Our top 2 lines are obviously very offensive oriented lines. When one isn’t producing, hopefully the other will be. If not, we have line 3, which is a solid hybrid of offense and defense. Line 4, is equally critical. We saw last year and the year before how big that 4th line can be. It’s our energy line, and wow did it pull through before. I really can’t help but draw some comparisons between Moreau and Glencross.

I’d really like to see Moreau take that role and run with it, as it suits his playing style. But having a guy like Brule allows him to maintain that offensive side and perhaps put in a dozen or more goals a season.

It’s amazing how one small player change can really change the look of the team, no?

Yeah, I agree that Moreau might be the weakest link on the 3rd line/shut down line. I also agree with your concerns of Cogliano on the 3rd line as per kris’ top 9 suggestion. I should have posted his full four lines, so here they are:

Penner-Horcoff-Hemsky
O’Sullivan-Gagner-Zherdev
Cogliano-Pouliot-Pisani
Moreau-Brule-Stortini

Moreau on the 4rth is something many people have been discussing as perhaps a better fit for the captain. I’m not sure how well he would take to 4rth line duties with that being the main concern.

With the purpose of the 3rd line being that of playing the tough opposition, I do think it is a novel idea with the line +/- Moreau/Pouliot. Horcoff and Pisani would be the key components of the line to play the toughs, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to play around with the LW for the line to find out which combination works the best.

Where did Kris have Moreau? On line 4? That actually is a spot I’d personally like to see him too, just because I think it’s more fitted to his style of play.

I’m going to re-buff my original suggestion a bit, and go with the following:

Penner O’Sullivan Hemsky
Cogliano Gagner Zherdev
Pouliot Horcoff Pisani
Moreau Brule Stortini

I’m not so sure how Pouliot will fair on that 3rd line though, but I suppose it would be no worse than Moreau there either. I think that spot though would be the greatest opportunity for improvement and perhaps could see some young players cycling in on it.

Just some random thoughts here

It’s certainly a rather unconventional idea, but I think it has enough potential and merit to be considered. It would allow the Penner/POS/Hemmer line to face somewhat softer opposition and potentially allow the Gagner line to tear up the soft minutes.

On Lowetide blog comments section, I discussed your idea today. Kris suggested a more conventional top 9 arrangement with keeping Horpensky intact:

Penner-Horcoff-Hemsky
O’Sullivan-Gagner-Zherdev
Cogliano-Pouliot-Pisani

Either way, I think that our roster looks better with Zherdev on 2RW than it does without.

I could definitely see the Oilers moving Nilsson for a guy like Zherdev. Both have question marks with their desire to play, however only one of them has a few 20+ goal seasons under their belt (one in Columbus, two in New York). Not to mention, Zherdev has a bit of size to him (at 6’2″) which would likely make him a bit more durable than a guy like Nilsson.

I would love to see the Oilers take a chance on Zherdev if the cost were Nilsson and a minor prospect. I think the Oil would still need to free up a bit of salary though unless the other player was an NHL roster player. The Oilers have approximately $2.15M left in cap space (according to capgeek.com), and still need to sign Ladi Smid, Gilbert Brule and Rob Schremp. The $2.15M cap space includes a full 23-man roster though, so for each player we sign that stays in the NHL, we’ll see another one moved down to the AHL (although it won’t be anyone too costly).

But I had mentioned on Lowetide some lines I’d like to see once we landed Zherdev:

Penner O’Sullivan Hemsky
Cogliano Gagner Zherdev
Moreau Horcoff Pisani
JFJ Brule Stortini

I think it would give us fairly balanced lines, and I think line 3 would give us a fairly solid vet line (something Quinn might favor). I hesitate to see Horcoff dropped to the third line, especially since he’ll have a tough time living up to his salary on the top line (in the fans eyes, at least), but I think he would be very well served in that role.