Article: Should the Wild Put Ohgren On Kaprizov's Line To Accelerate His Development?

[Kalisha Turnipseed]

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[Imyourhuckleberry]

Or should they go back to Kaprizov, Hartman, and Zuccarello as a scoring line backed up by a power/scoring line of Boldy, JEE, Ohgren?

Draft is just 1 week away now. Hopefully the Wild get some difference makers!

[Citizen Strife]

The Wild should stick with what works and keep their three best players on the same line.  No more, "line balance" stuff unless a game situation demands it.

[bisopher]

Replace Boldy with Ohgren next to JEE and Kaprizov. Give him elite teachers for both offense (Kap) and defense (Ek), and watch him grow.

Move Boldy to the 2nd line with Rossi as his center and either Zucc (playmaker) or MoJo (fingers crossed for contract-year bounce).  Boldy and Rossi had an immediate connection in the A, let that be our second scoring option

[Burnt Toast]

I’d like to see some different line combinations next season. Whatever it takes to get ready for 2025. We know keeping the 1st line together is kinda a no brainer, so experiment with everybody else. One bonus of keeping KK, JEE, and MB is it should help KK’s overall game= happy Kap= LOCK HIM UP FAST. 

[mnfaninnc]

Heinzy tends to have a line blender when things aren't working on a given night. I think he should try all combinations and see if something works well. There will be injuries, so the top 6 needs to learn to play interchangeably if needed. 

I would say that we have Boldy, Ek, Kaprizov, and Rossi right now in our top 6. Ohgren is a potential candidate. Zuccarello is fading in speed and continues to buttonhook every time in the offensive zone 5v5. He could still play top 6.

Dino and Ohgren, I thought from the eye test, had some chemistry together. Maybe Dino's got more offense in his bag once he gets settled in? Maybe Hartman is a top 6 player? I don't know for sure, but as things stand at this moment, it appears we have 4 top 6 players. 

I like Kalisha's idea about putting Ohgren with Kaprizov sometimes. I like Rossi having someone else riding shotgun with him in Boldy. I think a Boldy-Rossi-Hartman line is interesting. 

What I didn't like was putting Ohgren on PP1. No, he should be on PP2 playing the Ek role and giving Rossi a little help. Slowly, we're also starting to build 2 decent units on the PP. We still need someone in Ovechkin's office to open up the ice for Kaprizov and Boldy. I sure do wish we had someone in the prospect pool who could do that.....perhaps Hunter Haight bulks up and can fill that void?

[Imyourhuckleberry]

4 hours ago, bisopher said:

Move Boldy to the 2nd line with Rossi as his center and either Zucc (playmaker) or MoJo (fingers crossed for contract-year bounce).  Boldy and Rossi had an immediate connection in the A, let that be our second scoring option

I could see that working, but part of me thinks they put Rossi back on line 3, mostly because Rossi with Zuccarello creates a smaller lineup and Zuccarello doesn't really fit below the top 2 lines.

Barring trades, Guerin likely brings back Shaw and Chisholm, then adds some free agent to put Johansson in the press box. I'll use Yurov in place of the unknown FA as he could really make the whole lineup work much better.

Kaprizov, JEE, Ohgren

Boldy, Yurov, Zuccarello

Foligno, Rossi, Hartman

Gaudreau, Dino, Shaw

[Citizen Strife]

Russo has stated Shaw is pretty likely gone.

[Paul Bunyan is Real]

9 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

I could see that working, but part of me thinks they put Rossi back on line 3, mostly because Rossi with Zuccarello creates a smaller lineup and Zuccarello doesn't really fit below the top 2 lines.

Barring trades, Guerin likely brings back Shaw and Chisholm, then adds some free agent to put Johansson in the press box. I'll use Yurov in place of the unknown FA as he could really make the whole lineup work much better.

Kaprizov, JEE, Ohgren

Boldy, Yurov, Zuccarello

Foligno, Rossi, Hartman

Gaudreau, Dino, Shaw

Yurov signed a 1 year contract w his KHL team for the upcoming season. He won't be here until 25/26 season.

[Protec]

They need guys who can kill penalties.

They need a defenseman who is better than Middleton.

They need to be bigger down the middle. 

They need a Tarasenko not NoJo, Guentzal not Gaudreau. Foligno was traded for when the Wild had Tuch, now Foligno is extended when the Wild have Ogie. It's a waste of money, MN is slow. Deweys we're fast. MN has almost none with speed, none with reach unless you count Lizard. 

The balance is brutal. Shuffle the deck and thankfully there is just one year left of NoJo, Zuccarello, Fleury, and Merrill. Time for a change. 

If Billy gives Middleton 4x4M, that's a mistake. Chemistry and glue-guy stuff is important but I'm sick of acting like our 6/7 out of 10 players are 9/10 of 10 guys. The Wild have 3-4 top talent guys who are pretty reliable but not elite top 5 guys league-wide. Ek, maybe for centers. Kaprizov, top ten. Faber is getting there but rearranging the players MN has isn't gonna make a lick of difference. 

Spurgeon would need to comeback strong and rookies would have to breakout, plus Boldy become a legit top wing who can takeover a game. Not just spurts.

Currently, I'm not seeing a return to the top of the Central with new lines and Hynes with an off-season Darbyless.

Guerin has to make changes IMO.

[Pewterschmidt]

1 hour ago, Protec said:

plus Boldy become a legit top wing who can takeover a game. Not just spurts.

This could be the year Boldy breaks out and becomes the offensive horse he can become.  He’s still a pup so he’s got some years to grow his game, but let’s see it this year Bolds!

[Imyourhuckleberry]

3 hours ago, Paul Bunyan is Real said:

Yurov signed a 1 year contract w his KHL team for the upcoming season. He won't be here until 25/26 season.

I was aware of that, but I was using his name in place of a free agent who could be signed, and to see how much better the lines might look when he arrives.

Shaw could be gone, but I wouldn't be shocked if they brought him back for 1 more.

[PNW Wild]

I think the issue is who do we have that can play with Zucc. He is a solid second liner, if we could get someone to put his passes in the back of the net. He had that with Kap, but as we have seen it is time to split those two up. And as much as Laine is pie in the sky, and probably a risk not worth taking... the idea makes sense. A big bodied shooter would fit in great on a line with Mats. You can keep Rossi as 2C or depending on his development switch him and JEEK. 

[TM6975]

While I dont see this happening this year, there are some out there who truly believe Heidt can make the roster this year. That would be a nice surprise and then you could really start playing with the lines.  So if that holds true……
C- Ek-Rossi-Heidt-Khut

W- Kap-Boldy-Ohgren-Zuc-Hartman-JoJo-Foligno-Freddy

1-Kap-Ek-Boldy- thats what has worked the best.

2- Ohgren-Rossi-Hartman- both Ohgren and Hartman can be uber pests for opposing lines. Both shoot and pass equally IMO. Combine this with Rossi passing ability and his net play I see this line doing well perhaps.

3-Zuc-Heidt-JoJo- too many passers but what the hell? Maybe JoJo will decide since its a contract year he will actually shoot. 
 

4- Foligno-Khut-Freddy- possibly could switch around between Freddy, JoJo and Foligno.?

Edited June 22 by TM6975

[OldDutchChip]

nope, you leave this next jamie benn off the 1st line until you know that he actually is jamie benn 2.0 and not a jordie benn.

and you keep EK as Kap's center and get a proven scorer (Guentzel or Marchy or Tuch would be really nice get for that 1st line and i think doable to get either by signing or trade) to finish up that top line. that will drop boldy down and i guess him and rossi (or his replacement) can babysit Ohgren for a bit.