8 Burning Questions with John Hynes (Athletic/Smith/Paywall)

Link: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5771679/2024/09/17/wild-training-camp-questions-john-hynes?source=user-shared-article

A sample:
*What will the lines be?

There shouldn’t be an overreaction on Day 1, because lines will be shuffled throughout camp, but one thing Hynes and his staff are focused on is reuniting Ryan Hartman, Mats Zuccarello and Kirill Kaprizov. That trio was dynamite together when Hartman racked up a career-high 34 goals in 2021-22. The goal would be to make for a deeper forward group — not just relying on a Matt Boldy, Joel Eriksson Ek and Kaprizov line to dominate. So it could be, say, Eriksson Ek with Boldy and Marcus Johansson or Liam Öhgren on Line 2, and Foligno, Marco Rossi and Yakov Trenin on Line 3.

“We’ve had all kinds of discussions throughout the offseason with management, with our analytics department, with players at the end of the season,” Hynes said. “We know there’s been a lot of good combinations. Boldy, Ek and Kaprizov was an excellent line — one of the best in the NHL. But looking at some different combinations and splitting those guys up in camp, we think it would be more advantageous to our team right now. Marco could probably fit in some of those roles. Hartman could fit in some of those roles. We’re telling our players in camp that we’re going to try some different things and give guys different opportunities and see what comes out on top at the end.”*

I appreciate hearing from the coach, but I felt it was very hockey-speak. I wasn't a huge Dean fan, but felt like I learned a lot more about where he felt the team was or wasn't from his interviews. He was refreshingly honest.

Other topics covered are the three goalie rotation, Rossi's role, improving the PK, Boldy's next step, the vets bouncing back, are there available roster spots, and who will run the top PP.