Appleton just has the least upside of all of our players. Because of the pairing with Lowry he gets way too much ice time.
That's the problem.
Barron, Kupari, Gus are all still improving Appleton is what he is which is a defensive player.
If all our guys were healthy I would have a hard time dressing Mason.
Tanev seems to bring a lot more to the line with Lowry.
Iafallo is useful in many roles.
Appleton forechecks ok and overall does his job but moving him up the lineup is not a good choice.
Perfetti is hot as hell and we are essentially demoting him.
My big hope is that Nino can score some goals now that the monkey is off his back.
He was a big producer in Oct/Nov we need that guy.
I hope this top 9 approach works.
Even if I was going to go in this direction I would use essentially ANYONE else in the bottom 6 instead of Appleton.
If we fall behind I think they should try Cole with Scheif and Connor.
It may not be a good long term fit but I could see them doing some damage.