idk if they're frauds, they can still ramp it up in the POs. However, to-date they have not replicated their December level-of-play. that's like 3+ months ago and pre TDL, they've essentially acquired 3 new top-6ers since then that were supposed to improve from the incumbents, and that has not come to fruition in my view. not to mention, the defensive play has kind of fallen off quite a bit.
this team has the pieces to have 3 pretty solid scoring lines. but inconsistency of Lowry's line (which is the quintessential 2nd line) offensively is why slumps can be so tumultuous imo. if the top line is not buzzing, then it makes it v hard since they're getting majority of the mins, then Lowry's line is usually close in minutes to the "second line." I like Lowry for his play w/o the puck + physicality but i just don't see the offensive creativity from him to help drive scoring consistently.
similar to last season, the 3rd line got off to a hot start and then cooled off considerably (remember the 40 game goalless drought). i think we've seen the same this year. all 3 of them have gone through near-20 game droughts (believe it was 15 for Nino, 20+ for Lowry and Appleton). But will say in the POs Lowry was v good last year, so that is still possible again where he can score in the POs for us.
I have liked Scheifele's play this year. his defensive stats have not been good but large part of that may be who he has played a lot of mins with (ie: connor again rates poorly). Offensively he's a a mid-to-low end 1C - 16th in 5v5 pts, 23rd at all strengths.
i've been saying it for a few years: scheifele used to be a top 10 C easily w/o a question. probably just outside top-5 (from 2016-2018). but i think players have ascended him where he/his line are no longer a clear-cut advantage, & if the depth isn't coming through then it spells trouble. these are the western conference PO teams' 1Cs for instance
Mackinnon, Hintz, Pettersson, McDavid, Kopitar, ROR, Eichel. How many of them would you really take scheifele over?
