Who was the F3 in the KMN line? After all, Kunitz was the puck retriever. I'm just tired of these weird excuses to keep the KCD line together. What's the harm in trying something different?
Also, if there's one thing Bennett has shown, it's that he is responsible at both ends of the ice. Let Kunitz and Crosby play the fast breaks and Bennett is the F3 in those situations. It's not that complicated.
Neal. It left him free to get shots from the slot or whereever he was. Kunitz and Malkin feeding him = 40 goals.
Not each line is set up the same, and thanks for cherry picking a time period they were missing the best player on the planet. Would you care to relive that so you can have your perfect set up?
Now everyone is back, save Neal, and somehow a guy with 31 games to his credit is ready for the bigtime and all those minutes he's never seen before?
Lets just say some expectations are a little overzealous around here.
Lets also remember we are not a rebuilding team. This just escapes everyone here.
I'm hanging back watching what is going to play out. If you look at the whole ball of wax from the cap to the trying to win the cup, it really is a season to see what happens, and how it folds out. What we would do is nonessential, we are not making the decisions.
That and the kid has played 5 games this season, 5.
It really does just come down to giving it/him time. He'll learn a lot from the 3rd line and he'll be better for it.