Carter actually plays defense too. Not so sure I want my 2nd and 3rd line centers to be Giroux and Briere, especially Briere.

i may have missed it in this post but what about gagne and carter with hartnell? i dont remember seeing those 2 on a line, both can shoot from anywhere, are underrated along the boards and hartnell compliments them by crashing net. briere is too much of a defensive liability (he is so lazy in the defensive zone) to play with anyone other than richards and powe on wing – a small but quick line.

Snipers: Carter, Gagne, JVR (He’s a mix of all three, but he’s here because of the 2-3-3)
Playmakers: Richards, Giroux, Briere
Physical presence: Hartnell, Asham, Powe

Split ’em up and you have three lines:
Carter-Briere-Powe
Richards-Hartnell-Gagne
JVR-Giroux-Asham

The Flyers have it right. Each line has two legitimate scoring threats, two legitimately good defenders, and solid chemistry. Why change anything?

Let’s go back to the best line on the Flyers last season:

Hartnell – Carter – Lupul

Why did this line work so well? Because you had 2 guys who were strong wingers, good passers and who alternated at stretching the defense. Because they were both dangerous scoring threats, this opened up a lot of ice for Carter, and lead to his huge season.

Who would I try there?

Claude Giroux. Asham, hell I’d even try Laperriere or JVR moved across. I would try combinations of players until things started clicking, because what the team needs to do right now is score goals.

2nd Line dilemma:
Basically you have 2 Dillemas:

1. Danny Briere needs to be catered to, and the Flyers have pingponged him around and stuck him in situations where his unique talent is squandered.

2. Simon Gagne, who is one of my favorite all time players, is either injured, in significant decline, in a funk or some combination of all 3.

3. Mike Richards is an opportunistic player, who nearly won the Selky last year (and probably should have) but this year is being expected to score a lot of goals, which just isn’t in his makeup.

What I’d do:

Make this a defensive/checking line:

Asham Richards Gagne

Match this line up against the Top O line of the other team, and tell them job 1 is to end the game with no GA’s. Tell Asham to punish the opposing team’s players, and in general clog the neutral zone and make the other team’s life a living hell. Relieve Mike Richards of the pressure of the expectation that he put the other team on his back, and instead have them counter punch, thinking defense first. Taking some of the pressure off Gagne might be just what’s needed for him to play through his issues and get some of the sharpness back. Since he’s an excellent defensive player, he fits well into a cancellation line.

So you’re left with:

3rd line:
Powe – Briere – Carcillo

4th line:
Lappy – Betts – JVR

Try different combinations of these moving powe/lappy and Carcillo/JVR back and forth until you find things that click.

Now before anyone says it, I know that these combinations and changes will not happen, because of the Flyers’ sacred cows, and management prejudices.

And just for the record, Claude Giroux is the best offensive player on the flyers, and one way or another he should be on the top 2 lines.

4th line — Leave it alone, it works very well.