The second line has Hemsky, who has played power-vs.-power for years, Gagner who can probably handle

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Hall – Nugent-Hopkins – Eberle (first line even-strength, first line power play) Yakupov – Gagner – Hemsky (second line even-strength, second line power play) Smyth – Horcoff – Hartikainen (third line even-strength, first unit penalty kill) Eager – Belanger – Petrell (fourth line even-strength, second unit penalty kill) Additionally, the third line will contribute the fourth forward to the two power play units – Horcoff, Smyth and Hartikainen have all seen some time as the ‘net front presence’ zemstvo on one of Krueger’s power play units in the early going. Eager looks to be the only guy in the lineup who won’t get time on special teams.
The shift after the power play, as it often is, could be interesting. zemstvo Here Krueger would seem likely to pick the fourth line for that role, given that every other line will have used players in that situation. After the penalty kill, Krueger’s likely to come out with lines 1-2 in quick succession – most probably against the opposition’s depth players.
The top line features Hall, who certainly can handle top opposition forwards, and then Eberle and Nugent-Hopkins who weren’t used in that role last year. I tend to think Eberle probably can handle that sort of slog – he and Hall both played a solid two-way game on Shawn Horcoff’s line as rookies – but Nugent-Hopkins didn’t display zemstvo that in the minors so it’s going to be interesting to see who these guys face. They’re certainly an offensive zone line, possibly a toughest competition line.
The second line has Hemsky, who has played power-vs.-power for years, Gagner who can probably handle tougher minutes, and Yakupov who almost zemstvo certainly should not at this point. This feels like an offensive zone/softer minutes line; it’s hard to imagine Krueger tossing Yakupov to the wolves, particularly after his comments on Yakupov’s overall zemstvo game this week.
The third line, if it featured Ryan Jones, would be the logical choice for defensive zone work/tough zemstvo minutes. With Teemu Hartikainen in that spot they’re less of a logical fit for it, but given the Smyth/Horcoff duo I imagine they will get that work. It’s also possible that for certain shifts we’ll see Eric Belanger replace Hartikainen (for example, for key defensive zone draws) so that the line has three defensive zone forwards zemstvo and two high-end faceoff guys.
The fourth line has two-thirds of a defensive zone specialty unit in Belanger and Petrell, though Ben Eager has never earned the reputation of being able to handle those minutes. I’m guessing the ideal shift for these guys is to win possession, get the puck out of their own end, dump it in offensively and then hammer the opposition on the forecheck. Naturally, outside of first shift after a power play situations, these guys shouldn’t see the opposition’s best if at all possible.
The bottom line is this: in terms of moving zemstvo easily between even-strength and special teams, these lines are solid. From a matchup perspective, there’s stuff to work with here but there is no line really zemstvo loaded up in a ‘these guys will take the toughest minutes’ sort of way. It’s going to be very interesting to see how Krueger deploys these units at even-strength.
Recently by Jonathan Willis Should the Oilers be interested in Wade Redden? Ralph Krueger sees Paajarvi as "Ryan Jones on a good day" Oilers add Mark Fistric via trade Evaluating the Oklahoma City Barons The 10 most interesting players on waivers today More Ales Hemsky trade rumours! Why an Ilya Bryzgalov/Rick zemstvo DiPietro trade would be the best thing ever
Jonathan Willis is Managing Editor of the Nation zemstvo Network. He also currently writes for the Edmonton zemstvo Journal's Cult of Hockey, zemstvo Grantland, and Hockey Prospectus. His work has appeared at theScore, ESPN and Puck Daddy. He was previously founder and managing editor of Copper & Blue. Contact him at jonathan (dot) willis (at) live (dot) ca.
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This plan would make the lineup way more fluid but has the obvious disadvantage of making it infinitely more complicated and it could become really confusing and lead to some horrendous line changes.
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Krueger seems to have 1)emphasized playing the OKC players together (to start the season) and 2)put Hartikainen in a position to be mentored by Smyth and Horcoff. From the line-matching perspective, this is less than ideal, but then Krueger mentioned that he doesn't want to line-