Tuesday, November 29, 2016

It Is Travis Konecny Revenge Week

We joke (a lot) on Flyers Twitter about the Boston Bruins passing on Travis Konecny three times in the 2015 NHL Draft. To this point, Konecny has vastly outperformed the trio that Boston selected with the 13th, 14th, and 15th picks that summer (Jakub Zboril, Jake Debrusk, and Zachary Senshyn).

But to be completely honest, it's not just Boston.  Konecny has outperformed just about everyone else from that draft too, with only a few exceptions.

And so, as we roll into Travis Konecny Revenge Week, let's look at all of the stupid idiots who decided not to select the most exciting little ball of fury in hockey.

Exemptions: The Top Five Picks In The Draft

  1. Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
  2. Jack Eichel, Buffalo Sabres
  3. Dylan Strome, Arizona Coyotes
  4. Mitch Marner, Toronto Maple Leafs
  5. Noah Hanifin, Carolina Hurricanes
McDavid might already be the best player in the NHL. Eichel returns from a lengthy injury tonight and seems poised to be a cornerstone piece for Buffalo. Hanifin is a stud on the 'Canes blueline already. Marner probably rates higher than Konecny, despite the defensive shortcomings we discussed this morning. Strome returned the the OHL last week, and I guess you could say there is some fear that his juniors play was elevated by playing with McDavid and fellow first round pick Alex DeBrincat. 

I want to give Arizona a pass just because their team seems like such a nonfactor, but they're actually a good place to start. 

Arizona Coyotes


Passed on Konecny with pick(s): 3 (Strome)

The 'Yotes clearly wouldn't have had to spend the third pick on Konecny, but they could have moved back to pick up multiple first-round talents. Admittedly, though, it a stretch. But it's a start, and we can only go up from here. 

Idiot level: 1/5

Columbus Blue Jackets

Passed on Konecny with pick(s): 8 (Zach Werenski)

The BJ's selected Werenski, who it seems will form a holy trinity of defensemen from this draft with Hanifin and Philadelphia's Ivan Provorov. Columbus needed a defenseman, and although this may have been a reach on draft night, in retrospect Werenski could have gone higher than he did. 

This is starting off poorly, but top five talents make it hard to qualify any front office as idiotic. 


Idiot level: 1/5


New Jersey Devils

Passed on Konecny with pick(s): 6 (Pavel Zacha)

Just outside of that aforementioned top five were the Devils, who elected to select Konecny's teammate in Sarnia instead of Konecny. The following season in juniors, Konecny played head and shoulders above Zacha. Now they're both in the NHL, and Konecny is significantly above Zacha in quite literally every statistical category imaginable. 

Plus they drafted a Russian. Sad!

Idiot level: 5/5

Washington Capitals

Passed on Konecny with pick(s): 22 (Ilya Samsonov)

Speaking of Russians, this team full of communists drafted a goalie in the first round. A goalie! And the best part is, that goalie has probably slipped behind Mackenzie Blackwood and Felix Sandstrom, who were taken significantly later than him in the draft. 

For a team who had a 26-year-old perennial Vezina candidate on the roster already, was goaltender really a big enough need to justify risking a first rounder on the most voodoo position in sports?


Idiot level: 4/5

Boston Bruins


Passed on Konecny with pick(s): 13 (Zboril), 14 (Debrusk), 15 (Senshyn)

And now, let's shift our focus to Revenge Week. First up is the Bruins, and that aforementioned trio of Players Who Are Not As Good As Travis Konecny (Or Matt Barzal, Or Kyle Connor, Or Thomas Chabot, Or Brock Boeser, Or Noah Juulsen, Or Sebastian Aho, Or Brandon Carlo). 

In general, draft night selections proceed in line with what the hockey internet community believes is going to happen. Sometimes, teams will reach for a player they like. Other times, a player will fall further than most had expected. But it's normally a one-off type of deal, and it corrects itself within a half-dozen picks or so. 

