Projected lines!

 

Friends, Romans, countrymen - lend me your ears! Here are my projected lines for the season's start.

Forward lines

1st line

Zajc - Bičevskis - Lavoie

2nd line

Mahkovec - Kerbashian - Sabolič

3rd line

Pance - Šimšič - Kapel

4th line

Mehle - Beričič - Sodja 

(Vodlan, Kumanovic, Tomaževič)

Notes: Kerbashian could replace Bičevskis as the 1C, but we'll see. Sabolič and Lavoie are probably interchangeable, although you might have to consider the defensive aspect of those combos. It's something I will monitor in my match reports.

The top two lines look dangerous, which is pleasing. Last season, goals didn't flow as freely as you would want, at least until later on in the calendar. The defence, as you will see below, has been reinforced fantastically, so it would really help us propel ourselves up the rankings if we can match that with more goals. As the legendary Sean Dyche said, we need to both keep it out of our net AND put it in their net.

I like the Olimpija veteran 3rd line of Pance, Šimšič and Kapel. If Kapel is healthy, this could be a very useful group for steadying the ship - while keeping a scoring threat - in tough games.

I love this 4th line, transplanted from last year. I would like to see growth from all three of them to really start impacting games, particularly Mehle. These guys adding value to the team would help balance out the ice time and keep everybody healthy and effective.

In terms of reserves, I do think I am being biased towards the younger guys from last year. I haven't seen much of the new ones, and I don't know where Tomaževič fits in yet. I would prefer to have the young guns on the 4th line so we can give them the chance to show some improvement. With that said, Kumanović is both young and played well in the preseason game I saw, so he may be worth slotting in over Mehle or Kapel, depending on who is playing well.

Defensive pairings

Mašič- Atwal

Crnovic - Ege 

Ćosić - Pavlin 

(Hebar, Gregorc, Bohinc)

Look at this defence. LOOK AT IT! This is a clear upgrade on last season's squad. I liked Dodero and Magovac, but Atwal and Ege look like they're in a different league (in admittedly limited viewings thus far). Moving Pavlin down to the 3rd pair makes sense, and should unleash Mašič on the top pair even further. 

It will be interesting to see if Gregorc factors in; currently, I wouldn't take Hebar or Bohinc over anyone in those pairs. I honestly cannot wait to see these boys in action in front of Horak. We could be a pretty formidable team on the back end this year, which is exactly how I like my teams set up. Now we just have to score!

Goalies

Horak 

Kolin

You know how it's going to go down. I think they should rotate Kolin in more, but I think if Coach Karhula is in doubt he will ride Horak till the cows come home.

Powerplay

Mašič - Lavoie - Sabolic - Zajc - Kerbashian

Atwal - Pance - Kapel - Mahkovec - Bičevskis

I'm not sure how these will shake out, as players have been in and out of the squad in the preseason thus far. Regardless, it can't get much worse than last season. The injection of silky North American skill should help here on the PP1.

Penalty Kill

Ćosić - Atwal

Crnovic - Pavlin

Keep the effective Crni/Pavlo pair from last year but bump them down to PK2 and add in some bite with Jan and Arvin on PK1.