I had read about Lucic and Eberle having problems in keeping up with McDavid, but I was amazed to see that with my own eyes last night. I assumed that the difference just can't be so much that it would be a crucial problem, even if it takes some of McDavid's strengths off. But it seemed that every time those three were on the ice together they were a complete mismatch. Maybe that could change, but according to what I saw this really may not be the best possible combination. I wonder how long they will keep believing in this with no changes.
C'mon, guys. Yeah Ebs and Looch had bad games, but McDavid was shut down outside of a few flashes. We can't gear that line around rush hockey because more often than not we're going to get that style of our game completely taken out of us by the opposition (See vs. Toronto, Ott, and tonight). We need our first line to evolve into somthing that can generate points not just off the rush, and that's on McDavid become a more complete player, too. McDavid can't win a board battle. As soon as someone presses on him he gets completely stuck and loses the puck.
My worry is that teams are going to trap us to death and render us completely ineffective. For a team that's supposed to be bigger, we can't cycle worth **** and lose board battles on a consistent basis.
Drai - I think it's time to shed the notion of him being a big player. Not only is he average sized at best, he has yet to show the ability to consistently win puck battles along the boards since he came into the league.
Last night was on the team collectively, for basically generating jack sh!t 5 on 5 for the 3rd straight game.