But Boston's performance on that June evening was one for the history books. In Zboril, Debrusk, and Senshyn, the Bruins spent the 13th, 14th, and 15th picks to end up with a defenseman and two wingers who were each ranked no higher than 18th, 27th, and 39th by the major hockey scouting companies. 

Doesn't it seem like they could have used those picks in a more effective way, either by trading for players to bolster their lineup or trading back in the draft to stockpile some additional picks?

Idiot level: 6/5


Ottawa Senators

Passed on Konecny with pick(s): 18 (Thomas Chabot), 21 (Colin White)

Don't you dare start thinking that Boston's idiocy exonerates you, The Senators. Granted, defensemen tend to develop more slowly than forwards, but Chabot (#18) played one single game in the NHL this season before being send back to juniors. 

For me, White is an even worse situation for the Sens. He's a forward, which I guess we can interpret as he won't take as long to develop as a defenseman. But right after the draft he began his freshman season at Boston College, where he will likely play until Konecny tops 150 NHL points. 

Idiot level: 5/5

I've Been Fucking Around With Some Hockey Possession Stats

As you may have heard, 2016 is the year that Corsi died. It peaked last season, but now people seem to realize that there is more to the game of hockey than CF/60 and CF%.

I'd strongly encourage you to read up on Dom's Game Score:
..but there are a million different ways to calculate possession and useful possession and offensive impact.

An easy way, at least for me, is adding up even strength Corsi, Fenwick, Shots, Scoring Chances, Expected Goals, and Goals. For this experiment, I set the minutes floor at 120 (about 8 games played) and calculated Total Counts Per 60.

Good At Hockey

Let's jump right into the numbers. Here's my top ten (green shading is better than average, red shading is worse than average):

Player Pos Team TF/60 TA/60 TF%
BRAD.MARCHAND C BOS 182.24 106.72 63.07%
DAVID.PASTRNAK R BOS 187.21 111.4 62.69%
PATRICE.BERGERON C BOS 171.46 103.32 62.40%
BRAYDEN.MCNABB D L.A 165.64 103.11 61.63%
CONOR.SHEARY L PIT 187.15 124.34 60.08%
SIDNEY.CROSBY C PIT 202.02 134.63 60.01%
JORDAN.STAAL C CAR 166.68 111.34 59.95%
MICHAEL.RAFFL L PHI 163.02 111.77 59.33%
ANZE.KOPITAR C L.A 155.81 108.51 58.95%
PATRIC.HORNQVIST R PIT 203.9 145.28 58.39%


First things first with that top ten is the Flyers are probably FUCKED tonight against the Bruins. That Marchand-Bergeron-Pastknak light is deadly at even strength, and I'd probably expect them to net at least a pair of goals tonight in Philly. 

The second takeaway with this (admittedly simple) statistical calculation is it's probably a solid measuring stick. That Boston line and Pittsburgh's Crosby line are two of the best lines in hockey, and Kopital, Staal, and Raffl are three of the best possession players in the league. Brayden McNabb is a bit questionable, but the Kings dominate possession (and they're a point behind first in the Pacific with a game in hand). 

Bad At Hockey

The top is all well and good, but now let's look at the bottom of that list:

Player Pos Team TF/60 TA/60 TF%
CHRIS.STEWART R MIN 99.49 153.73 39.29%
BEN.SMITH R COL/TOR 108.68 167.6 39.34%
MICHAEL.STONE D ARI 118.85 180.87 39.65%
DREW.MILLER L DET 112.14 166.18 40.29%
ALEX.GOLIGOSKI D ARI 121.24 178.56 40.44%
COLTON.SISSONS C NSH 99.68 145.21 40.70%
ANDREAS.MARTINSEN L COL 108 156.74 40.79%
BEN.CHIAROT D WPG 106.22 152.23 41.10%
DEREK.MACKENZIE C FLA 106.47 151.48 41.28%
ANDREW.COPP C WPG 108.63 153.29 41.47%
STEVE.OTT C DET 107.75 151.65 41.54%
TOBIAS.RIEDER C ARI 128.98 180.87 41.63%
KEVIN.BIEKSA D ANA 113.09 158.2 41.69%
TEDDY.PURCELL R L.A 110.1 151.91 42.02%
DEVIN.SHORE C DAL 124.53 171.08 42.13%
JAMIE.MCGINN L ARI 131.88 180.88 42.17%
NIKLAS.KRONWALL D DET 115.07 157.12 42.28%
SHANE.DOAN R ARI 122.37 166.9 42.30%
DEREK.GRANT C BUF 120.37 164.17 42.30%
TRAVIS.HAMONIC D NYI 128.36 174.92 42.32%
With three exceptions, these all qualify as guys that don't really scare you. Those exceptions are:
  • Kronwall and Doan, who combine for 75 years of age
  • Hamonic, who gets stuck with tough minutes on a shitty Islanders team (his usual partner, Nick Leddy, is right behind this list with a TF% of 42.54%)
Good At Offense

