I like the intent of what he is saying, but it really falls short in a lot of ways.
He says Tkachuk is the best player, and follows that up with “Enough said”. Well, I think there is more to say. You can’t on one hand argue that Bennett deserves an opportunity due to how he steps up in the playoffs, then give Tkachuk a free pass and neglect that paltry 5 points in 15 games. Great interview, great hat flipper, but just hasn’t gotten it done in the playoffs.
In his line shuffling, he neglects a few things. The lineup has to support the style the coach wants to play.
Johnny and Monahan worked together with Lindholm when they were playing fire wagon hockey. It was one of the best lines in the league. But they changed the style down the stretch in 18-19 presumably in the mind of the coaches to play a playoff type of game. If you want Johnny to succeed in that style, might you not need somebody to create space? Monahan increased his physicality but it’s not like he is a physical player.
(And that big body is not Buddy Robinson. I still cringe when I recall Buddy Robinson dumping the puck in the corner for Gaudreau to retrieve.)
Mangiapane is a middle 6 guy for sure, who worked well when playing with Backlund. He also had a stretch of 5 points in 25 games last year before they clicked. Backlund is under appreciated by a lot of people but should not be.
And Gio on the third pairing? Jeez. Does he not realize that Andersson looked good on the top pairing in part because Gio is one of the best players in the game?
I too agree with the premise that the GM has a lot of good pieces. And the coach should make it work well with system and lineup decisions
If I was the coach I might sit Haynes in the press box for a game to think about how he has done it
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