Lineup Decisions
This was a category that many fans had qualms with all year. A few healthy scratches had fans shaking their heads: Evgeni Svechnikov (often) and Troy Stecher were the most perplexing.
Special teams also had some rough lineups: Filip Hronek failed miserably as a power play quarterback, and the end of the season saw players like Valterri Filppula receive decent ice time on the power play (To be fair, this was due to injuries).
Blashill’s strength in lineup decisions was defensive pairs. For a team that actually had a league average 5v5 defense, the pairings were the key to success. Staal-Stecher found plenty of defensivesuccess, and Merill-Nemeth provided a comfortable bottom-pairing. A few times, the team also opted to run with an additional defensemen, opting for the 11 forwards and seven defensemen lineup. For all the shellacking Blashill received for his forward lineups, his defensive pairings were silently good.