Regardless of opportunities conceded, who's generating the most in the offensive zone?

Player Pos Team TF/60 TA/60 TF%
PATRIC.HORNQVIST R PIT 203.9 145.28 58.39%
SIDNEY.CROSBY C PIT 202.02 134.63 60.01%
DAVID.PASTRNAK R BOS 187.21 111.4 62.69%
CONOR.SHEARY L PIT 187.15 124.34 60.08%
BRAD.MARCHAND C BOS 182.24 106.72 63.07%
VIKTOR.ARVIDSSON L NSH 180.29 150.86 54.44%
SCOTT.WILSON C PIT 179.79 143.72 55.57%
JAKE.GARDINER D TOR 176.87 147.45 54.54%
ZACH.HYMAN C TOR 174.01 155.15 52.86%
PATRICK.MAROON L EDM 173.15 132.09 56.73%
JORDAN.EBERLE C EDM 172.91 146.92 54.06%
AUSTON.MATTHEWS C TOR 172.6 147.18 53.97%
PATRICE.BERGERON C BOS 171.46 103.32 62.40%
WILLIAM.NYLANDER C TOR 171.25 157.61 52.07%
CHRIS.KUNITZ L PIT 170.88 140.33 54.91%
MICHAEL.DEL ZOTTO D PHI 170.09 142.08 54.49%
BRENDAN.GALLAGHER R MTL 169.93 153.63 52.52%
MATTHEW.TKACHUK L CGY 169.86 132.11 56.25%
KRIS.LETANG D PIT 169.56 139.87 54.80%
CONNOR.CARRICK D TOR 169.3 138.86 54.94%
The top of this list looks extremely familiar, but the biggest takeaway is additional confirmation that Toronto is a very fun team to watch. 

Also, hey Michael Del Zotto, maybe we should pair you with a solid defensive partner instead of scratching you in the press box. Just a thought. 

Bad At Offense

Player Pos Team TF/60 TA/60 TF%
CHRIS.THORBURN R WPG 97.57 130.32 42.81%
CHRIS.STEWART R MIN 99.49 153.73 39.29%
COLTON.SISSONS C NSH 99.68 145.21 40.70%
BRANDON.TANEV L WPG 103.34 131.11 44.08%
ALEX.BURMISTROV C WPG 103.51 137.76 42.90%
BEN.CHIAROT D WPG 106.22 152.23 41.10%
DEREK.MACKENZIE C FLA 106.47 151.48 41.28%
STEVE.OTT C DET 107.75 151.65 41.54%
ANDREAS.MARTINSEN L COL 108 156.74 40.79%
ANDREW.COPP C WPG 108.63 153.29 41.47%
ERIC.FEHR R PIT 108.65 137.14 44.20%
BEN.SMITH R COL/TOR 108.68 167.6 39.34%
AUSTIN.WATSON L NSH 109.16 128.74 45.88%
MARK.LETESTU C EDM 109.3 148.25 42.44%
TYLER.GRAOVAC C MIN 109.96 145.13 43.11%
GUSTAV.FORSLING D CHI 109.97 145.69 43.01%
TEDDY.PURCELL R L.A 110.1 151.91 42.02%
ANDREAS.ATHANASIOU C DET 110.32 129.07 46.08%
JIMMY.VESEY L NYR 111.14 133.92 45.35%
GREG.MCKEGG C FLA 111.26 131.43 45.84%
Fuck you, Greg McKegg. 

