Harbingers

We have approximately 20 starting roster spots to fill and about with 22 rotational. We safely can say maybe 3 of those are on the roster already unless certain people really step up their game(IE: Greg Little). We have 35~ in cap space. - 9 for rookies but add on maybe 3 more for drafted starters? So about 26 million to fill 14-16 starting/rotational/key backup spots.

Enter Marty Hurney.

If this was the case why not just restructure him with an easy out next year.

Plus the need for cap space to do anything.

See these two make sense, same figures pre or post june 1st. Boston does not.

Why did they do it Pre June 1st? That part makes no sense. 800K in cap savings + 5M in dead money vs 3.5M in cap savings and only 2.6 in dead money.

No idea why we started Ned that game. Should have done reimer and gave him a rest on the first or both chicago games to be ready for TB.

CMC, Burns, Brown, Matos are the players that would cost us cap space as well as dead money. Burns being the least with 4 Million dead and only 240K cap hit.

17 million in dead money and 5 million in cap cost.(Pre June 1st)

Not to mention trading CMC will actually cost us 5 Million in cap space... Combine his dead money in and we don't have enough cap to pay that let alone Watson and the rest of the players we need to pay.

Statistically speaking he isn't even in the top 10 as of last year.

Ya, Breaking the home streak though is Q_Q.

I will say Florida ain't gonna be no joke this season. Gonna be interesting to see how the top 3-4 dynamic starts working out.

Fug we got too greedy there. Gardiner with a rare mistake right there.

@KillerKat That was a really good example there. We had our power play unit on but we liked the match up of Trocheck there so both Staal and Aho were on the outside of the circle that time.

Ya, I didn't see anything. He wasn't in Ned's lane.

Ya his judgement on playable pucks needs a little work. Luckily it appears he drew a penalty there.

Ya Svech made a poor choice there on the pass. We’re real lucky Ned got his head up there.

On paper it'd look like that but add in the opponents and everything changes. On Paper: From Wiki the first line is usually composed of the best offensive players on the team. Teams rely heavily on this line, which generates the bulk of the team's scoring. These players often see the highest number of minutes among forwards in a game and are usually part of the team's starting lineup. The second line is generally composed of second-tier offensive players, and helps by adding supplementary offense to that generated by the first line while contributing more two-way play than the offensively-focused scoring line. Higher end (typically first line) players may be put on the second line to spread scoring across the lineup, making a team more difficult for opponents to defend against. This frequently happens when a team has two high-end players who play the same position. The third line is often called the checking line, and is generally made up of more defensively oriented forwards and grinders. This line is often played against an opponent's first or second lines in an effort to reduce their scoring, and physically wear them down. The third line adds less offense than the first or second lines, but generally more than the fourth. The fourth line is often called the "energy line," both because their shifts give other players a chance to rest, and because their physically oriented play is said to give their teammates an emotional boost. Traditionally it was composed of journeymen with limited scoring potential, but strong physical play and, as often as possible, strong skating abilities. With the smallest amount of ice time, they tend to play in short bursts rather than pace themselves. Pests and enforcers usually play the fourth line, as do centers whose primary skill is winning faceoffs. The fourth line can be a checking line. With the rise of analytics the traditional fourth line of enforcers is being replaced by more skilled players.[1]t Hurricanes Translation: First Line: Is Aho line. Best scoring center with whoever is hot. Second Line: Trochecks Line. So in most hockey line's this is where Svech would be but not here. Third Line: Staals line. Svech is here because of our amazing amount of depth in the first two lines. In a straight scoring line you'd see Svech with Aho + One. Staal is not really our checking line. Its really just another 1st/2nd line in reality. Fourth Line: With the recent addition Paquettes we now have an actual enforcer so this is our bully line now. So we really do have a depth of scorers and that's why you see Svech on Line 3. It makes it harder to game plan against. kinda like playing a man vs. zone corner. So we'll send out 3 to start, keep Aho's line fresh to mount an offensive when they get an opportune match up. We could go 3-2-4-1 or go 3(for the faceoff and immediately send out 1). It all depends on how the opposing lines match up. We kind of break the norms with 2 first lines and a 3rd pretty heavy scoring line as well. Short Awnser: Aho is basically Cam/Luke where as Staal is Davis. So Aho centers the one line while Staal does the third. The other Lines you got to think about is Penalty Kill and Power Play lines too but thats a whole nother thing.

I really have been meaning to @ you about your thoughts on staal this season. And yes, he's on fire right now.

Don’t forget about the upcoming expansion draft either. Ugh.

Aho with the redirect!

How about that Staal. Holy poo. Perfect fugging aim right there.

Staal is the best face off player on our team and one of the best in the league. So we start on our third line with him over having Aho take the opener. Aho and the first line then can be matched up better on home games like this versus a weak opponent line after the drop. As home teams get the last call on line changes. Even with away games its better to open up strong with Staal try to win the face off and set the tone. I'm sure someone else on here has a more concise explanation but its really to do with Staals FO ability.