Teravainen - Aho - Kotkaniemi
Svechnikov - Trocheck - Necas
Niederreiter - Staal - Fast
Martinook - Stepan - Lorentz/Jarvis
"It's a good thing when you know you [as a team] can still get better and still win some games," Aho said following the group's session at Wake Competition Center. "We just try and get a little bit better every day. Obviously, we got two wins, which is a good thing, but we know we can play better."
While it remained business as it has been for the "bottom half" of the forwards, the denotation surrounding "bottom half" is necessary because at some point those too will be split up. As elaborated upon many times already thus far this season, those listed as the third and fourth lines are not pigeonholed to those roles, nor is it a reflection of them and where they stand as players. Sometimes Andrei Svechnikov will be listed on the lineup graphic as the third line. That's just a testament to the fact that all three are interchangeable in order.
"I think we're confident with any line that goes out there, they can do the job against anybody," Martinook remarked Saturday regarding the options. "Look at our line, Stepan has been around a long time and played big minutes for a lot of years. I relish the opportunity to play against the team's best players and Stevie [Steven Lorentz] just goes with the flow, does everything right and is a good compliment to us. The other three lines, you can pick your poison. It's kind of 1A, 1B, 1C and then 1D".
If Jesper Fast continues to score a goal per game (which, of course is not attainable for all 82, but for the short-term future), he could very well be slotted alongside Aho and/or Svechnikov soon. Nino Niederreiter, for those who need a reminder, returned to his 20-goal scorer status last year, even despite the shortened schedule. He's accomplished that feat in over half of his years played in the league and he plays an imperative part on the team's power play, so for him to eventually being playing alongside Aho and/or Svechnikov either wouldn't be shocking either.
"That's part of having a good team and not worrying so much about matchups or getting guys getting caught out against certain players," Brind'Amour said of his available different recipes up front. "When you can afford to play anybody against anyone, that's when you have a good team. We're definitely getting there."
How many times over the last few years have we seen the Svechnikov - Aho - Teravainen trio together? That feels inevitable at some point over the next 80 games as well.
Another point being is that so often on teams lines are tabbed as a "skill line" or a "checking line". That doesn't seem to be the case with this group. While players have different strengths, the objective, no matter the supporting cast, remains the same from player-to-player.
"That's what good teams do when they're deep," Fast said of the topic. "Everyone plays the same way. We're well coached by Rod and we know what to expect from each other."
Brind'Amour did make note to say that today's combinations may not remain the same this entire week and asked media to revisit Wednesday if there were further questions, but for now, the message is, don't get caught in overanalyzing of today's shuffling.
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