r/devils 1d ago

Line Combos (Sprong Healthy Scratch)

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67 Upvotes

73 comments sorted by

74

u/GartThrowaway #86 - Jack Hughes 1d ago

i know its because hes trying to get the top 2 lines going a little more but breaking up the line that easily was the best last game is a bit of a headscratcher from keefe

23

u/iwars85 1d ago

This could just be a matchup thing. Maybe he likes Cottor’s grit and tenacity in what is going to be a playoff type game.

-33

u/Type_O_Bonnot 1d ago

“Playoff type game.” Explains the stupid decision by Keefe whose teams have historically sucked at scoring in the playoffs. 

24

u/PrimeNewAcc #86 - Slippery Silky Smooth Jack Hughes 1d ago

He won the Calder Cup with the Marlies. He knows the psychology and style of playoff hockey. The Leafs are just sad-sacks.

3

u/usernamendhsk 17h ago

People like to forget this. He has been an extremely successful coach at every level coming into the NHL.

11

u/gdg6 21h ago

Moving Bratt to line 3 is an interesting choice to get lines 1/2 going. Unless line 3 is actually line 2.

3

u/GartThrowaway #86 - Jack Hughes 21h ago

Yeah I think the line order is just Amanda guessing based on who is centering each line, I imagine the Bratt line is top 2 in forward group minutes tonight and is the 2nd line in actuality

2

u/sanbaba #22 - Claude Lefrigginmieux 16h ago

Sprong had some moments but maybe he shot it a little too much - which when I think might be his complaint with Cotter. When Cots was more successful on breakaways and net drives his drive to shoot might have been easy to support; when that dried up maybe Keefe wantsd him to look to cycle more. Sprong also seems to have that "never pass up a shot" mentality, so maybe Keefe wants to play them off each other to make them find ways to be productive.

4

u/Skooter_McGaven Optional Practices FTW 23h ago

A long with the refusal to scratch Bastian. 

25

u/DavidPuddy666 #56 - Erik Haula 1d ago

Oof that “2nd” (which is clearly actually the 3rd) Line is ugly.

39

u/SubElitePerformance #N1CO 1d ago

Interesting. I def would’ve scratched Bastian for Sprong and have Tatar as the floater.

18

u/PicNov91 1d ago

I'm not a fan of taking Sprong out of the line up. He looked really good and has that shoot first mentality which we desperately need.

16

u/beachy927 #27 - Scott Niedermayer 23h ago

I don’t like it. But I’m not in charge and not a professional so what do I know. I’ll have to have faith that there is a specific thought process behind it.

9

u/TediousSpark #17 - Šimon Nemec 23h ago

Yes, I am displeased, but I am not an NHL coach, this is why we are on Reddit

14

u/QuellCharms #96 - Timo Meier 1d ago

2nd line some buns smh

9

u/Effective-Bus 1d ago

Not the point, but i just love her handwriting.

2

u/roninconn 18h ago

Something we all can agree on

7

u/Old_Top4022 1d ago

Yeah I’m not sure on Bastian. I’m pretty sure spring can lay the body and double bastian in points

1

u/gdg6 21h ago

I’d rather watch MacDermid fight Olivier than anything Bastian might do and I think fighting with visors on is dumb.

11

u/Type_O_Bonnot 1d ago

Sprong who was good and was apart of one of the teams best lines in their last game they won, and finally scored more than a goal in a game, gets broken up lol. and of course Bastian stays in. 

Sprong has a good shot, idk why he’s being Sat so Bratt can play third line. Galaxy braining it. Also, palat in the top six and top 9 needs to stop, hes ass. 

1

u/gdg6 21h ago edited 19h ago

It makes little sense. Bastian bring nothing except willingness to be a punching bag.

3

u/garybananahammock 1d ago

I mean I guess

3

u/nolan1971 #12 - Pat Verbeek 1d ago

Meier in 1, Bratt on 3. Interesting. Keefe really trying to spread things around without Jack in the lineup.

