He will never get going and this team will suffer for it. This team depends a lot on MacKinnon, more than most people would like to admit. They need his talent and that talent has to produce to create wins. He's not someone that is going to shine with 14 minutes of ice time.
Thing is at this point ready or not they HAVE to depend on him. They were dead set on making him the 1A/2 center instead of playing on the wing where he looked so good, so they let Stastny go.
So your right, they have to play him in that role and live with the growing pains.
As for the teams overall position, people were foolish to believe we'd get the same puck luck this year that helped us win the division. I'm still confident we grab a WC.