Calgary Flames have new lines, same good defensive pairings at practice

The Calgary Flames hit the practice ice on Tuesday, skating for the third time since their COVID-19 shutdown. Everybody was accounted for – even injured forward Tyler Pitlick – and the group had some forward lines that looked a little different than usual.

(Lines via our dear pal Pat Steinberg.)

The top line for the Flames was kept the same, and probably was kept together because they’ve been excellent. They’ve played 337:19 together at five-on-five and boast a gaudy 62.89 expected goals percentage. They’ve generated offense. They’ve avoided getting caved in defensively. They’re a group that can play against anybody’s top line and out-gun them.

They are, quite simply, a Top Forward Line.

This group has played just 10:46 together at five-on-five, and got caved in a bit with a 40.84 expected goals percentage. Granted, it was a small sample size. The logic between these three players being together is somewhat smart: Backlund and Coleman are really effective two-way players and Lucic is a savvy two-way presence, so adding his physicality to the other two makes sense.

But Lucic isn’t fast and neither of Backlund or Coleman are needle-movers offensively right now, or even play-drivers offensively. Andrew Mangiapane played in the Lucic spot earlier on and worked quite well (as a play-driver), so I’m not sure if that wouldn’t be a better second line trio to have together.

These guys played a road trip together, getting 50:55 together at five-on-five and posting a respectable 50.28 expected goals percentage. They were put together to see how Dube could do as a centre. He was fine, but only fine, and so he was moved back to the wing shortly thereafter. Putting three good forecheckers together makes sense, though only Mangiapane is a real play-driver or offensive force on this line.

This trio has played 26:27 together at five-on-five and was caved in with a 35.47 expected goals percentage. Granted, the way the fourth line is used on the Flames – buried with defensive zone starts – every combo of fourth liners has been caved in by expected goals metrics. On one hand, this trio gives you three veterans and two guys that can take face-offs. On the other hand, it groups three slower guys together in a way that might not be ideal.

The Flames’ last game against Boston featured Mangiapane-Backlund-Coleman, Dube-Monahan-Lucic and Richardson-Ruzicka-Lewis as the bottom three lines. When Ritchie was active, he spent time with Dube and Monahan (which pushed Lucic to a line with Richardson and Lewis).

It’s not clear, given the composition of the team’s forward group these days, if there’s a “perfect” four line combination, because specific players like Monahan and Lucic need to be given specific usages that maximize their skill-set. Given those constraints, there’s not a huge amount of line flexibility.

Kept together because they’re super-effective were the three defensive pairings: Noah Hanifin & Rasmus Andersson (418:00 five-on-five, 57.34% xGF), Oliver Kylington & Chris Tanev (388:43 five-on-five, 56.96% xGF) and Nikita Zadorov & Erik Gudbranson (258:08 five-on-five, 50.51% xGF). (Relative to other third pairs, Zadorov & Gudbranson have performed well.)

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