So who is going to play RD on the second pairing ? You have a MASSIVE hole there. Benning, Jones get caved in that spot. And Bouchard is not ready to jump into the second pairing in the midst of a year end playoff push.

Barrie fills that. Nurse is the d powerhouse that allows Barrie to play his offensive game. Similar to what Seabrook let Keith do in their prime.

I agree its a big hole, but with Bouchard likely able to cover that position next year I could see making these moves now. GA will go up, but GF should also go up therefore the moves are not really detrimental to the team this year and they have the potential to be beneficial provided Kapanen gels with McDavid and Thornton is an upgrade on Sheahan at 3C. (Note that he put Thornton with 2 guys who are good shooters.)

You'd better put Klefbom with Barrie: Nurse has played 1st pairing with Bear all year successfully and besides, he's just as much an offensive threat as Barrie is. In the past 2.5+ years, Barrie has put up 74 points at 5v5 (7th in the league among defenders) while Nurse has scored 71 (10th).

http://naturalstattrick.com/playerteams.php?fromseason=20172018&thruseason=20192020&stype=2&sit=5v5&score=all&stdoi=std&rate=n&team=ALL&pos=D&loc=B&toi=0&gpfilt=none&fd=&td=&tgp=410&lines=single&draftteam=ALL

Also, I highly disagree with making wholesale changes to the 1st PP unit - it's the best PP unit the league has seen in over 40 years.

http://www.nhl.com/stats/teams?aggregate=0&reportType=season&seasonFrom=19781979&seasonTo=20192020&gameType=2&filter=gamesPlayed,gte,1&sort=powerPlayPct&page=0&pageSize=50

because of 97 and 29

James Neal is #2 in the league in PP goals. 97 and 29 were on last year's 1st PP unit, and the year before, and the one before that.

If you look at 5v4 G/60 (95:00 minimum), you'll see that Neal is 3rd in the league while Chiasson is 13th. I'm not minimizing Connor and Leon's contributions, but no sane coach would rip that unit apart midseason.

Also, please use the "QUOTE button when replying to a specific post.