It's not an odd battle, his line has outplayed all elite lines. I've explained why his scoring is down. It's a function of first having to win the draw (which he often does), defending, then carrying a defensive pairing that cannot transition the puck. Then he has to help Gallagher on the boards. Then he has to create space and make a play with Tatar. THEN score.
Your only argument is that he's not McDavid. If you look at the results, his line is outplaying McDavid's line. Yes the line has worn down a bit, they need to shift tactics. Julien wasn't able to do that, now it's Ducharme's turn. The load has to be lightened for this line.
Last year they outscored opponents 40-20 even strength and they've done that again this year. That's what matters- they give us a chance to win. And they've worked their butts off. So when the "fans" try to run him out of town because they only look at surface stats and don't understand the purpose of the line or the duties of the player yes I start clicking on my keyboard.
My solution is to fix the transition game by moving Romanov up with Weber and putting Kulak back with Petry (they've always been excellent with occasional turnovers, but Chariot/Weber are both top 5 in the league in turnovers...). Armia and Anderson are banged up so call up Poehling to add more size.
As I mentioned Ducharme is adding a high forward in the offensive zone, an alternative to simply cycling. This has been the secret behind the league explosion in offense and we are FINALLY getting around to adding it instead of taking low danger point shots. That in turn will open up the point shot even more. I would also put Mete back in there on the third pairing. You can't just have all statues in today's game.
