Quote:
Originally Posted by Royle9
No this is definitely what the problem is.
If Eat Bread is your only finisher this season (and quite the one he's having) then your team is in trouble.
We need immediate top 6 shooting help, someone who is "greedy" with the puck and can hit the net consistently.
To say were not missing Tkachuk and Johnny's scoring prowess would be an understatement, those 2 had a knack for putting it in when it counted which is why that line was so deadly.
I still think you can rock a Huberdeau/Lindholm line but you need someone with speed who is consistent and not afraid to shoot. I had hoped it would be Eat Bread this year (and to be fair they havent tried it yet) but he's struggling to find his way this year, too many of our guys are in that funk.
The experiment of Lewis and Lucic playing top 6/9 minutes should be over... its not working.
Huberdeau - Lindholm - Mangiapane
Ruzicka - Kadri - Toffoli
Coleman - Backlund - Dube
Lucic - Lewis - Ritchie
(If Sutter wants to keep the Lindholm line intact then swap him with Kadri)
Your best players need to be your best players and you have to put them in a posistion to succeed.
Burying Huberdeau on the 3rd line with less than 14minutes a night isn't going to be a long term solution.
Build around him, call someone like Phillips up and put him on this RW and see what happens.
Sutters stubbornness to give grizzled vets increased ice time because they might be "defensively sound" clearly isn't working.
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I agree with almost all of that, except the part of Eat Bread being the only finisher on the team. Lindy can obviously score a lot of goals, Huberdeau too, Toffoli can snipe once in a while. Dube and Coleman ca do more. Totally agree about the team needing another top 6 winger.
Kent Wilson had a tweet this morning and suggested these lines
Huberdeau-Kadri-Lindy
Eat Bread-Backlund-Coleman
Ruzicka-Dube-Toffoli
4th liners
I like the look of those. Much better than whatever Sutter is doing now. Playing Huberdeau with Lewis for an extended time is ridiculous.