Good At Defense

Player Pos Team TF/60 TA/60 TF%
CARL.GUNNARSSON D STL 111.77 96.32 53.71%
KEVIN.SHATTENKIRK D STL 128.18 102.02 55.68%
MELKER.KARLSSON C S.J 133.48 102.03 56.68%
DMITRIJ.JASKIN R STL 138.58 103.03 57.36%
BRAYDEN.MCNABB D L.A 165.64 103.11 61.63%
PATRICE.BERGERON C BOS 171.46 103.32 62.40%
NIC.PETAN C WPG 125.79 104.93 54.52%
MATT.STAJAN C CGY 132.16 106.55 55.36%
DALE.WEISE R PHI 144.06 106.57 57.48%
BRAD.MARCHAND C BOS 182.24 106.72 63.07%
DANIEL.WINNIK C WSH 127.06 108.09 54.03%
HAMPUS.LINDHOLM D ANA 135.96 108.12 55.70%
RYAN.REAVES R STL 144.09 108.3 57.09%
ANZE.KOPITAR C L.A 155.81 108.51 58.95%
LARS.ELLER C WSH 147.53 108.63 57.59%
NAIL.YAKUPOV R STL 150.61 111.01 57.57%
JORDAN.STAAL C CAR 166.68 111.34 59.95%
DAVID.PASTRNAK R BOS 187.21 111.4 62.69%
SEBASTIAN.AHO R CAR 139.38 111.41 55.58%
ARTEMI.PANARIN C CHI 134.07 111.72 54.55%
I would not have expected to find Yakupov and Panarin in this group, and I would not have expected to find Weise in any group that includes the word "good" - but if you look at the raw totals, those two Russians and that big dumb Dutchman stifle their opponents (or at least prevent them from setting up in their zone). 

Bad At Defense

Player Pos Team TF/60 TA/60 TF%
JAMIE.MCGINN L ARI 131.88 180.88 42.17%
MICHAEL.STONE D ARI 118.85 180.87 39.65%
TOBIAS.RIEDER C ARI 128.98 180.87 41.63%
ALEX.GOLIGOSKI D ARI 121.24 178.56 40.44%
MARTIN.HANZAL C ARI 138.59 176.78 43.95%
MARTIN.MARINCIN D TOR 154.83 174.96 46.95%
TRAVIS.HAMONIC D NYI 128.36 174.92 42.32%
ROMAN.POLAK D TOR 145.31 173.1 45.64%
CHRISTIAN.DVORAK L ARI 131.15 173.08 43.11%
ANTHONY.DUCLAIR L ARI 147.36 172.74 46.04%
MITCHELL.MARNER C TOR 163.06 172.46 48.60%
DEVIN.SHORE C DAL 124.53 171.08 42.13%
ANTHONY.DEANGELO D ARI 138.78 171.03 44.80%
TYLER.BOZAK C TOR 163.64 170.55 48.97%
PATRIK.NEMETH D DAL 160.05 170.43 48.43%
JASON.CHIMERA L NYI 139.41 170.23 45.02%
BRANDON.DUBINSKY C CBJ 138.57 170.22 44.88%
LUKE.SCHENN D ARI 145 169.52 46.10%
LAURI.KORPIKOSKI L DAL 136.53 169.5 44.61%
NICK.LEDDY D NYI 124.74 168.48 42.54%
I'm going to have to ask someone who follows the Islanders why Hamonic and Leddy appear here along guys who are substantially worse than them. I mean the Polak-Hunwick pairing in Toronto may well be the worst defensive pairing in the league. Clearly Hamonic and Leddy are at least a step better than those scrubs. 

Speaking of Toronto, perhaps the reason Marner hasn't woo'd Leafs fans like Auston Matthews and William Nylander is because he's horrible at defense. Just saying. 

