How has the playing time of Manson and Montour fluctuated since the "big three" have gotten healthier? Looks like Montour is still in the 19 minute range regularly and Manson is still eating up 21+ minutes a night. Figured it would be somewhat challenging to give all 5 of those guys big minutes when everyone is healthy but at the very least you wouldn't need to wear out Lindholm and Fowler at 25+ per night on a regular basis.
I think the net effect will be a slight decrease to Montour's ice time, which is a shame, really.
The problem is handedness - Montour, while dynamic offensively, is not as defensively sound as Manson, and is probably a little less than Vatanen.
That, and Carlyle's old-fashioned "1 shutdown pair, 1 skating pair" technique will all but guarantee that Lindholm-Manson will continue to munch minutes, and that he will trust Fowler-Vatanen to pick up where they left off last year. That leaves Montour on the bottom pairing with Beauchemin or Bieksa, which is not an optimal situation.
If I'm Montour, I would hope that last night gets the gears turning in RC's head. Fowler - Montour was our best pairing.
