Confirmed with Link: Nick Schmaltz extended at $5.85M AAV/7 years

[BUX7PHX]

I think Galchenyuk is the toughest one to figure out. I suspect he'd perform better at even strength if we had stronger offensive centers.

His worst month was down the stretch, not early when he came off injury where he was actually quite productive. That's kinda weird. People often pointed out in the GDTs he was getting third tier linemates at best though. But was that partially his fault too? Probably.

He just doesn't have a natural player to pair with on this team. Maybe whoever we bring in should be aimed at that. Examine at who he worked best with in Montreal and try to find a fit that's similar with who is available.

I wonder how much consistency came into play with this team as well. When every 3rd or 4th game, you are adjusting your lineup on account of injuries and not because the coaching staff is "tinkering" or "testing out," how much did that hurt specific players? There are certain players that I would always keep together - Grabner/Richardson as an example. But some players can also play well on multiple different lines, but you get stuck when injuries force this to happen, as opposed to letting it happen on a coach's decision.

For Galchenyuk, it seemed like we moved Galchenyuk away from C at times, only to be forced to bring him back to C. Injuries to Stepan, Schmaltz, and Richardson at various times put a lot of different hats on him. That can have a major swing in productivity.

Also why I don't know how many moves we make in the offseason and who it is that gets us to that next level. I have to believe that if we even have 30-60 fewer man games missed, we are going to make up at least 3-5 points at the end of the year, and likely many more. I do think there is more natural chemistry out there, but we either struggled to find it early (which may have necessitated the trades as well) or were never able to consistently field a healthy lineup to work players in together properly.