Also, of the 20 players on this list, NINE of them are Coyotes. Woof. 

Fun To Watch

Player Pos Team TF/60 TA/60 TF% TF+TA
PATRIC.HORNQVIST R PIT 203.9 145.28 58.39% 349.18
SIDNEY.CROSBY C PIT 202.02 134.63 60.01% 336.65
MITCHELL.MARNER C TOR 163.06 172.46 48.60% 335.52
TYLER.BOZAK C TOR 163.64 170.55 48.97% 334.19
JAMES.VAN RIEMSDYK L TOR 167.5 164.93 50.39% 332.43
VIKTOR.ARVIDSSON L NSH 180.29 150.86 54.44% 331.15
PATRIK.NEMETH D DAL 160.05 170.43 48.43% 330.48
MARTIN.MARINCIN D TOR 154.83 174.96 46.95% 329.79
ZACH.HYMAN C TOR 174.01 155.15 52.86% 329.16
WILLIAM.NYLANDER C TOR 171.25 157.61 52.07% 328.86
MORGAN.RIELLY D TOR 166.98 160.91 50.93% 327.89
ALEX.GALCHENYUK C MTL 168.26 158.69 51.46% 326.95
JAKE.GARDINER D TOR 176.87 147.45 54.54% 324.32
BRENDAN.GALLAGHER R MTL 169.93 153.63 52.52% 323.56
SCOTT.WILSON C PIT 179.79 143.72 55.57% 323.51
MIKE.RIBEIRO C NSH 163.46 158.74 50.73% 322.2
CONNOR.BROWN R TOR 159.06 161.81 49.57% 320.87
ANTHONY.DUCLAIR L ARI 147.36 172.74 46.04% 320.1
JORDAN.EBERLE C EDM 172.91 146.92 54.06% 319.83
AUSTON.MATTHEWS C TOR 172.6 147.18 53.97% 319.78

It's a good sign for the NHL that this list features the best player in the league (Crosby) and a host of young talent (Marner, Nylander, Galchenyuk, Duclair, Eberle, Matthews). It's also very telling that the only person on this list to be better-than-average in both columns in Crosby. 

Boring To Watch

Player Pos Team TF/60 TA/60 TF% TF+TA
CARL.GUNNARSSON D STL 111.77 96.32 53.71% 208.09
CHRIS.THORBURN R WPG 97.57 130.32 42.81% 227.89
KEVIN.SHATTENKIRK D STL 128.18 102.02 55.68% 230.2
NIC.PETAN C WPG 125.79 104.93 54.52% 230.72
TOM.WILSON R WSH 116.3 116.39 49.98% 232.69
BRANDON.TANEV L WPG 103.34 131.11 44.08% 234.45
DANIEL.WINNIK C WSH 127.06 108.09 54.03% 235.15
MELKER.KARLSSON C S.J 133.48 102.03 56.68% 235.51
AUSTIN.WATSON L NSH 109.16 128.74 45.88% 237.9
MARK.PYSYK D FLA 119.97 118.68 50.27% 238.65
MATT.STAJAN C CGY 132.16 106.55 55.36% 238.71
BRENDAN.GAUNCE C VAN 114.64 124.66 47.91% 239.3
ANDREAS.ATHANASIOU C DET 110.32 129.07 46.08% 239.39
TYLER.PITLICK C EDM 111.46 128.84 46.38% 240.3
MARKO.DANO C WPG 115.3 125.33 47.92% 240.63
VERNON.FIDDLER C N.J 116.7 124.11 48.46% 240.81
ALEX.BURMISTROV C WPG 103.51 137.76 42.90% 241.27
PAUL.STASTNY C STL 127.37 113.98 52.77% 241.35
DMITRIJ.JASKIN R STL 138.58 103.03 57.36% 241.61
JOE.COLBORNE C COL 125.44 116.62 51.82% 242.06
The Jets are in second-to-last place in the Central, they are completely tanking in the playoff race, and they make up like half of this "most boring" list. Should of just stayed in Atlanta. 

