We haven't even played a full NHL roster yet, we played bits and pieces and the games we played our top 4 D minus Tanev we have scored and out chanced the other team.
Last night Milano played with two AHL player. Huberdeau and Toffoli played with a player playing way out of his league on the top line. Dube was playing with a PTO and a 4th liner.
With that being said the biggest issue last night wasn't the forwards not scoring, it was how bad our defence can look if Stone, Valimaki and Mackey will see any significant time. They just are not good at killing plays at the blueline, they can't check to get the puck back, they can't make good solid tape to tape outlet passes to start the rush, and they can't skate the puck out of the defensive zone to exit danger. So if your defence can't get the puck back, or make a pass the offence will struggle big time doesn't matter who you have at forward.
So all the talk about trading Hanifin for another top 6 winger, take a look at what happens that top 6 winger will be useless if he doesn't have the puck. Also we will need a significant upgrade, not a Connor Garland who is just another Tyler Toffoli.
Lets wait to see what the team does with Weegar, Tanev, Zadorov in the line up. Lets see how they fare with Lindholm, Kadri, Backlund in the lineup.
The lineup looked far worse going into the season last year and we managed to score 293 goals. Also don't forget the top line wasn't even a thing, it was Tkachuck-Lindholm-Coleman to start camp.
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