Turnovers by our talented forwards is the number one reason we are floundering at some important metrics right now.
I've been saying this all along - we bemoan our D corps, BUT if these players played better defensively, our team defense stats would improve astronomically. It's always easy to blame the defense for defensive issues, but it truly is a team attribute.
Laine is only one of our forwards who needs to get much better in this area. Ehlers has gotten better mainly on the back of his possession skills. Roslovic might be the worst, but Connor is right there, along with Laine. Schiefele and Wheeler have room for improvement in this regard as well.
I don't even want to mention Luoto and Shaw, as I don't believe they really bring enough to be on the team at all. I thing Gus is doing pretty well considering his experience and who he's on the ice with, but of course he has a lot to learn.
Really, Little, Copp, and Lowry are the only forwards we have who consistently play a good game on the other side of the puck, and even they could be better (I guess everyone could).
Of course, this has been an issue since hockey was first played. Offensively talented players usually have holes in their games, as their offensive success depends on a certain amount of bias and decision making based on higher defensive risk at the benefit of increased offensive chances.