What the Columbus Blue Jackets Need to do to Fix Their Lineup
The Columbus Blue Jackets came into last nights tilt with Arizona on a two game skid, 15 points out of a playoff spot, and head coach Todd Richards went with an….interesting assortment of line combinations:
Nick Foligno – Ryan Johansen – Cam Atkinson
Hartnell – Dubinsky – Tropp
Jack Skille – Artem Anisimov – Alexander Wennberg
Kevin Connauton – Mark Letestu – Jared Boll
Jack Johnson – Fedor Tyutin
James Wisniewski – Jordan Leopold
Ryan Murray – David Savard
Anton Forsberg
Scratches: Dalton Prout, Cody Goloubef, Matt Calvert (but, Calvert was ill).
Where do I start?
My main problem with this has nothing to do with Connauton on the wing. We’ve seen his ability to both skate and score. He’s been vital to the power play, so he deserves a fair shake. However, the third line really puzzles me. I realize Anisimov is starting to get healthy again, but Wennberg has been on fire in the faceoff circle as of late, so why start him on the wing? He eventually ended up moving to center going 4-of-11 on the draw.
There’s also the problem with keeping nine defenseman on the roster. For a team that had to put Connauton on the fourth line to make up for their lack of depth at forward, having nine defenseman doesn’t help at all. The big mistake I believe Columbus made was sending Josh Anderson back down to Springfield. He was what we needed to rejuvenate that last line. As showcased by his his time up in Columbus, he ate up significant ice time, averaging almost 14 minutes a game.
That may seem fairly average, but lets compare it to Jared Bolls last five games, where he’s averaged around six or seven minutes on the ice. The more rotation you have on your squad, the less you’ll work the first two “scoring lines”. Losing Anderson in the line-up puts more of a burden on those scoring lines. Goloubef has a 1-way contract, so can’t be sent back down, but if the Blue Jackets could move him to another team and bring Josh Anderson back up, they’d open up the offense and make the other team play a 60 minute game on defense as opposed to a 40 or 45 minute game. Makes a world of difference.
Now, let me put my money where my mouth is. Here is my ideal line-up:
Foligno – Johansen -Hartnell
Atkinson – Dubinsky – Calvert
Anisimov – Wennberg – Tropp (switch Wennberg and Anisimov for faceoffs during the game)
Collins – Letestu – Anderson
Johnson – Tyutin
Murray – Wisniewski
Leopold – Connauton.
Goaltending
Moving Hartnell to the first line offers a scoring/checking line to grind them out. The second line has proven to have had tremendous chemistry (see: last year) and reuniting that could spark all three. The third line is more experimental, see how it pans out, and the fourth line features Collins and Anderson alongside veteran Mark Letestu, and that would be a “secret weapon” if you will for the Jackets. If any team can get depth scoring from their fourth line, it gives all lines confidence to play their game instead of chasing and reading the other team.
The defense just had a few minor changes putting Murray with Wisniewski and moving Connauton down with Leopold. I think the youngster Ryan Murray would benefit from playing alongside Wisniewski, and we’ve seen Connauton has the ability to score.
You know what my ideal lines are, let me know what yours are, what trades you’d like, or if you believe that the lines are fine as they are by shooting a tweet over to @UnionandBlue with your opinion.