Line Combo's

Let's take a VERY early look at some possible line combination's for the upcoming year. Just an idea of what things could look like. Let me know what you all think as well!


Bergenheim Tavares Weight

Comeau Bailey Okposo

Tambellini Nielson Hunter

Jackman Park Thompson



Streit Gervais

Witt Sutton

Martinek Hillen


Roloson/Biron


Putting Weight on a line with Tavares is quite obvious. Most everyone who has put some line predictions together for next year have those two together. Weight is here to not only be a leader for the whole team, but to really work with Tavares and show him how to be a number one center in this league. I put Bergeheim on the line as well too add a physical presence. Bergy is not the biggest guy in the league, but he has a nasty streak to his game and can definitely provide Tavares with protection. I wanted to put one person on each line that either had size or a mean streak in their game. I flirted with putting Hunter on this line and moving Bergenheim down to the third line. But in the end, I think Bergenheim will provide a better overall fit with Weight and Tavares.

The second line is the "kid line" of the season. Bailey and Okposo seem to have a natural chemistry when playing with eachother. This came out a little bit last year and hopefully with a full year of playing together this season it will improve. I see Okposo as a 25 to 30 goal guy this year and Bailey as a 45 to 50 assist guy. I believe them playing with eachother will improve their chances of hitting those numbers this year. Comeau is the size on this line. I am not as high on Comeau as some others are. I don't see him as more than a solid third line player long term. I have him on the second line on this team as there is not much developed top six talent on the roster right now. If Comeau finished with 15 goals this year, I think we should all be happy.

Hunter is the only player remaining of the Hunter/Sillinger/Hilbert checking line that played so well together 2 years ago. But Hunter is perfect for this role. I love having him on this team. He knows exactly what his role is and does not try and do more than he is capable of. He is not the 30 goal guy we thought he was going to become after his rookie season. In all honesty, the post lockout rule changes hurt his game. He is not a fast skater, and now speed rules in the "new" NHL. Nielson, one of my favorite players, is a perfect third line center. He, like Hunter, knows what his role is on this team. He is not a Tavares or Okposo type scorer. He would probably max out as about a 20 goal scorer and 25 to 35 assist guy. But having a 40 to 50 point player centering your third line long term is definitely a great position to be in. This brings us to Jeff Tambellini. They have him under contract this year and he is all but untradeable because he has a one way deal. So I needed to put him somewhere and this seemed like the best spot. But in all honesty, if they want to just sit Tambellini, or put him on waivers and send him down to Bridgeport and give either Trevor Smith or Jesse Joensuu a shot on this line, I would have no problem with that. I feel Joensuu could use at least another half season down in Bridgeport before he becomes a regular NHLer. So maybe this is when they will either dump Tambellini, or send him down. Either way, this is the last year Tambellini is going to be an Islander unless he miraculously turns into the scorer he was supposed to be.

The fourth line is led by Richard Park. A very underrated player in my opinion. While he lacks a natural scoring touch, he ALWAYS does the right thing. Think for a minute. When was the last time you remember him doing something wrong? Could take you a while. Then there is Tim Jackman. He really came into his own last year as a physical player. But he also showed that he has the ability to put the puck in the net. I see him as a possible 10 goal guy. Getting 10 goals from a fourth line winger is an added bonus for sure. Lastly there's Nate "the great" Thompson (OK I just made the nickname up). He is a nice little player in my opinion, but we have enough third line centers on this team. I am not really sure why they resigned him. I know he is one of Scott Gordon's guys, but he does not provide too much extra for this team. He does hustle a lot, I'll give him that, but that's about it. He is not a bad guy to have on the fourth line, I don't dislike him. But maybe this spot could have been used to sign an enforcer.

Now on to the defense. On the top D pairing I have Streit and Gervais. No surprise there. These two played extremely well together the last couple months of the season last year, and there is no reason to not put them back together. Streit showed that he is an all star and an impressive leader on and off the ice. He was easily the steal of the free agent signings a year ago. We all knew of his offensive abilities, but it was his ability to be a shutdown defenseman in his own zone that came as a surprise last year. He was consistently playing against the other team's best players and somehow, on a 30th place team, finished with a plus/minus rating of +6. Gervais started to excel at the end of the season after playing with Streit. He started to show the offensive ability that he was thought to have when he was drafted. Another season with Streit can and should do wonders for his game.

I put Witt and Sutton together on the second pairing to be the punishing defensive pairing. These are the two toughest players on this team and can work well together shutting down the top lines of the opposing teams. We all know how much Witt relishes the opportunity to take on players like Malkin and Crosby. Sutton, when healthy, is a very good stay at home defenseman. The health issue has always been his biggest problem. Hopefully the extra time off last year did him well. He could have played the last few weeks of the season, but it was determined that long term it would be better if he just rested until this season and let him be at 100% for the first time in a few years. Sutton is a key to this team. He adds a strong physical presence when he is in the lineup.

Then there is the third pairing of Martinek and Hillen. Hillen just signed a one way contract and this team is hoping he can anchor their second power play unit. This is a very important year in his developement. He is going to get playing time and a lot of responsibilities. Is he up for the challange? With veterans like Streit and Witt on this team, I believe he will be. Martinek is a very underrated defenseman, but obviously cannot stay healthy. So we will see. If he stays healthy this year, it is a major bonus for this defensive unit. But if he cannot, then Freddy Meyer is waiting to fill in for him.

The goaltending has been the biggest story of this offseason. Roloson was signed to a 2 year deal and Biron to a 1 year deal. My belief is that they will more or less alternate games. Maybe each will play three straight games, then the other will play three straight games, unless one plays significantly better then the other. As for our goalie for the next century, Rick DiPietro, I don't plan on seeing him in a game until Thanksgiving, at the earliest. Which is fine. He needs to be 100% before he plays any games. He cannot continue this trend of being consistently hurt. Even if that means he sits out this whole year.

So there is my projected line combinations. Can they change? Of course. Will they change? Probably! But this is a good place to start and I believe these combination's will allow the young players to continue their developement while learning from our vets.

Let me know what you think!