[GranteedEV]

Personally, I'm not convinced Ryan's performance is sustainable. There were aspects of it last year that were, especially when Mangiapane started clicking, but since then he's kind of just had a midas touch.

2019/20 Under Peters

Backlund (2C) - 51.51% CF, 47.86% xGF, 42.96% GF
Ryan - 50.01% CF, 50.94% xGF, 59.12% GF
Lindholm (1RW) - 50.41% CF, 47.46% xGF, 39.36% GF
Monahan - 49.25% CF, 45.69% xGF, 33.43% GF

2019/20 Under Ward

Ryan - 45.48% CF, 47.59% xGF, 58.12% GF
Backlund (2RW) - 46.22% CF, 46.11% xGF, 56.77% GF
Lindholm (1C) - 50.82% CF, 50.43% xGF, 50.32% GF
Monahan - 49.58%CF, 47.99% xGF, 56.33% GF


Even under Peters he was riding a bit of a puck luck bump while the top 6 were slumping in terms of puck luck.

But under Ward, Ryan's been getting essentially caved in. And so has Backlund the "winger" (which is clearly struggles to play, as his entire skillset is built around making nifty moves through the middle of the ice for zone exits and entries).

I'm not saying I want to see a return to the old lines - they were clearly tired - but I think there's a lot of foolsgold in our play currently and I think the optimal 1-2-3 punch is probably not the present one. Ryan's probably been given too much defensive responsibility without Backlund to soak it up, and Backlund's entire skillset is being misutilized on the wing.