Wouldn’t it be fun coaching the Carolina Hurricanes for a day? I’ve got my own Hockey Line Blend-O-Matic 3000 (Brought to you by Kinetico) let’s see what I come up with.
I know, I know who am I to tell Bill Peters how to build his team. On the one hand you have a well-respected national team and Carolina Hurricanes head coach, and on the other hand, you have me a guy who considers the fact he can ice skate backward one of the greatest achievements of his life . Well, that’s not stopped me before and it won’t stop me now.
Current Lines
Here are the current forward lines from the game last night against Toronto:
Teravainen-Staal-Aho
Skinner-Rask-Lindholm
McGinn-Ryan-Stempniak
Nordstrom-McClement-Stalberg
I mean I guess those are all right. Yes, they won five games in a row, but I won fifteen on NHL 15 using the Carolina Hurricanes so get back to me when you get close to that. Yeah that’s right not only was Nathan Gerbe on my second line, but Ryan Murphy was second PK D pairing. The horror, the horror.
The New and Improved Lines
Ok here’s what like to call Canes version 2.0:
Teravainen-Staal-Aho
Ok, have to keep these guys the same it’s pretty much a perfect line. The last time the Hurricanes
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had a line nickname created from the players initials they made it to the Stanley Cup finals. The vaunted Battaglia-Brind’amour-Cole that became the BBC line. I think we all see the correlation here. Bates Battaglia likes it because it makes people in Raleigh actually remember he used play hockey instead of just being that guy from the Amazing Race.
Skinner-Rask-Nestrasil
That’s right kicking that bum Lindholm down the line. I like Nestrasil better here. His Corsi is nice and that allows me to deploy Lindholm in a way that spreads the talent out more.
But if it was a dream world I would replace Nestrasil with Doug Dorsey. That’s right Team USA hockey captain from the movie The Cutting Edge. His and Skinner’s ice skating background would equal instant chemistry as they double sal chowed down the ice after they shared a hearty laugh over how much toe picks suck.
McGinn-Ryan-Stempniak
Not really much Peters can do here. He’s can’t move on from this line unless a big trade happens which means we are stuck with them as well. If the Hurricanes are firmly in the playoffs come trade deadline this would be the one upgrade needed. A player for this line should not cost much as well. Especially if you don’t care about the player being a decent human being.
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Nordstrom-Lindholm-Staalberg
Here’s where things start getting crazy. I’m tired of McClement. Don’t care what his role is but he is bad. Putting Lindholm here adds a whole other facet to the fourth line. This way the Hurricanes can put out four skilled lines instead of having McClement drag down the fourth line with his offensively offensive play. This move also pleases both sides of Lindholm is/is not a bust crowd. One side will point to the fact that he’s on the fourth line to prove their point. The other to the fact he’s carrying Nordstrom and Stalberg. It’s a win win all around.
Yeah there’s not a whole lot of change here, but the Carolina Hurricanes don’t really have a whole lot options in the forward department. Even with my changes I’m not sure that the improved talent wouldn’t mess with the chemistry between certain players. It’s almost like being an NHL coach is actually hard. Who would have thought?