Drivesaitl
Finding Hyman
This season (outside of this game) he has been good to great. Not sure how anyone can say otherwise unless they have some very weird expectations on what a 4th line should be doing. Khaira and Sheahan has been outright dominant on the cycle at times and hemming the opponents in. To have a 4th line being able to exert that kind of pressure is impressive to me. I don't know what you and others expect from these guys? They're not playing soft minutes, getting an OZ push with the expectation to score. That's not their role at all and Tippett would probably be the first one to tell you that.
Khaira has had 2 very bad games this season and he's had the rest where he's done enough to stay in the lineup. Not great by any means but just grinding and cyclign with some good players.
But look at what he's supposed to be vs what he is. This is a guy with size and weight who isn't hitting enough, and isn't hitting hard enough, and isn't making anybody out there take numbers.
He isn't being an antagonizer, he isn't getting in grills, he's not drawing retaliation players. Good to great roleplayers do that, wherever their zone starts are. On the play I mention last night Shaw, a runt of a player finishes a better check than Khaira has made all season and Khaira gets the retaliation penalty for mildly going at Shaw who was laughing at him after. Shaw smoked an Oiler, AND the Hawks got a PP as added benefit. When is Khaira delivering the team that kind of intangible benefit? Khaira is in the show because he's a strong lad capable of some mayhem. He's very clearly not doing that. He got schooled on the sequence by Shaw, and would 9 times out of 10.