One thing that I've been wondering about with Kasper right now is what role he's best suited for long term.
I think it would be easy to say that Raymond and Larkin are carrying him right now and that they're driving his point surge. I actually really don't feel that way though. Instead I think he just gels with them perfectly. They compliment each other very well in some regards, but I think what drives their synergy is the similarity in their tenacity and work ethics. It really makes it so there's nowhere to escape to and anytime one of them pressures someone into a mistake, another is ready to punish it. It's relentless.
I really think that he could be a great work-horse, piano puller for Raymond for a long time. But we also could really use him as a defensively responsible 2C. If he can produce even half as well as this, and play good defense on the second line, I think that fills a bigger need for the team. We can find a lot of guys to produce next to Raymond and Larkin-and a lot of them might be more naturally skilled than Kasper, DBC for example.
So if you're looking at Kasper as a ~70 point 1W that helps do the dirty work for Raymond or a ~50 point 2C that plays solid shutdown hockey, which do you prefer? Let's keep him on the top line for now to build some confidence, but where do you want him long term?