It wasn’t long ago that we looked at each team in the All-Canadian Divison and ranked their no.2 lines one through seven. Now, we’re going to rank each team’s third line, and to do this we’ll be using the line combos from dailyfaceoff.com.
I wanted to include some fancies that would’ve given you a little bit of analytical perspective from Natural Stat Trick, but over half of the teams didn’t have any stats to go from according to Daily Faceoff’s line combos when using NST’s Line Combination tool. I don’t know, maybe I’m doing something wrong. Anyway, no stats for this one, just good old-fashioned biased~ er, I mean non-biased opinion-based judgments.
Vancouver Canucks: Roussel-Gaudette-Sutter
The Conclusion: I look at this line and I think to myself how good it could be if there weren’t so many flaws. What I mean by that is, Antoine Roussel is unhinged, Brandon Sutter can’t stay healthy, and I don’t even know how to characterize Adam Gaudette. He’s just kind of… there.
For me, I feel like Gaudette is out of place here. Roussel and Sutter are players who thrive in mucky scenarios. Gaudette seems more like the kind of player who should be playing with more skilled players.
Edmonton Oilers: Ennis-Turris-Neal
The Conclusion: Ten years ago, this is an first line on the Oilers. However, I’m very confident in saying that I don’t think that this line will ever be deployed on the regular in Edmonton next season.
That being said, if it did, it’s a pretty damned good looking soft-minutes easy o-zone starts scoring line. Just don’t expect a lick of defense from it or much from a possession standpoint.
To me, this looks like the kind of group that would be great off the quick attack. Tyler Ennis is a zippy playmaker and James Neal is the finisher whereas Kyle Turris is a little bit more playmaker that goal-scorer but he’s adept at providing both, plus he’s quite decent on the faceoffs in the other team’s zone.
If the name of the game is winning and scoring goals achieves that, this is the best combo of forwards in the All-Canadian Division to accomplish that.
Calgary Flames: Lucic-Bennett-Dube
The Conclusion: Very dangerous trio of players in the post-season last season, they were. I don’t really get what Sam Bennett’s deal is. I mean, is he this generation’s Claude Lemieux in that he does very little during the regular season but then becomes an all-star in the playoffs? If he could ever find THAT game and bring it to the first 82 games of the year for Calgary, they’d have one of the best two-way pivots in the NHL.
Dillon Dube is an interesting cat. I always figured he would’ve found his footing in the league before Andrew Mangiapane. He’s very skilled, he can skate, score, and make plays too. Surely, it’s only a matter of time before he’s in the Flames’ top-six full-time. This line would be lost without his offense I reckon.
Milan Lucic… What more is there to say about him at this point. He is what he is. A Coke machine that makes $6M/yr still. I just think he’s surviving on reputation now rather than ability. In the play-ins, he seemed to have a bit of a resurgence from what I saw, but I also think that had a lot to do with his linemates moreso that himself.
It’s a solid line on the whole, but it requires a couple of specific scenarios to flourish. Those being a physical matchup and an opponent who has immobile defenders that aren’t great at puck moving. Both of those allow this group to take advantage of their greatest strengths.
Winnipeg Jets: Copp-Lowry-Appleton
The Conclusion: Andrew Copp and Adam Lowry are a couple of my favorite bottom-six forwards in the league. They know their role and they are bloody good at performing it. If I were the Oilers GM, I would love these two on my club and I’d be willing to pay the price to get them.
As it stands, I am only the armchair version of the Oilers GM.
Mason Appleton is someone that I thought would’ve popped by now. He reminds me of Adam Gaudette slightly. In that, I’m not sure what they hell this guy is so far. If he was going to be a top-sixer, shouldn’t he have shown us by now? He does give this line a bit of finish, so there’s definitely a role for him as Lowry and Copp do the heavy lifting, but who’s doing the playmaking here?
Toronto Maple Leafs: Kerfoot-Thornton-Vesey
The Conclusion: Oh boy. I just don’t see it with this combination. Future Hall-of-Famer “Jumbo” Joe Thornton cannot be playing with Alex Kerfoot and Jimmy Vesey… They have to give Joe some more offensively talented players here. Even of it’s Jason Spezza and one of those free-agent Russians they signed from the KHL. Both Kerfoot and Vesey have failed to live up to expectations so far in their careers and to me, they seem like 4th line energy players.
FFS! This is Joe Thornton we’re talking about!!! Give the man some help!
Admittedly, I’ve seen more of Thornton than his proposed linemates here. So maybe I’m way off base.
Ottawa Senators: Galchenyuk-Brown-Batherson
The Conclusion: Here’s a young line that could find some surprise chemistry. Logan Brown and Drake Batherson have marinated in the Sens development system together for some time now and they are ready to take on the NHL full-time.
Brown being the big-bodied playmaker and Batherson being the power-forward who can score. There’s a lot of potential with this pair.
Now, with Alex Galchenyuk, his career hasn’t quite gone exactly to plan. But during the Wild-Canucks series last summer, I saw a different version of this player. One that was more aggressive and physical. If you add that to the obvious skill that he possesses and tack it on with what Brown and Batherson are bringing, you might just have a line that will underpromise and overdeliver.
Montreal Canadiens: Drouin-Kotkaniemi-Armia
The Conclusion: First, can Jesperi Kotkaniemi continue what he was doing in the playoffs? Second, how is Jonathan Drouin going to feel about playing on the 3rd line in Montreal? Lastly, can Joel Armia be the glue that holds it all together.
There’s lots to like with this line from production POV. I’m not convinced of it’s 200ft potential but having Armia there helps and Kotkaniemi will most likely improve on his two-way game over time, but is it a tad risky to not be setting him up with more “responsible” wingers and this insulating him just that little bit more?
Personally, I’d have Kotkaniemi playing wing. Even with the games he had in the playoffs, I’d still be wary of making him a center full-time right now. That or giving him better wingers like Gallagher and Toffoli.
BLH’s Rankings
- Edmonton
- Winnipeg
- Calgary
- Montreal
- Ottawa
- Vancouver
- Toronto
How do your rankings look? Let us know in the comments below!
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