NHL Line Combinations for 2016-17 (Pacific Division)
By Ryan Ritchie
NHL Line Combinations for 2016-17 – Training Camps are Coming to a Close as Teams Face Those Final Crucial Roster Cuts. Now, With Only 4 Days Until the New NHL Season, Depth Charts Begin to Take Form. Projected Lines/Defensive Pairings in the Pacific Division
Moving on with the season preview, we continue with our NHL line combinations for all 30 teams. Since we’re only four days away from a brand new season, prospective opening night rosters are becoming much clearer. At this point, most teams are making those final decisions and rosters should start to take shape in the final couple preseason games.
Finishing up in the Western Conference, next we look at the Pacific Division. The Anaheim Ducks finished atop the standings with 103 points (same as third-place Chicago in the Central), but fell four games short of the Blackhawks in ROW (wins excluding shootouts). Los Angeles (102 points) and San Jose (98 points) also managed to claim a playoff berth – and as we now know, the Sharks went the deepest with the second-worst record in the Western Conference. It was a lottery year for the Arizona Coyotes, Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks, and Edmonton Oilers, but each of those teams made strides to get better in the summer. It should make for an intriguing division battle in 2016-17.
*It’s worth noting these are simply early NHL line combinations for how things might shake up on opening night/early on in the season.
NHL Line Combinations in 2016-17 (Pacific Division)
Arizona Coyotes
Max Domi – Martin Hanzal – Anthony Duclair
Tobias Rieder – Dylan Strome – Shane Doan
Jamie McGinn – Christian Dvorak – Radim Vrbata
Jordan Martinook – Brad Richardson – Ryan White
xs: Laurent Dauphin
Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Michael Stone
Alex Goligoski – Connor Murphy
Klas Dahlbeck – Luke Schenn
xs: Kevin Connauton, Zbynek Michalek
*Assuming Michael Stone will be ready for the season opener
Even though Radim Vrbata has seen time in the preseason on that top line with Domi and Hanzal, we don’t expect him to stay there. After all, Canucks GM Jim Benning couldn’t even give the veteran winger away at the trade deadline. He’s a proven sniper, but battles with inconsistency disappearing for stretches at a time. Even though the most success in his career came down in the Desert, there’s no reason to believe he’ll suddenly re-establish himself – Radim is past his prime.
If Yotes management is impressed with their rookies early in the season (Dylan Strome and Christian Dvorak), it could open the door to trade 2017 UFA Martin Hanzal before he potentially walks for nothing. At that point, Strome would slide up to the top line and allow Dvorak to step into a top-six role.
We’ve got Arizona carrying eight defensemen to open the season. It may seem a little strange, but that bottom pairing could see a lot of tinkering until they find the right duo. Michael Stone is also a little banged up heading into 2016-17, so it wouldn’t hurt to carry that extra body in case he needs a night of maintenance.
Lastly, the goaltending should be concerning. Yotes fans have virtually convinced themselves that Louis Domingue is the next big thing. He won Rookie of the Month honors back in January upon initially joining Arizona, but his play eventually began to trail off.
You know who else wrote a similar script? Garret Sparks in Toronto. You don’t see Leafs fans or management with unrealistic expectations for the first goaltender in Leafs history to record a shutout in their debut. That’s much more impressive than playing a solid month of hockey.
So, don’t be surprised when GM John Chayka finally comes to the realization at some point that his goaltending needs to be upgraded. At that point, they could look at more of a short-term option such as Ondrej Pavelec, or look for more reliability in veterans like Marc-Andre Fleury or Ben Bishop.