I think it is a significant drop off. I think Tkachuk has actually become very overrated. To me, the biggest difference between Huberdeau and Tkachuk is that Huberdeau is a play driver and can make plays on his own and make his line mates better. Tkachuk hasn't shown that he can do that. Don't get me wrong, he's absolutely a top notch contributor on a good top line, but if you take away the skilled players that are out there with him, he tanks pretty hard. In some ways he's like a complimentary player, in that he really needs good players around him to be his best. His skill level is high enough that I wouldn't actually call him a complimentary player, but its a good thing there are good playmakers in Florida to help build the play for him.
Fair enough, I don't see that much of a dropoff as I think Tkachuk is the better defensive player of the two, which keeps goals out of the net.
Yes he may not drive a line the same way but the ability to score 30+ while getting top PP time likely has him flirt with his current career 0.89 pts/game stat line at worst.
He played mostly with Backlund and Frolik in 2018-19 when he put up 77pts.
If with Barkov, the sky is the limit IMO, with Bennett it will take a dip but even if he hovers around, 30ish goals and PPG while being an absolute pest to play against, he's still young enough to improve his game, maybe not the skating so much but ability to create other ways.
Only one way to find out i guess.
And focus on Forsling the next games Florida plays against Edmonton, i think youll appreciate his speed, transition offense and ability to break up plays without big physical hits.
Fair enough, I see 4 top 6 wingers there. I most looking at some of the recent line projections, it seems Florida is gambling a ton on White and Balcers turning into good top 6 options and having Reinhart cause matchup problems as a "3rd liner" and (presumably) play top PP minutes. When is Duclair coming back exactly?
There is no question they are very good down the middle, but I don't think it is unfair to say they lost a ton of talent up front and on the backend. I don't think they are a threat to miss the playoffs, but I wouldn't be extraordinarily shocked if they did either.
He did have a very good season with Backlund and Frolik in 2018-19 (77 pts), but the big Asterix with that is that his ES production wasn't that much better than Backlund's that season either (who couldn't buy a PP point to save his life).
Just my opinion but feels like Maurice will spread the wealth again through top 3 F lines and then have a traditional 4th line of grinders.
He must get the forwards and defense to focus on team defense which may be more difficult than it sounds but the team will likely need to block shots, rely on in your face type aggression with a dump and chase mentality and all out effort back checking.
I like the potential with Balcers, feel he could replace some/most of Marchments void if paired with Lundell and Reinhart.
Don't see the White signing paying off though.
Duclair should be back around January but don't quote me. Tough to judge those types of injuries/rehabs.
Forsling replaces Weegars role
Staal, Montour, Gudas and Carlsson etc have to be consistent as possible for the bottom 4 roles which I agree gives some worry but goaltending wasn't brutal last year.
Bob should still have a fair bit of gas in the tank and Knight should shave off the odd train wreck game if he plays more often.
I agree, they could finish top 3, wildcard or miss. I tend to fall in the 3rd to WC spot range myself.
I see an obvious drop in offense to top 10ish and them to hover around the same GA/G as last year (12th).
Now a major injury to Ekblad or Barkov and that changes everything but most teams would see a drop without 2 of their best players on the ice.
Florida has had a knack for resurrecting down years in players so we'll see.
Cheers!
