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 K.McC#24
Messages: 2834
Registered: March 2004
Location: ALBERTA
2 Cups
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| RDOilerfan wrote on Sun, 24 January 2021 13:02 |
I am kind of in the camp it may be a little early for JP to move to the top line but at the same time, things aren't working great so why not give it a shot.
In my opinion, I would put Bouchard in for Larsson. The concern is that Bouchard will make a mistake or 2 that leads to goals against but Larsson is already doing that so if it happens, what's the difference. If Bouchard does make a mistake that leads to a goal against, their is also a good chance he will make a good play whether its move the puck well out of the zone or an outlet pass that leads to a goal or a point shot that goes in or someone can tip. Larsson won't do that. So if he's struggling on the defensive side, he's not going to bring anything offensively to offset it. It's still early but it's becoming apparent to me that the pace of the game is becoming a big time issue for Larsson and something the team needs to seriously think about with him being a free agent.
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Yup. Larsson is there to allegedly shut guys down and not leak chances. He is not functioning at that level. You can can tolerate a guy that costs the odd chance against if he gives you upside offensively, but Larsson doesn't do that either. Bouchard probably won't be worse defensively than Larsson has so far. Wakey wakey call for a veteran defender can't hurt much imo.
As far as JP goes, if guys like Kass and Archibald can take shifts on that line, JP can as well. The bar should be a guy who can skate and can pick a spot to be when needed offensively, and can win a board battle (looking at you Kassian). The earlier iteration of JP got confused at times positionally, I haven't seen that this year. At this point it can't hurt.
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