Um then why do you bring up Toews as a reference to Sam??? Toews makes the smart play. FYI Bennett is not in the same ballpark as Toews ... Maybe Toews / Daigle cross but certainly no Toews.
Even Ovie and Crosby learned this through time. Why would you change. You pressure their D and hope for a turnover... Something Johnny, Mony and Lindholm are good at.
Sometimes OKG I wonder how you aren't 2 different people. Much of the stuff you say is good but once you get the rose tinted glasses on for a player you go against everything you say.
Toews in his prime, like Bennett is a better individual puck retriever than our top line combined. He also played with Hossa who would be the best puck retriever on our entire team by a country mile, when he wasn't using his 210+lb frame to skate the puck through traffic with agility.
Likewise Ovechkin and Crosby. They make the safe play because they afe individual freak monsters.
Gaudreau is not. He doesn't have the size (obviously) or elite speed (a la Byron) to be. That is why Ferland worked so well with him. He would toss the puck into the corner, Ferland retrieves it against multiple bodies, and twenty seconds later Monahan has a goal in the slot.
Monahan is not. He is not remotely a player who threaten to play chip and chase. That is also why our power play sucks at zone entries. He's not particularly great at carrying the puck either but he's far better at that alongside a primary puck handler Gaudreau than he is at creating havoc on the forecheck. That's why he was a huge beneficiary of Ferland and why he hasn't really clicked with (the otherwise excellent) Lindholm.
Lindholm has some PP points and some chemistry with Gaudreau, but he has clicked more with Backlund, Bennett, etc in far less time outside of the PP. He is a good player and forechecker. But he is not dynamic like Ferland and if Gaudreau dumps the puck he isn't quite enough to support from the opposite wing. He is a huge upgrade on guys like Hudler, Neal, and Brouwer though.
You are confusing the choice to make the safe play with the choice to make the successful play.
Top lines have to make the successful play and for that to work they will need a Toews/Crosby like dominant forechecking center or a Hossa/Ferland like speedy massive winger. Gaudreau is not that, even if he is undoubtably a top line player. The Sedins needed Burrows. Draisaitl needed Hall or McDavid. Gaudreau needs either Ferland or an actual number one center if you want him to make the safe play because otherwise it is not the successful play. He makes the play that has the best chance of success and sometimes it backfires because plan B is plan F given the makeup of his line.
As for Tkachuk, he is an amazing player but he too lacks speed and is the beneficiary of the abilities of Backlund, Frolik, and Czarnik. Putting him on a regulaf line with Monahan and without Gaudreau won't help him or Monahan, they would be a cinch to defend.
