The 3rd line, right now, is our best line -- by far. To say I was iffy on Kampf and Kubalik was an understatement, but they've proven me wrong thus far. In the off-season, Saad and AA were the two names everybody was throwing out to move. I was hoping Saad would be retained -- so far, I'm glad I thought that. He honestly looks like the old Saad out there -- he's winning board battles, he's crashing the net, he's using his speed (like that entire line, actually -- especially on Kubalik's most recent goal, which was gorgeous in a workman-like way from that entire line).
It's early, but to me, Kubalik has been the biggest surprise this year. Being the cynical bastard I am, part of me is always waiting for the other shoe to drop with players like Kubalik and even Nylander, who has proven me wrong in this small sample size this year also. I predicted Nylander wouldn't pan out in the top six, but I also assumed that he wouldn't in the bottom six either, but in these few games, he's looked good there. I would stick with him over Perlini.
I hated when Bowman brought in another retread in Shaw. He's played well overall, but he's still good for one extremely stupid penalty per game, and on a team struggling even at even-strength with Colliton's defensive system, you can't afford that crap. I mean guys are being left completely wide open in front of the net -- you should not see that shit at this level of the game, this isn't peewee. The man-to-man system is still causing confusion, particularly with forwards who don't know which guy to cover.
