The way I see it is that Gaudreau and Monahan have become stale and predictable playing together. It's time to switch it up.
Gaudreau needs a center with speed who can push back the defense and can give Gaudreau room and time to create.
Backlund is the name that jumps to the top of the list, the problem there is that it plays havoc with your matchup game. Gaudreau isn't the greatest defensively and is probably best suited seeing mostly offensive zone starts. Using Backlund in that manner takes away from some of his best assets.
Moving Lindholm to the middle has been thrown around, but I just don't see him as an everyday center. He is best suited for the wing.
My suggestion is Bennett. Now I will admit that this idea depends on Bennett keeping his game simple and not trying to be a finesse player to fit with Gaudreau. If Bennett just skates the center lane hard and goes to the net it will open up more space for Gaudreau to operate and do what he does best. The top line as currently constructed isn't able to retrieve pucks that are dumped in, Bennett can help in the regard as well.
Gaudreau-Bennett-Tkachuk
Mangiapane-Monahan-Lindolm
Dube-Backlund-Leivo
Lucic-Ryan-Simon
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