Heading into this season it has largely been though that Charlie Coyle will retain his spot on the wing with the top line of the Minnesota Wild. But taking another look at it, the more deserving winger to be on the top line might be Nino Niederreiter.
First things first I’d like to credit the inspiration for this story to one of our faithful readers Matt Mazzara brought up a good point in the comments of one of my recent stories. When I was trying to explain the effect of having Charlie Coyle possibly play center again on the third line, I described him as the second best winger on the team. Matt called me on it and pointed out quite rightly that Nino Neiderreiter has actually a better body of work scoring wise over the last two seasons than Coyle, and that Nino might be the best choice to play on the top line with Zach Parise and Eric Staal.
I’ve been thinking about it for a better part of the day and I keep think that’s an extremely sound theory. After all Nino has had career years in the last two seasons and looks to be a serious threat to approach the 30 goal mark. And as my colleague Turner has pointed out in his last article, Nino has earned a larger role than the third line…so why not the top line?
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It can be said that Coyle and Niderreiter play a very similar game on the wing. Both are scorers with a physical edge to their game that makes them even more of an effective forward. The difference is really that Nino has had more time on the wing than Coyle and seems to be building his game consistently each season. Coyle on the other hand bouncing between center and wing has seen more erratic progression that has seen him streak up in scoring like he did last midseason, and then go dry for the last month and a half in the goal department.
Chemistry from last year seemed to be one of the hang-ups I had when declaring that Coyle should play the top line wing and Niederreiter should continue on the third line. The third line with Niederreiter, Haula, and Pominville was the most dominate Wild line from mid-February through the playoffs. Breaking them up seemed to be a non-starter for me, but then another look at it made me say why not play Coyle on the wing with that group?
It could work. Going back to my earlier declaration that Niederreiter and Coyle play about the same game, it would stand to reason that if Coyle played with that excellent third line the dynamic and roles would not change much at all. And with Niederreiter moving up to the first line would have little effect on chemistry because that is a new line with Eric Staal in the mix, but would still offer the same prospects for production as line having Coyle on the wing.
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The determining factor…that will be how they play from now on and what Bruce Boudreau thinks. The idea that either player could be on the top line is something that should be in the mind of the new Wild coach. Moreover, Boudreau will be looking to use camp and even the World Cup to size up all his players and make decisions on who plays with who based mostly on performance and a lot less on history.
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At any rate I found this idea that Niederreiter could play on the top line completely plausible and almost the best idea going forward. Coyle certainly will be up to the task of playing on the top line if given the chance, but you’ve got to take a look at Nino in camp with that group to see if he might be a better fit. One thing Boudreau believes in is that player need to earn their playing time, so let’s see if Nino can earn that top line spot.