This team was built for Johnny Gaudreau to run the offense. It was built for one supremely fast, shifty player to create chaos and seams and find the open man in coverage.
Now it’s the opposite. Huberdeau needs his line mates to buzz and create the disruption, and then he can find them.
But when everyone is looking for the soft spots in coverage, nobody is buzzing. It makes them slow, easy to defend, and predictable.
Kadri is a better C for Huberdeau than Lindholm, and he has looked a little better with Pelletier vs Lucic, but even then, Pelletier has no points.
If they won’t move Dube away from Lindholm and Toffoli, at least give Mangiapane that #2RW slot. Let Backlund bring Pelletier along.
Moving forward, find out what style of players Huberdeau wants on his line, and go get them. See if you can get Duclair out of Florida at the deadline.
Both sides committed to each other, there’s no going back now.
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