One of the things I think is highly underrated and underappreciated with defenseman is being able to get the puck to the net through defenders which I think Gustafsson is really great at. I'm looking forward to see him do this.
Most people might think I'm crazy to suggest this and I understand it's not conventional to bring a 4th line up to 1st line but one thing I'd like to see is Jankowski in Monahans role for a few games. Here's my justification:
Jankowski is big like Monahan, speed is similar, has a great shot, has shown the ability to score playing on the bottom 6 but I don't ever recall him getting a look on the top 6. What I think he excels vs Monahan is he's better defensively. He already has ice-time with Lindholm on the PK as well. Also this would be another way to see if Monahan could drive his own line. If that works, we could possibly have a decent mix.
Gaudreau - Jankowski - Lindholm
Tkachuk - Backlund - Mangiapane
Bennett - Monahan - Dube
Lucic - Ryan - Rieder
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