[CsInMyBlood]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

There are few options for the RW with Monahan and Gaudreau.

Brouwer is off the table at the moment, otherwise he might be the best option.

Ferland has been tried before, and his production has stagnated yet again.

Versteeg is a suitable option skill-wise, but he's small and gets outmuscled along the boards in his own zone. You simply can't have him on the same line as Gaudreau who has similar problems.

Tkachuk is playing too well with Backlund and Frolik to split up that line. Frolik stays put for the same reasons.

The only option after that is Bouma or Hathaway, and that's simply not good enough.

Chiasson is perfectly fine as a 5 on 5 player with Monahan and Gaudreau. He's had some great chances in the past couple of games that the hasn't quite been able to capitalize on, but he's in the right spots and gets a good shot on net. He's also pretty solid defensively, which allows Monahan and Gaudreau to be more aggressive knowing Chiasson can cover for them. He also brings the "beef" element necessary to any line that has Gaudreau on it. Chiasson does well enough retrieving pucks in the corners to be a nice complement to Gaudreau.

Obviously Chiasson is not a top line RWer, but that just means the team needs to find a better option for that spot internally at some point. Short of trading for Tarasenko, that's the only way for this team to fill that spot.

Hathaway actually had a couple of shifts with Johnny and Monahan last game.