Avery - Dubinsky - Gaborik
Callahan - Drury - Kotalik
Higgins - Anisimov - Byers
Brashear - Boyle - Lisin
My roster will have Voros, Rissmiller and Arnason all waived or just banished to Hartford and, as astute eyes noticed, no Zherdev. Z is seemingly assured of being kicked to the KHL after the Rangers get up from the table so do pobachennya Nikolai.
Avery played well when placed opposite of Jagr and should be just fine across from Gabby. Plus, seeing as he gets constant attention on the ice, it will get some more room for Gabby to work his magic. Cally has shown some chemistry with Dru, so let the two Americans hustle and dig alongside Kotalik. Higgins, Anisimov and Byers make for one helluva checking line as all three are willing to throw their bodies around. The fourth line, well, who cares as Torts won't use them much. Lisin can get some spot work on special teams, if he earns it.
Torts claimed that kids will get a chance in an interview with Brooksie yesterday and has said multiple times that veterans aren't guaranteed positions. Taking that into account, here is my blueline:
Staal-Girardi
Rozsival-Potter
Gilroy-Heikkinen
No Wade Redden, that goes without saying. I like Sauer but he could use another season in Hartford to repair the ego that Renney destroyed with his idiotic re-assignment last season. Potter is quick enough to cover for Rozy and smart enough to dish him the puck when in trouble. As for the third pairing, both Gilroy and Ilkka Heikkinen are older than your average rookies and enter with solid resumes. Andrew Gross had the Finn pegged for Hartford in his camp wrap but with the North American game so much more open, perhaps he can make a quick transition in September. If not, perhaps Bobby will show up in shape and seize the job. That would be a nice turn of events seeing as so many other draft picks are being dealt away. Not that I feel that losing Korp, Dawes or Monty was any big deal, but it is always good to see home grown players added to our ranks.
Now, much like the aforementioned lineup I made back on June 30th, this may all be rendered moot by something Sather has in the works. So back to reality for now ... and yep, it's still summer. Dammit.
5 comments:
Redden will definitely be on this team, no matter how much it sucks. He played well for Torts and I guarantee that they are not even considering sending him to Hartford. Do you really see this team having 3 rookie defensemen? Not a chance.
I think a lot of people are thinking that Boyle makes the team, but I wouldn't assume that. It is much more likely that Arnason makes it than Boyle... who has done squat for his former team so far in his career.
I hope you are right and the rookies win out, though.
I like those lines but there's no way Redden isn't in the top 6 (as much as I wish he was gone by October) and if Lisin is a NYR he'll be on one of the top 3 lines.
avery - dubi - gabi
cally - drury - higgy
kotalik - anisimov - lisin
and as i refuse to acknowledge trashear, i'll go
voros boyle byers on 4
like the others, i don't see redden not being out there, as much as we all wish that were not so...
and snow sounds good right about now too.
agreed with a few threads ago where you said you would be happy to see the isles move to kc. one word for that
ditto
Joe
not bad lines here, but of course we need to sign dubinsky and lisin first. only changes i'd make are:
1) swapping kotalik and callahan. they're both RWs and i wouldn't want to sacrifice callahan's development.
2) swap lisin and byers...since torts doesn't play his fourth line often, i'd want lisin's scoring punch out there more plus perhaps a little russian chemistry with ansimov
3) unfortunately, i think we're stuck with redden...he sucks at 6.5 million but still hes better than a rookie. we'd be screwed going into the season with 3 rookies on D. I'd keep gilroy up and try and sign a veteran for 2.5/3 million for 1 year like zubov or morris.
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