Nice, exciting lineup tonight
I’m curious to see how Robertson does tonight
- Dozzer
People talk about how they hate the preseason, but I find lots of it interesting. It's not necessarily exciting or good, but there's a lot to pay attention to.
Robertson looked good in the last game. Given that Montreal will dress most of their regular lineup at home, this one is about seeing who really steps up and looks good when you are the lesser line-up.
Robertson has looked good at times during camp. Cowan has sort of failed to impress. He's had his moments, but he's not there yet. I've liked Knies' game - how does he fare without Matthews or Marner? Lorentz looks to be B-squaded, so with a PTO does he have a chance of making the team? I haven't noticed much of Nylander this camp, so the kid is about to be a Marlie unless he has something more to show.
On D I think we're all fairly certain Benoit makes the team - but how does Timmins look? How does Niemela fare? I'm curious about Timmins mostly because I'd like to believe he could supplant Liljegren. Someone has to go and make room. If Timmins can succeed over Liljegren, there's $1.9m in cap savings and Pacioretty can be signed. So, likely, could Lorentz if he shows well.
The thing with Liljegren for me is that he's 25 years old - he's probably better than Timmins. Maybe he suddenly pulls an inner Vince Dunn out of his ass, but it doesn't seem like he can or will and his defensive weaknesses are still very noticeable and will likely become more glaring if the team starts to play a harder D style under Berube (and I have noted previously that Berube isn't who everyone thinks he is as a coach - he's not Brophy. His 2019 cup Winning Blues featured Parayko - Pietrangelo / Edmundson - Bouwmeester; Dunn - Gunnarsson - and Parayko and Pietrangelo threw fewer hits/60 than any of them). You have to win your battles and that's where Liljegren fails. He fixes that and he becomes a top asset, but for a lot of people that ship sailed.
to our thiccc nnneeecccckkkkk ffffaaaannnnnn 👊🏾 
