Quote:
Originally Posted by N-E-B
I think a huge issue with this team is that we don’t have a true elite top tier player. We have a bunch of really good pieces.
But we have no answers for guys like MacKinnon or Heiskanen. None.
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I think Blues and Kings winning the cup in recent years prove you don't need that.
What's missing is that our top players that are relied upon, and quite frankly expected to be the players that make the most impact do not show up in the playoffs. How you gonna win, when consistently your supporting or role players essentially outperform your top players that are suppose to be carrying the team?
When your most important player, Gaudreau, is afraid of physical contact, and won't dare drive the net or get gritty, then how is he going to be productive, when HE is suppose to be the player that's suppose to make everyone else, and himself productive?
Gaudreau wouldn't even be playing in the NHL if he was a 4th liner that wasn't expected to produce points with the way he plays. Even if you're small, you can still play tough. Fleury, St. Louis, and Kane have figured out how to be able to handle gritty hockey. But Johnny just doesn't have it within him to up his grit tolerance.
And with that, you're leaving the offensive reliance upon Monahan and Lindholm (and Tkachuk, but he's obviously MIA), and they are not the type of players that can create and make impact on their own. They're finishers, not playmakers. That would be fine if they were still be able to be productive enough to be considered the best offensive generators night in, night out, but they aren't.