Thursday, November 17, 2016

I Miss Asher Roth

I am a white millennial male from the suburban Northeast United States. From 2009-2012, nobody in the hip-hop world really existed for my demographic, or at least none of them succeeded quite like Asher Roth.
Asher Roth is a great Throwback Thursday, because as I sit here at my desk and pretend to work, I am reminded of late high school and early college when I could essentially just coast through life and do quite literally whatever the fuck I felt like doing.

Now I have to pay rent and cable and car insurance and shit, and all I want to do is fill up a liter mug with rum and coke and play NHL 2017.

Let's take a trip down memory lane. In keeping with the theme of "drinking aggressively like 20 year olds" my ultimate goal here would be to have a #TBT Asher Roth power hour. But part of growing up is being lazy and not doing the things that you want to do, so we'll see if that actually ends up being a thing that I do.

If I were to get a burst of energy and some free time, here's a few tracks from each of Asher's albums/mixtapes/EPs that I'd most certainly include.

The Greenhouse Effect (Volume 1) - June 2008

  •  Roth Boys
  • Cannon
  • Battle Me
  • Cartoon Chick
Asleep In The Bread Aisle - April 2009
  • Lark On My Go-Kart
  • I Love College
  • As I Em
Seared Foie Gras With Quince & Cranberry - March 2010
  • Toni Braxton
  • Fuck The Money
  • Hot Wings
(Editor's note: I didn't like this mixtape as much as I liked the rest of his work.)

The Rawth EP - December 2010
  • Gotta Get Up
  • Enforce The Law
  • In My Mind
  • Coming And Going
Pabst & Jazz (December 2011)
  • Pabst and Jazz
  • Choices
  • In The Kitchen
  • Useless
  • More Cowbell
  • Common Knowledge
  • Hard Times
  • Ampersand
  • Get By
  • Charlie Chaplin
  • Dope Shit
(Editor's note: this is probably in my Mount Rushmore of favorite pieces of music ever.)

The Greenhouse Effect (Volume 2) - June 2013
RetroHash - April 2014

I don't really know what happened, but I really fell off the Roth Wagon sometime in 2012 or early 2013. I'm sure we listened to these two in college, but I really don't have any name recognition. We'd obviously have to include a handful of tracks from both of these and his upcoming Red Hot Revival, but I guess I'd have to do a little bit of extra listening to narrow the list down. 

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

College Football Season Prop Recap: Week Eleven

There are two games left in the college football (regular) season. Teams will potentially play another before bowl games and the playoffs start if they qualify for their conference championship game. We are getting down to the kitty gritty (or whatever that phrase is, I'm drawing a blank), and we should be able to piece together some reasonable scenarios for our boys to bring home their division championship games.

Florida State

Well, except Florida State. They will not be bringing home anything worthwhile. They're now 2 games behind Clemson and 2.5 behind Lousville, The Seminoles are dead.

Washington

Losing at home is bad. Losing to a ranked opponent is not terrible. All in all, the world is not completely ending for the Huskies after their loss to USC.

But they really need to beat Arizona State this weekend. That will set up a showdown with Washington State to decide the division on the final day of the regular season.

That's simple enough, right?

Tennessee

Let's get a little more complicated. Tennessee is 3-3 in the conference, sitting (for now) behind 4-4 Georgia, 4-4 Kentucky, and 5-2 Florida. UGA and UK are done with SEC play for the season, and Florida's last conference game is against LSU.

Should Florida lose to LSU, Tennessee can win the division by beating Missouri (at home) and Vanderbilt (on the road). That win over Florida back in September might end up being enormous for the Vols.

Oklahoma

The Sooners are undefeated and alone atop the Big 12. But they close their season with back-to-back games against West Virginia and Oklahoma State, who are both ranked and have only one conference loss apiece.

Unless OSU loses to 3-3 TCU next week or WVU loses to 1-6 Iowa State the following week or to 3-3 Baylor week after that, Oklahoma will have to win out to ensure they win the conference. Otherwise, losing the tiebreaker could end up being the killshot that ruins their title hopes.

