I think the ones asking for more minutes for players in the middle-six are getting their wish in the next... 3 weeks. Our schedule is brutal with 9 of 11 games away at home and the weeks are like this:
4 in 6 this week, all away.
4 in 7 next week, 3 in 4 days to close out the week.
The week after... 3 days off, then another 3 in 4 days to close out the week.
Even the week after that is 3 games in 4 days.
I don't really have a specific player in mind when asking for more ice-time, as i think the middle-six players have all being kind of 'eased in' and they rotate at times, which has worked well. I think they've played well when playing. 4th line generally is trusted upon in many match-up's and situations, they will see the same amount of ice.
But the issue is the top-line. It's obvious that Carbery is trying to get them going. And you can't really fault him, that's nearly ~30% of our cap space tied to them. You give them every opportunity to get going. But at some point, it's time to cut the fat off. Wilson has his moments and Ovechkin has looked sluggish, but he looked better with Strome. At what point it's the time to just let Kuznetsov know that this just isn't working? He's actively even dragging down his line-mates this season. It's not long ago where he led the entire NHL in forwards ice-time and that's just plain wrong. I had hopes (once again) for him this season but this has been hot garbage all the way. He doesn't pass the eye test effort-wise. Everyone seems to follow all sorts of different advanced stats, i do too, but there are very few charts where he isn't among the worst in the NHL. We may not have a 1-on-1 replacement 1C as is, but at some point you are just going to have to look at the situation and decide that perhaps we are better off without this guy floating around for ~20 minutes a game but rather perhaps give a minute or two more collectively to couple of guys who have been producing okay, while playing better defensive hockey. It might end being that those players don't keep their very high production per 60 numbers as high, but with Kuznetsov the bar is really, really low this season.
Highlight reel from Kuznetsov, 5-on-5 (don't think i need to mention the PP):
Corsi for: 216
Corsi against: 261
Corsi: 45.28%
Goals for: 6
Goals against: 11
GF: 35.29%
Expected goals for: 9.89
Expected goals against: 13.7
xGF: 41.94%
Scoring chances for: 103
Scoring chances against: 140
Scoring chances: 42.39%
High-danger scoring chances for: 31
High-danger scoring chances against: 54
High-danger scoring: 36.47%
At some point you just need to start asking yourself... alright, nobody is going to want this guy. No matter how much we showcase him. Does he make our team better?
It's not like he's playing some brutal minutes either. He plays with good (well, away from him good) linemates and it's not like he's trusted in some great defensive role 5-on-5. These are the zone starts for centers:
Dylan Strome: 67.53% in the offensive-zone
Evgeny Kuznetsov: 66.27% in the offensive-zone
Connor McMichael: 59.26% in the offensive-zone
Hendrix Lapierre: 41.18% in the offensive-zone
Aliaksei Protas: 27.78% (!) in the offensive-zone
Nic Dowd: 7.02% (!!!) in the offensive-zone
Also to wrap up: There isn't a single line-up combination this season that have been positive in terms of goals for/against that has had Evgeny Kuznetsov in it.
