My new theory is that Mangiapane is not being exposed. Neither is Dube which means it's Backlund or Bennett. At first I was bummed that it looks like Bennett might not get as much time at centre as I was hoping but now I think there is a plan. And as crazy as it sounds I think that plan is to actually expose Backlund not Bennett. You'd think that with the expansion draft coming up they'd need to see Bennett at centre to see what they have in him, but I think they know what they have in him as a centre and see him as the third line centre for years to come. What they don't know is if Lindholm can be successful as a centre which is why I think we will be seeing a season of Monahan Lindholm Backlund as centres. If Lindholm succeeds its all the easier to expose Backlund because we know Bennett can handle 3rd line centre, what we were unsure of was if Lindholm or Bennett could handle 2nd line centre duties.
Losing Backlund will be a hit but I think we have enough defensibly responsible player to move to a shutdown by committee approach. Tkachuk - Lindholm - Mangiapane will be able to handle tough minutes. Ryan's line will be able to take some hard minutes too and I think Bennett is actually decent defensively, so if he ends up on a line with two other decent two-way guys they could also handle more difficult minutes.
|