The offense has looked amazing throughout the whole of the season so far. Defense has gotten burned alot the last week or two, more so than our style of hockey usually generates. Id love to see Ned get some more starts but happy Petr is already skating. Necas at C is interesting, we have alot of guys who play C right now and he has been producing at W, I'd like to see him get some run there but doesnt really look like Rod wants it to happen, unless we see some more sustained injuries at C.

Necas and Dzingel on a line would get destroyed. Necas needs to stay on the wing.

Our defense is elite, but more as a puck-moving, added value-generating unit than as an actual defensive juggernaut.

They would also generate lots of skilled offense together against far-less skilled 4th lines. It's a trade-off that I think is worth it, especially with Fast to stabilize it some on the other end.

i would agree if Necas wasnt trying to learn to play center and was a little more defensive responsible, at this moment. He is learning and definitely farther a long than this year but, I am not sure he would ready to center a line with a weak defensive forward.

I completely agree, we have an elite defense but its all designed to push the puck up the ice quickly. I think we have sorely missed a guy like Eddy on D this season though in some games. That being said, it's obviously been working and i've really enjoyed watching every game this year.

Regardless, it's a nice luxury to think about with guys like McGinn and Foegele taking their games to another level (unexpectedly in Brock's case), and the entirety of Nino/Troch/Staal having big rebound years.

They did really well to get a 5th round pick for Eddy's pure UFA rights, though. I think that we were the only team in the NHL this offseason to get draft compensation for UFA rights. Hopefully Fleury shakes the early-season jitters and starts playing more like he did late last season to replace Eddy's contributions.