair share of offense.

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Hmm I'll try:

Daniel Henrik Vrbata

Higgins Sutter Burrows

Baertschi Horvat Hansen

Vey Prust dorsett

For some reason I feel like Higgins and sutter will play very well together.

I don't see that second line scoring lots. But it would likely be a pretty decent shut down, ground em out line.
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Interesting, I was just writing a post suggesting the same second line. The only difference was that I was toying with playing Hansen with the Sedins on a regular basis (check out the spoiler for my reasoning--warning: it's a long read).

Part of me would like to try both Vrbata AND Burrows with Sutter. Move Burr back to his natural LW: Burrows-Sutter-Vrbata

This would be accomplished by playing Hansen with the twins. Yeah, I know, I've already lost nearly everyone at this point...

But hear me out.

Just for once, I'd like to see what might happen if the team started a season with Sedin-Sedin-Hansen, as opposed to waiting for when injuries hit (before running with that line).

I just find it really hard to get away from the numbers.

Over the past four seasons, Jannik Hansen has arguably been the most productive RW (in terms of scoring rates per icetime) for the twins. And while the samples haven't been very large, at least per season, he has racked-up around 475 minutes (5v5) with the twins over the past four seasons (which is starting to approach a meaningful sample size), and the numbers are pretty striking.

Hansen's 5v5 differentials, when playing with Henrik (64.1 GF%, 58.8% CF%), are on a whole better than any other RW (including Burrows, Vrbata, Kassian, and Kesler). And no other RW provides higher on-ice (team) scoring production than what Hansen brings to the line (3.17 GF60).

Henrik has been a 2.08 points/60 (5v5) player over the past four seasons. Playing with Hansen, during that period, he's put-up 2.28 points/60.

Daniel has been a 1.97 points/60 (5v5) player over the past four seasons. Playing with Hansen, during that period, he's put-up 2.38 points/60.

Hansen has been a 1.66 points/60 (5v5) player over the past four seasons. Playing with Henrik, he's 1.78 points/60. With Daniel, he's 1.88 points/60.

And perhaps more importantly, over the past four seasons, Hansen's been a 1.27 goals/60 player with Henrik and a 1.51 goals/60 player with Daniel. During the twins' best years, from 2010-11 through 2011-12, Alex Burrows posted 1.26 goals/60 (while playing almost exclusively with the Sedins).

Last season, while a small sample (67.36 minutes 5v5), Hansen's minutes with the Sedins resulted in some of the twins' best even strength scoring rates. And while we all remember those games where Hansen flubbed on glorious set-ups, we shouldn't forget that his injury relief time with the twins saw both Henrik and Daniel put-up very solid points/game (and higher than their average).

So maybe it's time to see what those guys can do with more minutes?

I just get the sense that we wouldn't lose anything, at even strength (5v5), by making Sedin-Sedin-Hansen a regular line. The production, historically speaking, has either stayed the same or increased whenever Hansen has joined the twins.

And the real payoff is that it allows the team to push better players further down into the forward group.

Here's an intriguing potential lineup I've been toying with:

Sedin-Sedin-Hansen

Burrows-Sutter-Vrbata

Baertschi-Horvat-Virtanen

Higgins-Prust-Dorsett

Vey, Kenins (swap into lineup as needed)

I could certainly get behind giving Virtanen a shot with the twins. If it worked, it could be magic. If not, just pull Hansen up from Horvat's line, and move Virtanen down to the 3rd (or back to junior).

This more or less mirrors what I would envision and hope for the team with putting some youth together on one line or adding a veteran and moving things around a little. I also like the possibility of Virtanen on the top line and switched out if needed as mentioned. Burrows is probably the key cog to this machine - if he reverts back to his top producing 5 on 5 days with the Sedins, it would be ideal, but if not than moving him down to play with Sutter or Horvat would also make things interesting. Good ideas.

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I don't see that second line scoring lots. But it would likely be a pretty decent shut down, ground em out line.

Yea, you could swap Vrbata and Burr to help balance out the scoring, but I don't think he would mesh with sutter that much.

Towards the end of the season if Horvat keeps developing I would like to see:

Daniel Henrik Burrows

Baertschi Horvat Vrbata

Higgins Sutter Hansen

Vey/Kenins Prust Dorsett

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After reading over much of this, my opinion is that Vrbata has to be pair with Sutter. Burrows is a better compliment to the Sedins at this point, and pairing Vrbata with Sutter would be a better match-up than putting Burrows over there. Of course, that is predicated on getting Baert on the 2nd line to distribute the puck.

Overall I'm really liking our center situation with Hank, Sutter, and Horvat. Teams are going to be hard pressed to beat us in the face off dot, and I think we'll see more time on the attack this season which hopefully will translate into less offensive luls on our 2nd line if we can replace Bonino as a distributor.

I'm starting to get excited about Baert and Sutter basically replacing Bonino and Kassians. I think it just might be an upgrade by the middle of the season, especially defensively.

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Sedin Sedin Burrows

Baertschi Sutter Vrbata

Shinkaruk Horvat Dorsett

Higgins Vey Hansen

Prust Virtanen

Kenins down to Utica. Him and Grenier are first call ups

I honestly don't see Shink making it ahead of Kenins, or Virtanen for that matter. If (and that's a big if) Virtanen makes the team it will be because of his size and play style. His speed and checking will make up or his deficiencies of adjusting to playing with men. While by all reports he played well with Utica, the AHL to NHL is still a large jump.

On another note, I seem to remember seeing someone posting a listing of our elgible and ineligible waiver players? Can anyone help me out or point me in the right direction to a website that has these listings? Thanks in advance.

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I honestly don't see Shink making it ahead of Kenins, or Virtanen for that matter. If (and that's a big if) Virtanen makes the team it will be because of his size and play style. His speed and checking will make up or his deficiencies of adjusting to playing with men. While by all reports he played well with Utica, the AHL to NHL is still a large jump.

On another note, I seem to remember seeing someone posting a listing of our elgible and ineligible waiver players? Can anyone help me out or point me in the right direction to a website that has these listings? Thanks in advance.

I've seen vert play and he has the game that would translate well to the NHL. The game I saw he was pestering and hitting everyone and drawing attention from the other team like you wouldn't believe, every time there was a scrum he was in the middle of it. When he hits it's not a love tap he goes full out and flattens them. To top it off he can snipe, think he had two goals and an assist in the game as well.

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I honestly don't see Shink making it ahead of Kenins, or Virtanen for that matter. If (and that's a big if) Virtanen makes the team it will be because of his size and play style. His speed and checking will make up or his deficiencies of adjusting to playing with men. While by all reports he played well with Utica, the AHL to NHL is still a large jump.

On another note, I seem to remember seeing someone posting a listing of our elgible and ineligible waiver players? Can anyone help me out or point me in the right direction to a website that has these listings? Thanks in advance.

Kenins got a one year - one way contract for $600K. So there's a pretty high probability that he makes the team.

Benning said he'll likely go with 14 forwards so there's room for 1 other.

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Benning has said that he wants Sutter to be a matchup guy. If that is the case, then Hansen will be on his right side and either Higgins or Dorsett on the left. Horvat will be our secondary scoring center with Vrbata and Sven. Burrows will start with the Sedins. It's his spot to lose.

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Benning has said that he wants Sutter to be a matchup guy. If that is the case, then Hansen will be on his right side and either Higgins or Dorsett on the left. Horvat will be our secondary scoring center with Vrbata and Sven. Burrows will start with the Sedins. It's his spot to lose.

I'd kinda like to see this

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