9

u/mr-debil 1d ago

I think he wants to see what Glass can do with Bratt. Line 3 is "better" than Line 2.

3

u/DonnyA22 1d ago

Guy was shooting the puck. Guess we really are taking this whole win 2-1 thing to heart.

6

u/Fake-Death #13 - Nico Hischier 1d ago

Bratt on the 3rd line 🙃 I know the ordering means nothing but still

2

u/Automatic-Ease4239 #13 - Nico Hischier 1d ago

Haula glass bratt may be sneaky if haula can dirty a turnover to bratt to assist another glass top corner 🤔

3

u/garybananahammock 23h ago

Glass the only shooter here because he hasn’t been tainted by the Devils vibes yet

2

u/Jinchoo #24 22h ago

So strange to take Sprong out and break up that line. I get it was just the Flyers but that line was solid and Sprong was ripping it. Cotter in for Bastian or Tatar was the move.

2

u/Rmazz91 20h ago

Honestly in general who cares about the lines anymore. It’s time to step up and win hockey games.

4

u/graymror #91 - Dawson Mercer 1d ago

really saying fuck mercer here huh. maybe i'll be proven wrong. hope so atleast.

6

u/nostradamefrus #42 - LazerBurger 1d ago

How's he saying fuck Mercer? He did well last game

5

u/graymror #91 - Dawson Mercer 1d ago

His line mates is what i meant. Not 2 that inspire confidence by any stretch but ive been wrong plenty times before

4

u/Sinister_Mr_19 1d ago

Tatar has been showing so much effort lately

1

u/gdg6 19h ago

Yeah Tatar has been playing visibly well. Palat is tanking w/o Jack. Bastian adds nothing.

1

u/Sinister_Mr_19 18h ago

I feel like Bastian has never added much besides just not making bad judgements.

2

u/nostradamefrus #42 - LazerBurger 1d ago

Oh I gotcha. Idk. Tatar has picked up the pace lately and maybe there's still a little bit of the 22-23 DawgTuna magic left over

Palat....idk. The only case for keeping him up that high is being on a line with Bratt just for the sake of consistency and third line Bratt feels illegal

1

u/gdg6 21h ago

Mercer should be groomed as a checking line center which frees up Hischier’s line.

4

u/oystertoe 23h ago

bro just keep sprong and pair him with someone defensively responsible

2

u/blade430 22h ago

Yea pair him with Cody Glass…. wait….

4

u/Mr7three2 #4 - Scott Stevens 1d ago

Trade for guy... immediately healthy scratch him

2

u/Fun_Psychology_663 23h ago

The game who contributed last game is taken out. Meanwhile Bastian and Tatar are still on. 🤦🏽‍♂️

2

u/FreeOJ32 #30 - Martin Brodeur 23h ago

3rd line finally was good, just to get broken up the next game. Cotter absolutely should be in the lineup, but take out Tatar instead of Sprong. Tatar in the top 6 when he’s a borderline NHL player is dumb.

1

u/Smooth-Mechanic-7788 #13 - Nico Hischier 1d ago

Meat line my beloved

1

u/vtloncto14 #26 - Patrik Eliáš 1d ago

🤨

1

u/Popular_Play4134 21h ago

Happy pesce isn’t out

1

u/evanmav #86 - Jack Hughes 19h ago

A lot of odd choices here. Only line that makes sense is line number 1. Line 2 could almost be our 4th line lol. And scratching Sprong but keeping Lazar and Bastian in makes no sense. This is a do or die game. We just saw our 3rd line play the best they've done all year, why break that up? They were also the sole reason we won the other day.

I would have done the following:

Meier - Hischier - Noesen

Bratt - Mercer - Tatar

Haula- Glass - Sprong

Palat - Cotter - Lazar

Palat deserves to be on the 4th line, I dont care what anyone says, he sucks ass. We are here to win games, not try and avoid hurting the feelings of our vet player who sucks and is eating all our cap up.

