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Originally Posted by New Era
How much of Bennett's production in Florida was on him, and how much of it was on Huberdeau? Anthony Duclair was generating a lot too when he was stapled to Huberdeau. The minute Duclair was moved off that line his scoring dried up like the proverbial popcorn fart.
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Playing with star players improves production.
Playing with replacement level players reduces production.
Shocking Revelation.
Quote:
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Playing with Huberdeau definitely has its advantages.
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Obviously.
It also comes with
responsibilities.
The question isn't "how much of the production was because Huberdeau is great". It's "Was Huberdeau
enabled or was he
restricted by the play of his center?"
Over the last handful of years alone, there have been plenty of successful forward pairings where the winger is probably the
superior offensive player. To name a few:
Zibanejad and Panarin
Duchene and Panarin
Toews and Kane
Hischier and Hall
Stamkos and Kucherov (and Killorn)
Point and Kucherov (and Palat)
Johnson and Kucherov (and Palat)
Bergeron and Marchand (and a Rocket Richard winning Pastrnak)
Tavares and Marner
Kuznetsov and Ovechkin.
ROR and Tarasenko
Backlund and Tkachuk
Monahan and Gaudreau
Lindholm and Gaudreau/Tkachuk/Mangiapane
What's relevant
isn't "would the center have those points driving a pair of no-name scrubs on his wing". It's "is the center doing anything more than
just picking up points?" What separates the centers on that list isn't primarily production, since they were all productive with good wingers. It's their ability to excel at everything else.