Absolutely. We drafted Caufield for his offensive upside, not his defensive prowess. My argument was just to illustrate that he has enough defensive awareness to play top minutes because he won't be a humongous liability on a line the way, for example, Galchenyuk was, IMO.
I don't think we need a 30-goal scorer on a line that allows 70 goals against because they can't do the basic defensive job required.
A line with a defensively responsible C like Suzuki that also can feed Caufield would help minimize the need for Caufield to devote more attention to playing D than it would, let's say, on a line with Domi as C, for example.
Obviously, adding a LW that also can take care of D while producing points (à la Tatar) to play with Suzuki and Caulfield better exploits Caufield's strengths.
When Galchenyuk and Pacioretty scored at a high rate to end the 2015-2016 season with 30 goals each, they managed to lose more games than they won while scoring and allowed more goals against than they generated in a negative goal differential. Run and gun hockey to pad personal stats in a losing season.
If Caufield were to play that way, he better score 60 goals a year because other aspects of his game certainly won't be pillars of his.
The key with Caufield will be surrounding him with the right players. I'd prefer a bigger LW with the same 200-foot qualities that Tatar has but, as it stands, I'd rather see Tatar at LW with Caufield than Drouin or Domi.
In that way, Caufield will need to be protected but, he will also at least cover the minimal defensive requirements to get the ice time that will help him produce.
Just don't expect Caufield on a shutdown line that also produces like the Tatar - Danault - Gallagher line.
You could switch out Gallagher for Caufield but, you wouldn't get the same overall results.
Balancing things out could provide the following lines:
Tatar - Suzuki - Caufield
Domi - Danault - Gallagher
Drouin - kotkaniemi - Armia
Lehkonen - Poehling - Byron
Tatar and Suzuki complementing Caufield so he can concentrate more on finding open ice to shoot from.
Danault and Gallagher complementing Domi so he can carry the puck more but, with Domi having enough of a sandpaper style to complement the other two as well.
Drouin with size and skill in Armia and Kotkaniemi to give him more room on the ice so he can exploit both his shot and playmaking skills.
Poehling's line for a good shutdown trio that can also provide complementary scoring.
However, I expect one of Domi or Drouin to be moved for help on D and I expect Kovalchuk to re-sign for another year in MON.
Ideally, we'd be able to move Drouin rather than Domi for help on D, something like Drouin + Mete to COL for Girard.
Tatar - Suzuki - Caufield
Domi - Danault - Gallagher
Kovalchuk - kotkaniemi - Armia
Lehkonen - Poehling - Byron
Girard - Weber
Chiarot - Petry
Romanov - Fleury
I am 100% sure Julien would never put Suzuki(2nd year) and Caufield(1st year) on a same line. Either ways Caufield should not be playing at all in montreal next year except maybe a few games before season's end if Wisconsin gets eliminated early. Just my opinion.
