Well, that didn’t take very long! We got the 50 results I was shooting for after about 8 hours. Thanks to everyone who helped out!
If anyone’s interested, here’s a link to view the raw data.
The results for “Which line do you think this CBJ forward should play on”:
| Player | Average | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Scratch | |
| 1 | Derick Brassard | 1.35 | 35 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | R.J. Umberger | 1.58 | 26 | 19 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Cam Atkinson | 1.71 | 25 | 15 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Brandon Dubinsky | 1.77 | 19 | 24 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Nick Foligno | 1.83 | 17 | 25 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | Vinny Prospal | 2.04 | 14 | 21 | 14 | 1 | 0 |
| 7 | Artem Anisimov | 2.24 | 8 | 25 | 14 | 3 | 0 |
| 8 | Ryan Johansen | 2.52 | 6 | 21 | 15 | 7 | 1 |
| 9 | Mark Letestu | 3.06 | 1 | 3 | 38 | 8 | 0 |
| 10 | Derek Dorsett | 3.50 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 23 | 1 |
| 11 | Derek MacKenzie | 3.92 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 43 | 0 |
| 12 | Colton Gillies | 4.40 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 32 | 16 |
| 13 | Jared Boll | 4.54 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 19 | 29 |
I was fairly surprised to see the “C.U.B.” line I recently wrote about finish in the top 3. I intended to do this survey before I wrote that post but hadn’t gotten around to it. I hope my post didn’t influence these results.
Players receiving the most votes for each line are highlighted in bold in the table above and also listed below:
- 1st line – Derick Brassard – 35 votes
- 2nd line – Nick Foligno & Artem Anisimov – 25 votes
- 3rd line – Mark Letestu – 38 votes
- 4th line – Derek MacKenzie – 43 votes
- Healthy Scratch – Jared Boll – 29 votes
Looking at these results, the hardest part of choosing the line combinations is determining which players will play which positions. I did some research earlier and the CBJ now have 9 players capable of playing center: Brassard, Umberger, Dubinsky, Foligno, Prospal, Anisimov, Johansen, Letestu, and MacKenzie. Based on the results of the survey, I would put the lines as follows, with players being interchangeable on the same line (especially the 3rd line):
Survey-based line combinations:
- Umberger – Brassard – Atkinson
- Foligno – Dubinsky – Prospal
- Letestu – Anisimov – Johansen
- Gillies – MacKenzie – Dorsett
- Boll
Interesting trends:
- Derick Brassard was the overwhelming choice for the first line. Only 2 people saw him as a 3rd line player. Maybe Scott Arniel took the survey?
- The voting for the final spot on the top line was very close. Only 0.12 points separated 3rd from 5th – Cam: 1.71, Dubinsky: 1.77, Foligno: 1.83.
- Despite finishing 1-2-3 in the results, only 18 of 50 responses had all 3 C.U.B. line players on the same line (14 for 1st line, 4 for 2nd line).
- 5 players received 20+ votes for the 2nd line: Dubinsky (24), Foligno (25), Prospal (21), Anisimov (25) and Johansen (21).
- Derek Dorsett received more 3rd line votes than 4th line votes but his average kept him on the 4th line.
- Mark Letestu was the top choice for the 3rd line. By a lot. He finished 12 votes higher than the next highest (Dorsett). One super fan apparently wanted him on the first line. Maybe Letestu himself?
- Derek MacKenzie received more votes for a specific line than anyone else. His 43 votes for the 4th line beat out Letestu’s 38 for the 3rd line.
- No two people submitted the exact same results.
Final thoughts
Based on the survey results & my own opinions, I think the CBJ are sitting in a pretty solid position offensively going into 2012-13. Eight different players received at least 50% of their votes as either the first or second line players. While there may not be a clear #1 line with superstar talent, there are 8 guys that can definitely be considered “top 6 players.” That’s not bad at all.