Friday Five: Rounding out the top-6, Mercer's future, and draft strategy
Breaking down how Sheldon Keefe may structure the forward lines, Dawson Mercer's fit, and much more.
Follow along on Twitter @ToddCordell | @InfernalAccess
It’s time for the final Friday Five of the month.
This week I answered questions regarding how things may look in the top-6, Dawson Mercer’s future, Sunny Mehta’s draft strategies, and more.
Let’s get into it.
Q: Assuming no top-6 forward is acquired, who is most likely to round out the top 6 with Nico, Jack, Bratt, Timo, Mantha. Who do you think it should be?
I honestly don’t think there will be one specific player locked into the top-6, but rather a rotating cast depending on performance and how the entire lineup is built.
Dawson Mercer or Evan Rodrigues make sense with Nico Hischier and Timo Meier if they’re going to continue being thrown to the wolves and taking on heavy defensive usage.
Let’s say the formula changes and Sheldon Keefe builds a matchup line with some combination of Rodrigues, Mercer, Cody Glass, and Connor Brown.
That frees up Hischier’s unit to play a few extra shifts against weaker competition and see more offensive zone starts.
If that’s the case, and the goal is to optimize for offense as a result, then Arseny Gritsyuk would be a great solution in the top-6.
Not that he can’t play defensive minutes (he can), but that you’d be lessening the impact he can make offensively and shortening the lineup in that regard.
Truth be told, we’re likely to see varying formulas and there won’t be one specific name penciled into the top-6 night after night after night.
The big four are locks, Mantha is likely to spend a ton of time in the top-6 as a hired gun, and it’ll be a heavy rotation from there.
As for what I think it should be, I like the idea of stacking the top-6 with Gritsyuk and going with a more defense-heavy 3rd line that can take some of the load off Nico.
That’d make most sense at home, in particular, when Keefe can control matchups.
Q: What do you think happens with Mercer? Do we trade him? Keep him? And if we keep him, what will his next contract look like?
