no seth Jones and korchinski lineup

Thoughts on Soderblom: They aren't going to send him down unless he is noticeably drowning. He may not be playing well, right now, but by all accounts, his mental game is solid, he bounces back quickly, lets things roll off him, and his technical skill is also supposed to be very good. He also might be the type that plays better when he is playing more regularly and is the starting guy. If it isn't effecting him mentally, then let him keep getting NHL reps. Most goalies take a couple years of NHL time before they become what they are going to be. We don't need him to be anything more than he is, right now, and I doubt Stauber is the answer. He did play very well in his short stint last season, but he has been awful in the AHL.

Thoughts on Reichel: I am already at the point where I want to send him down. He just isn't effective at all and is playing way too perimeter 5v5, and on the PP he should not be a net front guy. In fact, most of Kurashev's even strength points have come from him tapping in rebounds and tight passes at the net front. Which makes me wonder why Kurashev isn't the netfront guy on the pp, while they let Reichel skate around and do his thing. I haven't seen one successful North/South drive from Riechel this season, when last year most of his production came from those kinds of plays. Makes me wonder if they are just trying to force him to add other things to his game and then unleash him down the road. Either that, or he just lost his game and needs to get it back.

Thoughts on Guttman: Yeah. Agreed. He should be in the top 6 with a couple skilled wingers. Maybe even throw him on Bedards wing for a few shifts and see what happens. He is capable of driving play, but he needs to learn to use his teammates more. Much like Reichel, I feel like he isn't playing his game this season. Which again, makes me wonder if they are trying to stress them working on adding new aspects to their game and then maybe down the road, having them put it all together and unleashing them.

This is a common thing and a massive problem for Luke Richardson. Forcing players to be something that they aren't. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. They're telling Colton Dach to be more physical and be a power forward, which is working and he's playing well. However, they're telling Reichel to be a physical and aggressive skilled winger. This just isn't going to happen. On top of that they wanted him to play center. They need to just let these guys play hockey.

Yeah. Although, if he is trying to teach him different ways to play the game and add more to his toolkit, it could be a good thing. You need to be able to do a lot more in todays NHL if you want to have a long and successful career. So, If that is the case, I just hope he doesn't lose those other parts of his game that got him where he is in the first place and can eventually put it all together. If he can do that, then this will all be worth it. Development with the added bonus of higher draft picks. We don't really need this team to be great right now.

Edit: Also, always try to remember the old hockey adage: "Development is not linear."