However, that's why you need to wait until 20 games in. If Coyle, Marchand, Zacha, Frederic and Geekie continue to significantly underperform production wise at G20, they will be a legit DNQ possibility. I don't see that lack of production happening and they will start playing better and win more consistently.
Might be worth it to put Koepke with 63 and 13 against Nashville. Keep Beecher with Kastelic.
Patience is, of course, a virtue. But I think a few things are clear to me already.
1) The top line isn’t right. It’s too soft and perimeter as a unit and I don’t think that will change with more chemistry. You are essentially hoping for a Zacha Krejci Pasta line with more goals from the center position which just seems like a regular season line. It’s just not a line that I think will succeed in making all these fancy big triangle tic tac toe plays from teams that are going to get in their face. Early on, I thought it needed Marchand and to go “perfection lite”, but maybe it just needs someone who wants to play north/south and battle down low and give them an option to score in a different way. Like Hagel with Kucherov or Bennett with Florida or Bertuzzi in Boston. Zacha I think is who they want to do that, but I just get the feeling that he is much better at buying into a more blue collar game when he isn’t the one being asked to drag everyone into the fight.
2) Marchand ain’t good enough to carry the 2nd line by himself and they don’t have enough offensive talent in the top 9 to just be losing Marchand to a shutdown matchup line that doesn’t score.
3) Poitras still has learning to do and I have no idea if playing on the actual 4th line by TOI, or getting pushed higher in the lineup with better players, or Providence is the best place for him to do that. He looked like a good top six center right now against LA, and like a guy playing in the wrong league in some of the other games. I don’t think the answer is throwing him on the fourth all season, but maybe it’s a case of you put him on that line for a couple weeks and then see if he earns a higher up shot or if he needs to go be 1C in Providence.
4) Having one of Geekie or Brazeau on the ice for half the game makes the team too slow. They were too slow last year, and swapping JVR for Brazeau and DeBrusk for Lindholm didn’t do anything for them, nor does Marchand looking a step slower (so far) help.
Figuring out if you are trying to build a real scoring line around Poitras or not just seems like the big thing that makes a lot more clear. And, if not, do you think he can survive at wing being near the boards all the time.
