Synergy27
F-A-C-G-C-E
You say this as though it is undisputed fact. You have no idea how two players with different skill sets might affect the performance of the lineup as a whole.Yes. By a lot.
The criticism of Panarin in the playoffs is warranted and does hurt the team a lot, but his regular season was super underrated. He was still one of top 5 most creative players in the league 5v5.
If you replace him with two Trocheck's, this team is bad. Straight up bad. They wouldn't even be in the race.
If you take Panarin off this team and don't replace him with a better LW, they finish bottom 5 in scoring and 32nd at even strength.
Panarin is a fine regular season player but he doesn’t even earn his contract if you ignore the horrific playoff performances. He’s the third highest paid player in the league FFS, and clearly in decline.