This argument reminds me of when people wanted Stutzle to play LW when he clearly was better suited and more natural at C. He is also a natural playmaker but can be dominant at both.
Both of our top lines were minus for the majority of the season and we ended up never seriously being in playoff contention. How is that a huge success and worthy of not even trying a combination, esp when one player has an expiring contract and trying it might give you a better understanding of your team?
And Stutzle will be successful at any style he plays and I don't see why can't be a elite goal scorer and elite playmaker in one season. Alfredsson was that, Stutzle has the potential to be even better than Alfie. Not to mention DBC is actually a great passer himself. They would only help each others goals totals. Like Marchand and Pasta or McDavid and Draistaitl etc.
No reason why Stutzle can't be a 40-70 guy or even 50 60.
And not even trying them is like if you got Heatley and played him with Fisher and Vermette without even seeing how he would look with Spezza. Little sense in that, so why is it different with Stutzle and DBC.
And again a season where the team was never a threat for the playoffs isn't successful. You can't be a playoff team if both your top lines are minus.
Not at all. If anything to play Stutzle with DeBrincat is what is similar to playing him at LW. It’s a decision based on a pre-conceived notion of what each player’s roles and limitations should be.
I agree the team needs to improve defensively. I don’t think playing Pinto with Tkachuk and Stutzle with DeBrincat does anything at all to improve defensive performance. Each player needs to progress on their own regardless of lines.
Let’s be clear that Tkachuk and G both had career highs in goals playing with Stutzle. He can clearly still use his playmaking without being paired with DeBrincat. The point is that I don’t want the 21 year old budding superstar to be used to prop up the 25 year old. Our focus should be how to maximize Stutzle.
My proposition is nothing like not trying Heatley with Spezza. Heatley was very complimentary to Spezza’s game. Tkachuk’s physicality, net drive and scoring are IMO much more complimentary to Stutzle’s game than DeBrincat’s shot is. Even in your examples, the reason Marchand works so well with Pasta is in part his ability to bring something different to the line. Same with a 36 goal, 83 point Zach Hyman. He brings a complimentary skill set to McDavid and does the dirty work. Drai is a superstar in his own right and isn’t a fair comparison.
Besides, Tkachuk’s past season was just as if not more productive than anything Cat has ever done. Even playing with Kane.
Literally all I’m proposing is leaving the top line, which is meshing beautifully (like Boston’s top line), together. What you’re proposing is more like taking Alfie off Spezza’s line to see if playing with Spezza will allow Kovalev to get back to his 40+ goal form. Sure, it could potentially work, but Alfie’s all round impact was huge for Spezza, just like Tkachuk’s is for Tim. I agree Stutzle can be a 40-70-110 guy. His best shot to do so next year is playing with 7 and 28.
I agree the season as a whole wasn’t a success but the top line, and the development of Stutzle and Tkachuk, certainly were successes.
