Kind of a good thing, to be debating what to do with a surplus of legit top-6 forwards. To have Gooch and Clowe both work out like they did is quite the bounty.

For what its worth here is what my lines would look like:

Marleau-Thornton-Setoguchi
Clowe-Pavelski-Cheechoo
Michalek-Mitchell-Grier
Shelley-Goc-Roenick

In which case the third line would be the fastest line.
Or maybe a line of Shelley-Roenick-Cheechoo? I could see Roenick creating chances for Cheechoo, because his game can work in an open or a grinding environment.

For starters, I have been pondering this very subject for a couple weeks now and I still do not have a clear cut answer.

Secondly, I completely disagree with the folks who think that Cheech doesn’t belong with Clowe and Pavs on the 2-line. They say that Cheech doesn’t have the speed to hang with the 2nd line but they need to remember that Clowe and Joe-P are not the fastest guys. They are just really hard workers. And that seems to coincide with Cheech’s game more than Michalek’s, although Milan is an incredibly hard worker too. If people do not want to break up the 2nd line because of its current chemistry, then I totally agree. But that is different then saying Cheech would not fit with Clowe and Pavs. I was at the game vs. Vancouver on Tuesday and I’ll tell you, that line looked good to me.

The prospect of Milan and Mitchell is more than interesting. A line with the two of them would have some serious get-up. I think the most important thing about putting the two of them together is that the third component to that line must be toughness, or someone to “protect” them. And Mitchell is a Center and should stay that way. Just because Marleau moved from Center to Wing doesn’t mean that a 2nd year guy can make the same transition and expect it to be seamless. And frankly, we don’t have much time to “try something new”.

Then of course, we come to the subject of Goc-Plihal. One of them will have to go, and when I was thinking of this subject earlier in the year, I would have told you that Goc goes without hesitation. But lately Goc has been playing well. He’s doing everything except scoring. Goc has been one of our better face-off guys, and losing that could really hurt the team. Plihal on the other hand has had my blessing for a year now. He works very hard and is everything I wanted Rismiller to be, and more. With Mitchell back, Plihal and Mitchell will take much of the penalty killing minutes. That will help us because Pavelski won’t have to play as much on the PK, so he will have more energy to spend elsewhere.

Marleau-Thornton-Setoguchi
Clowe-Pavelski-Cheechoo
Shelly-Mitchell-Michalek
Plihal-Roenick/Goc-Grier

I would give this lineup a try. Shelly has done nothing but surprise me when it comes to his skating and checking. I would try that 3rd line for a couple weeks and see how it plays out. Shelly would definitely be able to protect Mitchell/Michalek, he can skate pretty damn well for a big guy, the only concern I would have is his passing. That 4th line would be quite solid as a checking line. If Shelly didn’t work out on the 3rd line, I would try Roenick. JR could swing to the wing better than Mitchell, and would give the line some toughness. I don’t think JR could protect the other guys, but the line would have plenty of scoring punch. In that case Goc is needed to Center the 4th line, so Plihal would be the odd man out.

JR-Mitchell-Michalek
Shelly-Goc-Grier