Marco Sturm isn't going to rush into making wholesale changes with the Boston Bruins' forward lines, as the team is 3-0 since he promoted Fraser Minten and Marat Khusnutdinov to the second line to play with JJ Peterka. Elias Lindholm is dominating his minutes on the third line, Minten is becoming a star in front of our eyes, and the first line is performing as expected. Everything is going right, for now.
One problem I do see is that Khusnutdinov does have some moments where he looks overmatched when playing second-line minutes. We love the shifty Russian for his forechecking abilities and two-way play alongside Minten, and it's hard to argue that he is net-negative on the second line after the center's performance on Tuesday night, but it would be interesting to see what a line of James Hagens, Minten, and Peterka would look like.
The argument against combining those three on the second line would be what they would look like in the defensive zone. However, Hagens has been improving in that area, and he is looking more and more dangerous offensively. The best defense is a good offense, and if those three can get cycling in the attacking zone, they might not have to defend too often.
Another reason to believe the line could work is that Minten is reaching another level in his game where he might be able to drive play while also being reliable enough defensively to make up for his wingers' shortcomings. It could blow up in Sturm's face if they get hemmed into their own zone, but if we're looking to unlock even more of Hagens' offense, it would happen on this line.
Fraser Minten and Marat Khusnutdinov's success together
Minten and Khusnutdinov have been attached to each other since the start of last season, and they are a big part of each other's growth. They've outscored their opponents 24-10 in 398 minutes of five-on-five time together, and splitting them up would be taking away a core pairing in Sturm's lineup.
The disparity lies in the advanced numbers, as the analytics actually say that Minten is a better player away from Khusnutdinov. The pair have a 49.2% xGF together in those 398 minutes, while Minten owns a 51.2% xGF without the winger. Khusnutdinov's analytics don't change a whole lot without Minten.
Khusnutdinov would join the third line with Elias Lindholm and Casey Mittelstadt, who have a 63.5% xGF together in 69 minutes over the last two seasons. With the way Khusnutdinov plays, he should be able to complement that duo and not hurt their success.
Sturm reserves the right to change it back if the new Hagens-Minten-Peterka trio starts bleeding in the defensive zone, but the risk may be worth it to make their rookie a bigger offensive threat.
Add us as a preferred source on Google