This blithering idiot is at it again.
I do agree with him on Marchand being up there at least. Pasta gets a lot of attention but one of the big reasons Pasta can freewheel all night and rack up points is how amazing Marchand is in every aspect of the game in all zones. And Marchand still racks up points at nearly the same rate. Bergeron also helps of course, but IMO Marchand is the best player on that line.
I hope McDavid and Drai start working hard in our end again when hockey resumes. I can't argue with the basic comment that their defensive games were poor this year. I can't ignore what I saw, they were not putting the kind of effort they did in years past, it was clear, and it showed up in the stats as well.
I think it started last season when Hitch started to play them infinity minutes per game. They started to adjust, realizing that if they didn't score, the team would never win, and they just didn't have the energy to spend in our zone with all the minutes. It did continue into this season, and Tippett played them to death too. Need to hit the reset button somehow, starting with having proper depth in this lineup.