I imagine we'll have:

Hudler-Monahan-Gaudreau
Frolik-Backlund-Bouma

That would leave a 3rd line of:
Colborne-Bennet-Jones ? or if Stajan/Jooris moves to the wing?

Looking at it now, I imagine Jooris will go to the wing and it'll be:
Jooris-Bennet-Jones

Makes the most sense to me personally. Colborne has hands of granite and needs to show something before getting a promotion to the 3rd line, and Stajan while he has some veteran prowess I cant see him playing more than 4th line minutes.

This post was edited by GSG on Aug 21 2015 08:59am

Ya makes sense. Stajan centering the 4th line. How rock solid will that Backlund Frolik line be

This post was edited by StayPositive on Aug 21 2015 09:12am

That second line is going to be a force. They might not put up a ton of goals but holy fuark will they not give up many.

Bennet in the 3rd line with a more offensive role will be a good deal aswell, hopefully he puts up some points. I would love nothing more than him to win the Calder over McDavid so I can mock all my Oilers friends/co-workers

Haaa would never happen.
And hall mcdavid yakupov would put up pts.
Gonna be fun calder watch though.

This post was edited by Subzer0isGG on Aug 21 2015 11:25am

Nah I know, realistically I dont see there being a very likely chance that Bennet takes it. I think McDavid is the real deal and will put up 70+ this year with his two wingers. I dont think personally the Oilers will do well standings wise, but McDavid should be a ray of light for the season for them

Standing wise. I'm hoping for a tenth - eighth place finish in west. That not un realistic.

8th will be tough to crack in the West, but I think finishing top 10 should be seen as a good season for the oil.

D-pairings...

Was listening to 960 this AM, this is what Pinder suggested:

Gio-Hamilton
Brodie-Wideman
Russel-Engeland

That puts every d-man on their 'natural' side (the side they shoot). Brodie generally plays the opposite side though. Maybe those pairings make the most sense, but I'd definitely prefer Russel to get top 4 minutes... so maybe:

Gio-Brodie
Russel-Hamilton
Engeland-Wideman

This puts Engelland on his off side though. Thoughts? I just like the idea of having a really solid top 4, with a utility guy in Wideman for the PP.

Looks good, but one of those guys is not like the others lol. Engeland gets paid too much to be buried, and he actually had some ok stretches when Gio when down, although he was sort of being carried by Brodie, but it could work.

I don't know enough about their 'natural sides,' so maybe this is no good, but I was picturing:

Gio - Brodie (just so solid a pair)
Russell - Hamilton
Wideman - Engeland/Wotherspoon


edit: lmao.... clearly I only read the first half of your post. It's too early this am.

This post was edited by StayPositive on Aug 24 2015 10:13am

Excellent take on the new stadium, long and dense, but good reading:

http://flamesnation.ca/2015/8/23/how-to-think-critically-about-calgarynext