Idk how you can take Kravtsov out of the lineup. He's very deserving of being an everyday player, even if it is going to be on the 4th line.
He should be up with Panarin and Mika with Goody down on the 4th line, but baby steps with Gallant. Keep Kravtsov in.
It's frustrating because he does a lot of good things, but he seems to be holding back, whether by choice or by physical limitations, at times. To me, it's mentality. Every time he gets the puck with space he slows down and waits. He's not a burner obviously, but he's "playing" slow so it's making him less effective at times, particularly in transition. He's not a great skater, but he's a good enough skater to make things happen, I feel like his holding back and hesitating is 100% mental.
Agreed re: Laf, your third paragraph. Some of his physical skills lack but he has the talent to be way more than he currently is, and even at that he’s 0.45 ppg.
Either the kid line or the LAF-Zibanejad-Kakko line has been good enough that guys like Lafreniere and Kakko can’t be having those 4-8 game pointless streaks. It’s bad luck and bad decision making, lack of aggressiveness. Yeah, Lafreniere is not going to be Conner McDavid but he is capable of getting onto the score sheet way more regularly even without consistent PP time.
Same for Kakko, the guy just went 7 games without a single point not that long ago. He has to stop being buried for ages at a time. It’s on both the kids themselves and the coaches.
We are tremendously unlucky because Panarin also has just 6 goals on the year and has scored just 1 goal in his last 21 games. Imagine what the offense would look like with a functional Panarin. More points in the bucketloads.
But the team can’t just keep handing the torch to Zibanejad and Panarin and expect them to 100-point their way through the season by brute force. It has to scheme some creativity and energy and get the kids going too.
But since the rebuild started (and probably before) this team is just content to hand the baton to its stars, have very little secondary or complimentary scoring, and win every game 2-1. Horrible coaching and team management.
I like how Valiquette referenced this gif during second intermission .
