Get a second finisher who is on the same level as Monahan and takes the pressure off of Monahan, and you'll get results. That's what I would've said last summer and that's what I'm still saying now. No 3rd liners, no waiver wire pickups, no reclamation projects. A bonafide scorer. There's a reason the first line pairing freezes up at the most important time - because it's all on them in order for the team to produce at a regular clip and they know it. It also makes it easier to shut the team down. The focus only needs to be given to one line. Backlund's line has its moments but 2/3 of it is shooting at a very low percentage.
This should've been addressed ahead of the need for a 4D going into the season. The assets we spent were put towards a more minor need than they should've been, because as we found out the organization is deeper at D than management feared following last season. Hamonic stabilizes the back end a bit, but he doesn't help move the needle on the team. Treliving has to stop going the bargain bin route for scoring help and actually address the problem by paying up in a trade (which is harder now) or spending to get that top UFA. Hopefully the team has learned that following the various experiments that simply haven't panned out.
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