Jim Montgomery wants more "sandpaper" on his third line, he told the media today. That line has not played a tough enough style of hockey lately, and it's been changed a number of times this year.
One player that has the "sandpaper" identity that Montgomery is looking for is Radek Faksa. Faksa scored the game-winning goal off of a Tyler Tucker shot last night. Faksa goes to the net, plays physical, and blocks shots. He's a newer version of what Oskar Sundqvist used to be.
Stability is another term Montgomery hinted at
With these comments today, Montgomery feels that the combination of players on the third line has not been enough. If you watched the game last night, you'd know that the fourth line outplayed the third. There seems to be an obvious lineup change that Montgomery can implement to get more toughness out of this line.
First off, Faksa should be moved to the third line. He's suited better on the fourth, but he plays with the most intensity in the bottom six as anyone. Toropchenko should also be moved up to the third line. He plays a similar style as Faksa, and that line looked good last night against Calgary.
Brandon Saad and Oskar Sundqvist should be moved down. It's weird that the Blues are still holding onto Saad. Yeah, he had that hat trick a few weeks ago, but when he's not scoring goals, he's not giving the team value. He's going to be in the way if/when Snuggerud or Dvorsky get called up, so there doesn't seem to be a good reason to keep him around.
Oskar Sundqvist has been a great Blue, but his time has passed. He used to be great on the penalty kill and play anywhere in the Blues lineup, but this season, in particular, he just looks slow and takes bad penalties. There seems to be no reason to play Sunny over Bolduc at this point.