Simon has shown some flashes but outside of that I don't think the others have looked very good. The problem is with these forwards we have now have too many forwards that I would call "low upside".
Guys that might not really hurt you, but also aren't going to suddenly surprise and give you something more. And now our bottom 6 is made up of too many of these guys now.
Nordstrom: A guy that can PK but so far in two games he's a liability at 5v5.
Leivo: He's just kind of there. Doesn't seem to hurt you at all, but also doesn't really generate anything offensively.
Lucic - he is what he is at this point. I think he's better than the 4 games have shown, and can help defensively but his offensive game is finished. Hopefully these first 4 games are just him getting his legs back.
Ryan - This one is borderline to me but I worry that his age and the lack of a training camp is catching up to him. Doesn't look like the guy that was able to almost carry the 4th line hon his own over his first two seasons here.
And really based on how he's played so far to start the season you can throw Bennett into that group as well. Personally I'd love to see Phillips or Gawdin get a look here to see if they can provide a spark in the bottom 6.
If Dube is back healthy this week I'd like to see.
Tkachuk - Lindholm - Dube
Gaudreau - Monahan - Simon
Bennett - Backlund - Mangiapane
Lucic - Ryan - Phillips
Leivo
Waive Nordstrom and send him to the taxi squad for the time being.
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