I absolutely loved Gus down the stretch. He looked great, and he can only get better. I can see Gustafsson becoming a top 4 guy. I also liked Lauridsen, but I really can't see him becoming anything more than a bottom pairing D.
I think Mike Milbury thought the same way about Zdeno Chara back in the day.
True, but Chara is much more of an exception for what players like Lauridsen become
and mike milbury is completely retarded.
1: Hartnell-Giroux-Voracek
2: Schenn-Lecavalier-Simmonds
3: Talbot-Couturier-Read
4: Laughton-Hall-Rinaldo
I feel that this is how it will have to shape out, but there's a lot of flexibility in the roster. If Hartnell struggles out of the gate, I wouldn't be surprised to see ANY of the second liners put in his place on the top line with Giroux and Voracek, at least for a brief period to spark the offense. Hall was great on faceoffs for us last season. I think it's clear that he's the fourth line center. The third line can provide a lot of energy and shut down opposing scorers, plus Read could pop up to the second line also to change things up offensively. He will get plenty of power play time still regardless. The only dispute among the 12 starters for me is who will win that last left wing position.
The defense is pretty straight forward other than possibly the pairings. Our top six are obvious, but you could assume that one of them will soon be gone as we're about $2 million over the cap right now.
Assuming Meszaros gets shipped off for cap purposes, I have the following defense:
1: Schenn-Timonen
2: Coburn-Streit
3: Grossmann-Gustafsson
I didn't plan it this way purposely (alright, maybe I did...), but you basically have a big, strong, physical defensive defenseman paired with a small, offensive, puck-moving defenseman in every pairing. It's very balanced.
We only need four centers obviously and yet we have six or seven guys that can play center, so there is a lot that Laviolette can do to switch up the lines for more offense.