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jfc no, wut did we do to deserve this… Brunette: the Forsberg-O’Reilly-Smith line was “buzzing” with chemistry.



jfc no, wut did we do to deserve this… Brunette: the Forsberg-O’Reilly-Smith line was “buzzing” with chemistry.

by keybored_with_no_ehs

6 Comments

  1. Kupp3y1

    Cole Smith making the roster would be bad enough but pairing him with Forsberg?? What did my boy do to deserve this?

  2. malowolf

    The name of the game this year is gonna be giving out chances. If he’s serious about working hard for the team and everything works then why not give him a chance.

  3. MusicCityJayhawk

    The only way this would make sense is if you want your 4th line scoring as much as your 1st line. But when people say this the intention is that the 4th line steps up not that your first line has a guy with 1 goal on the season.

  4. Soto4Life

    This is gonna sound crazy, and I was absolutely one of his biggest haters, but I just have a weird feeling that he’s going to be much improved this year. He puts in the work and actually had a ton of high danger scoring chances last year. He just couldn’t finish on any. Could be different this season, but plz not with Forsberg lmao

  5. evanwilliams212

    IMO, a lot of the Cole Smith hate came from fans’ frustrations of Goon-a-Rama ‘22 when Hynes tried to field a team with three fourth-lines and tried to pummel opponents instead of playing real hockey.

    Yeah, it’s hard not to question what was going on when the team can’t score and they continued the strategy. The team pretty much made him the poster boy for the discontent by talking him up so much and keeping Tolvanen on the bench and Tomasino in Milwaukee.

    Cole Smith showed little finishing ability so far but he plays hard and the coaches and other players seem to appreciate his effort. Objectively, he’s been a 12/13/14th forward with some size and it is guaranteed he will do what he’s told and play hard on a minimal salary. Every team needs a guy like this but you don’t need to ice six or seven of them each night.

    It’s possible he finds another level and turns into some better type of player that is more than a one-dimensional type of guy. That would create value, either for Nashville or some other team. But it probably needs to happen fast because the Preds have a lot of forwards that are going to need to play in the NHL pretty soon.

    I don’t think it’s insane to try him out with Forsberg and O’Reilly in camp and exhibitions. If the guy can move the puck and pot some tip-ins and rebounds and win some board battles, that’s an option you could use in the future when you have to plug in the line blender.

    It’s also possible an up-tempo style changes him from the pure dump-it-in-only dude we are used to seeing. Maybe not likely, but possible. The slow-as-molases Hynes breakout did no player any offensive favors.

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