Flyers Lineup Volume 3

In this morning's Observations column from Charlie O'Connor (a must-read following every Flyers game), he included the following bullet points:

  • #7: Top line playing too much dump-and-chase
  • #8: May be time to break up the top two lines
Last night's game was a pretty gosh darn bad one for Brayden Schenn. In almost 19 minutes of ice time (including five and a half on the power play and less than 30 seconds on the penalty kill), Schenn managed to go just +4 in on-ice unblocked shot attempts. And even that metric is a bit misleading, because it's largely a function of him getting paired with Claude Giroux, Wayne Simmonds, and the Flyers' top powerplay unit. Schenn had just two scoring chances, though, to be fair, Giroux also had just two and Simmonds had a single one. 

So maybe statistically it wasn't just Schenn who was bad. It was that whole "first" line. But Schenn looked especially useless, primarily because he doesn't really do anything if he isn't crashing the net and hitting guys a second after they pass the puck. It's tough to put him in a better situation than with Giroux and Simmonds, but that trio is not functioning as the sum of its parts right now. 

Sean Couturier, also, is not functioning as well as we had all expected. Charlie cited his issues on breakouts, which is an issue that gets amplified by the poor goaltending the team has received so far this year. Through the first dozen or so games, it felt like every mistake in the defensive zone ended up in the back of the net. Couturier needs to clean it up, and there's really no excuse for any caliber of hockey player to have issues exiting the zone with Jake Voracek and Travis Konecny on his wings. 

Forwards

Line 1: The CJK Line (Couturier-Jake-Konecny)

Don't fix it if it isn't broken, just maybe work a little more on (1) breakouts and (2) tic-tac-toe passes around the net in the offensive zone. 

(Editor's note: that's a Chinese-Japanese-Korean language pun, bet you didn't expect that out of me.)

Line 2: The Giroux Line (Read-Giroux-Simmonds)

I really liked Read on the top line, and I don't think it was a fluke that his scoring totals went way up when he was paired with Giroux and Simmonds. Charlie called for a winger who can create on the rush, and Read fits that bill as well as anyone who isn't already included in this top six (except maybe Nick Cousins). 

Line 3: Schenn-Cousins-Weise

This line would be an absolute nightmare to play against, and the primary goal would be to get Schenn playing like the scumbag he is in the playoffs. I want these guys finishing their checks, crashing the net, and mixing it up with the other team after the whistle. For what it's worth, they also have a sneaky amount of skill, and they should be able to contribute offensively if they can get rolling in the offensive zone. 

Line 4: Vandevelde-Bellemare-Raffl

I'm sorry, Raf. You're getting relegated to mop-up duty. This line's purpose is to house two of the better penalty killers on the team (plus Raffl, who probably would be a bang-up PK'er too) and give the top nine a blow every so often. 

Scratches: Gordon, Lyubimov

Boyd Gordon may well be the worst signing of Ron Hextall's entire career when it's all said and done. He stinks at everything, and he's bad at everything too. Lyubimov probably deserves a spot in the lineup, but I like those four lines so I'm relegating him to the press box for now. 

Defensive Pairings:
  • Del Zotto-Gostisbehere
  • Manning-Gudas
  • Provorov-Streit
I would like to include the caveat that Mark Streit just straight up needs to be better than he is right now. 

Overtime Trios

This has obviously been an issue for Hakstol, because for some who-the-fuck-knows reason he's used Andrew MacDonald (and a few other questionable guys) in 3-on-3 overtime. Here are the four trios I'd use:
  • Giroux-Voracek-Gostisbehere
  • Couturier-Konecny-Streit
  • Schenn-Simmonds-Del Zotto
  • Raffl-Read-Provorov
That fourth trio would be a "let's see how the Giroux line feels and if they need a break I trust those three to do alright for 30-40 more seconds" situation. 

Hakstol's issue with using Konecny in overtime, apparently, is his overly aggressive nature. That's the only reason I have Streit above Del Zotto and Provorov on this depth chart.