Z is the last rock of this team. There's nothing left after him. We're seeing Kronwall being on one leg hurts but he's been that way for a while. Z is the only thing keeping this team from fighting the Avs for worst in the league and dude gets older every day.
If he ever falters that'll be rock bottom.
My biggest concern is that, the younger guys that are looking good (Tatar & Mantha), I really think are benefiting from playing with Z in a huge way.
I don't know how much these guys create their own offense. Zetterberg just sees the ice so much better than anyone else, even still. I think he spoon feeds these guys to a degree, and I think he did that with Nyquist in the past a bit too. The only guy I see consistently finding ways to score goals regardless of his linemate is AA, but I think eventually teams will find a way to bottle up the neutral zone better on us which would limit him a great deal.
We really, really need to find a high end playmaker in the draft that has high hockey IQ and can anticipate and read plays.
