Well obviously when Batherson is back he should be stapled to Stutzle. Playing him with Brown is just a horrible idea, as we’ve seen, considering how bad he is at finishing. Paul is the defensive conscience who takes the faceoffs anyways
Disagree. Brown is a much better top 6 option than Paul.
The goal of the 2nd line is to score goals over defending. Brown is plenty good defensively, is a better skater and scorer than Paul, and is just as good at puck retrieval.
Stu has been fine defensively as a centre, and while he needs further work in that area, he should simply get at it instead of everyone expecting Paul to play half his position.
Paul has not been great for a while now and should be in the third line wing to maximize what he is still doing well at this time.
I personally would try Gaudette with Brady and Norris first to set the tone on the team for him. Sanford has been pretty good in his role, and as a vet could be helpful to Stu on the other side of brown, at least until the new guys gets into the swing of things, and until Bath returns.