Dubas Idea: Play 4 Forwards vs. Opposition's 4th Line
I was reading this TSN article about the Maple Leafs hire of Dubas and how he's an advanced stats thinker as well as a think outside the box kind of guy and this line struck me as really interesting:
On other topics, we talked about employing four forwards on the ice at times. He said the Greyhounds were experimenting with it,
adding a top-line forward when the other team put their fourth line on the ice, figuring that there was a potential mismatch available, with minimal downside because other teams' fourth lines weren't necessarily a big threat.
The strategy seems pretty simple: When the other team gets trapped with their 4th line out there we essentially send out our powerplay to try and take advantage of the mis-match. This is an extreme continuation of the strategy of throwing your top line out against a teams 4th line. Like all coaching moves if it works you're a genius if it doesn't your an idiot.
Personally, I like the idea and would love to see the Leafs, or any team, try it a few times this season. Most NHL coaches are extremely conservative, reactive and are copycats so I bet it takes awhile for any team to try it. But, if it works for that team early on it could be the latest strategy in the league.
12 team H-2-H 1 year league, daily roster changes, 3 goalie start minimum/week
2xC, 2xRW, 2xLW, 4xD, 3xUtil, 2xG, 5 Bench
G, A, P, PIM, PPP, SHP, GWG, SOG, Hits, W, SV%, GAA, SVs
C: C. Keller, C. Mittelstadt, B. Nelson, R. Strome,
LW: K. Connor, B. Tkachuk, J. Gaudreau, J. Marchessault, E. Rodrigues, A. Lafreniere
RW: K. Fiala, J. Bratt, T. Jeannot V. Arvidsson
D: R. Josi, J. Trouba, E. Gustafsson,
G: L. Thompson, F. Gustavsson, V. Vanecek
NO IR