Quote:
Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper
The real problem is that it took this long for the Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk line to be used together permanently. They looked fantastic together for that short stint dating all the way back in 2019 but, then this organization decided to revert back to the broken Gaudreau-Monahan duo once again. All we ever heard from coaching and management was that depth was the answer, when it turned out that it was the opposite. They needed to load it up front and then all the other pieces fell into place.
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I think that's not entirely true. As fans, we always look for black / white explanations for things, or it's this or that........when it can actually be both.
I think that both depth and loading up front are both the answer. We couldn't have loaded up front without also getting the depth, which we haven't had in previous years.
One can't short change just how important the following factors have been:
- Mangiapane continuing is progress to a legit consistent threat.
- Addition of Coleman into our roster
- General improvement of the entire forward roster's overall game under Sutter.
Without these (and now the addition of Tofoli) the ability to put Gaudreau, Tkachuk and Lindholm on one line wouldn't be there. The remaining 3 lines would be so weak, we wouldn't have succeeded. The team was likely forced to try and achieve more depth by creating the two duos Monahan / Gaudreau, and Lindholm / Tkachuk to have chance. Which also clearly didn't work.
Anyway, the point being, it's not that the thought depth was required to succeed before was wrong, and it's not that we are succeeding this year because we went top heavy. It's the fact that we now for the first time have both that I think is the key.