#line shenanigans

god forbid jonny have a slow start to the season DESPITE being 31 and having a CAREER year last year, which for some reason everyone tends to conveniently forget, esp everyone riding the “trade toews” on reddit

i’m so frustrated by the second line. there’s ONE person scoring and it’s patrick. he’s quite literally single-handedly creating offense for the entire goddamn team. there’s a difference between having an offensively loaded line that is defensively liable and the absolute shitshow that the 12-17-88 line is. it’s like a mirage, it looks like water in the desert from far away but as you get closer you realise there’s nothing there at all.

having patrick play with 12 & 17, is taking away their opportunity for individual success, and ofc “team first” and all, but that can definitely happen without patrick with them. in fact, it might be better for him not to be on that line. put shaw back there, he’s not a defensive black hole and is a great set up guy. splitting alex and patrick up will let you have TWO strong offensive lines that are defensively balanced as well, limiting turnovers which is honestly all the second line does when they’re not scoring. they’re literally incapable of holding onto the puck.

the power play is a whole nother thing that i might address after seeing it in the lightning game. super quick, i think they should go back to last season’s top unit with gus & jonny back on pp1. jonny is wasted on the second unit and shaw definitely doesn’t deserve to be on pp1 ahead of jonny.

My friend, Taufan :