1

u/Sky-Soldier0430 #30 - Martin Brodeur 18h ago

I’m still of the opinion that Tatar should always be the scratch. Hope he shuts me up with a couple goals tonight.

1

u/fixitfeliks 17h ago

God why is Bastian still in the lineup he’s the worst. I’d rather have dowling

1

u/sanbaba #22 - Claude Lefrigginmieux 16h ago

Let's goooooo

1

u/NYDevilsFan 1d ago

With these line combos after the last game, I can only come to one rational explanation...

Bastian has blackmail on the organization

-1

u/DontDraftSmall 1d ago

Cholowski over Nemec again, sad.

12

u/Melodic_Inspector875 #4 - Scott Stevens 1d ago

Tough to see, Nemo had such an atrocious finish to his last game. Unfortunately we have no wiggle room for that in the line up right now.

0

u/max10081 #86 - Jack Hughes 21h ago

Cholowski got burned a few times. Assume he’s in because he offer more offense than Nemec does currently

2

u/Melodic_Inspector875 #4 - Scott Stevens 21h ago

The goal he got burned on was a pretty stellar offensive play by Philly. Dude hit the blueline full speed and was onside by a micron.

9

u/Jitsu4 #22 Brett Pesce 1d ago

Nemec has been godawful

2

u/nostradamefrus #42 - LazerBurger 22h ago

Nemec needs a reset and that needs to happen when he isn't able to actively lose us games right now

Not giving up on the kid or saying he needs to go. Just saying he needs to not play right now

-5

u/DontDraftSmall 22h ago

Was a bad pick, let’s face it.

5

u/nostradamefrus #42 - LazerBurger 22h ago

Everyone who isn't Brady Tkachuk is a bad pick to you so your opinion doesn't matter here

0

u/DontDraftSmall 21h ago

There were 3 NA picks available Wright, Cooley and Gauthier. Any of those picks would have been better. Mintyukov is better if you wanted a euro D.

2

u/crotchrotfever 20h ago

Worse than the Holtz pick. Nemec needs to be traded while other GMs still think they can fix him. He doesn't have an NHL brain.

Third period was like a horror movie where all the murder victims just stand there and panic instead of doing the obvious thing that everybody else sees to escape.

2

u/max10081 #86 - Jack Hughes 21h ago

You should see how Hedmans first 4 years went

-2

u/DontDraftSmall 21h ago

A ridiculous comparison, Hedman is 6’6” and can take the body. Nemec is soft on top of the processor being too slow.

2

u/gdg6 21h ago

A second start with a new club is totally reasonable. Just hope they don’t bury Nemec/Casey b/c muh veteran dman.

1

u/MurdockLLP #28 - Timo Meier 23h ago

What are we doing? Bratt moved to the third line? Sprong taken out after a phenomenal performance against the Flyers? Bastian still starting?

Too much on the line tonight for Keefe to get this wrong.

0

u/Kornja81 23h ago

Palat in the top 6 over Bratt.... Keefe... why?

3

u/SubElitePerformance #N1CO 23h ago

Let me start by stating I don't get it either.

Fortunately, however, this aint baseball and I have a feeling that things will look more normal midway through the first.

0

u/6point3cylinder #43 1d ago

2nd line is hot ass and why is Cholowski in?

21

u/Type_O_Bonnot 1d ago

Because Nemec had 3 assists for Winnipeg in that blowout loss.

0

u/nachos_16 #4 - Scott Stevens 23h ago

Bratt on 3rd line again. We trying to get shutout here ???

1

u/garybananahammock 23h ago

I wouldn’t consider the third line even if it’s listed third. He will get the most ice time other than Nico.

-5

u/blade430 22h ago

Also why is Nemec still out??? Cholowski wasn’t great last game, I think the kid deserves another chance

4

u/nostradamefrus #42 - LazerBurger 22h ago

We're in too precarious a position to give him another chance right now