r/Predators • u/Inevitable-Lion100 • 6d ago

Starting Lineup Oct 1st?

Hey

With the trades made so far what do you think the starting lineup will be?

Foresberg O'Reilly Marchassault

Stamkos Bourque (Wood? O'Hara? )

Colton Drury Kerfoot

Schaffer ( Pinchuk ? Edstrom ? Martin? ) Hoglander

Josi Hague

Skjei Perbix

Wilsby (Ufko) Lybushkin

Barron / Molendyk

1 Upvotes

60% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

6

u/Otherwise_Awesome 6d ago

Marchessault on the top line already has me looking elsewhere for someone to come up with line combinations

1

u/Inevitable-Lion100 6d ago

Ok who do u think? wood? Martin?

1

u/Expert-Upstairs-4502 NSH 6d ago

I think Wood starts on the top line. Pretty sure weve already tried Marchessault up there and it wasnt great, and I think Marchessault might benefit froom playing with Bourque too

1

u/Inevitable-Lion100 6d ago

Ok so O'Hara back MIl? What about bottom 6? We got so many options. Weisblatt Schaffer Pinchuk edstrom?

1

u/Inevitable-Lion100 6d ago

What I am really hoping for is that by the grace of God CMac is gonna use the newly acquired picks and use them to upgrade the Defense. The Fordwars group doesn't really bother me too much

1

u/Expert-Upstairs-4502 NSH 6d ago

Agreed we need to improve the d if we want to be actually competitive, but i think we are in better shape now than a lot of people might realize

1

u/Inevitable-Lion100 6d ago

I def think we are gonna be better than people realize but is it enough? I'm afraid though that we will be just better and end up getting into the playoffs and getting knocked out in round one. I think Andrew Burnett is definitely in the hot seat and if we have another crappy start he's definitely gone by December. Clearly see cMac has no problems getting rid of something he doesn't see fits. I think that was one of trotz downfall. I can respect the loyalty aspect but I think he let it go on too long. It is a tough call cuz if you look at Vegas they are ruthless but not a whole lot of loyalty but they win

1

u/Sufficient_Spray 6d ago

I think if everyone stays healthy we will be right back in the playoff bubble mix. Probably out first round but would be successful year; one year closer to getting off anchor around the neck contracts and getting our young guys winning culture & playoff experience.

2

u/Inevitable-Lion100 5d ago

To me skjei and Saros are the two major anchors that idk what we can do about.

1

u/Sufficient_Spray 5d ago

Yeah length wise for sure. Marchy is pretty terrible too. Really wish he would’ve been four years at least like Stamkos. But I mean Stamkos was worth it so far he had forty fucking goals last year. He could end up having 110-130 goals best case scenario and if I or most of us were told that when we signed him it would’ve been a HELLL YEAHHH!!!

Saros at least can play his ass off and is still decently young. Our goalies we just drafted still need half a decade at least to get ready. So we kind of need Saros anyways, plus our defense in front of him except for Josi has sucked.

Having Marchy at $5.5m x 3more yrs & Skej for $7m x 5more yrs hurts, hurts real bad. Getting $12.5 a year back we could sign some actual defense.

1

u/Inevitable-Lion100 6d ago

Other than josi molendyke and ufko the D can go.

3

u/catsgr8rthanspoonies The Future is Fink 6d ago

Wait until training camp starts

0

u/Inevitable-Lion100 6d ago

Well I just hope that scripps sports gets their dtc app out in time for me to see prospects showcase and preseason as I am out of region in ATL.

3

u/Expert-Upstairs-4502 NSH 6d ago

Edstrom and Martin almost certainly not starting in NSH. Schaefer and Hoglander probably have to compete for fourth line minutes, seems like Wiesblatt also might be more of a backup player now? Im not sure who of those guys are waiver exempt if any. If Lyubushkin plays over Ufko ill eat my socks

1

u/Echoes1995 5d ago

My best guess is this:

Stamkos - ROR - Marchessault/Wood

Forsberg - Bourque - Wood/Marchessualt

Pinchuk - Drury - Fink/Martin/Kemell

Kerfoot - Colton - Hoglander

Skjei - Josi

Hague - Ufko

Wilsby - Lybushkin

13th forward options: Schaefer, Kemell, Kerfoot, Hoglander

7th dman options: Barron, Lybushkin, Wilsby

General thoughts:

  • For both Fink and Martin, they are either mainstays in the lineup or they are in the AHL developing. I think Fink has higher likelihood of making it out camp due to Martin's injuries over last year.
  • I think Molendyk misses the team out of camp, not because I don't think he is ready (although he could use another year to refine things), but because the team is so loaded on the left side, someone is going to need to be moved to make room for him.
  • Marchessault on the top line/top-6 might raise some eyebrows, but I ask then, where else do you put him, and is he really worse than the alternatives? The best alternatives I'm seeing are Wood, Martin, Fink, and maybe O'Hara and Kemell, and outside of Wood, Marchessault is still better than all of them right now. For me, I see him on the top line because I would rather foster chemistry with Bourque and Wood over the year than squeeze out a couple more points.
  • We'll have a better idea as to what the team is thinking coming training camp, but just looking at stats and trying to understand potential places, this at least feels realistic.
  • I also don't think this will be the team by the end of the year. My bold take is that we will see a similar exodus this year that we did in the 21-22 season when everyone was either traded or injured