Chris Nilan joined Tony Marinaro on his sick Podcast last night to talk about the struggles of the top line centered by Nick Suzuki with Kirby Dach and Cole Caufield on the wings as Montreal dropped a 3-2 decision to Calgary at home last night.
“Suzuki is struggling out there,” said Nilan. “When that kid’s going, so goes the rest of the line. Last year- Suzuki with Slafkovsky and Caufield. We saw them be an effective line on the ice. Yeah, they were going to have their issues at times defensively but they were clicking last year.
Nilan tried not to be too harsh on Dach considering that he’s returning from a major knee injury that saw him miss the final 80 games of last season.
“Listen. When the team is playing as bad as they’ve been, the coach is trying to find solutions,” noted Nilan. “He’s going to mix and match. You’re not going to agree with everything he does. I thought Dach; he was better than he’s been all year. He was on the puck. He was trying to make stuff happen. Again; not finishing but he was trying to make things happen, so I’m still kinda giving him a pass because he’s been out so king but honestly, Nick…I don’t know. He is really struggling. He looks like he’s lost a little bit, to be honest with you.”
Nilan added that Caufield shouldn’t be expected to be the top line’s play driver.
“Cole had a couple of chances there,” said Nilan. “He was going five hole or trying to get it up and he didn’t, I,m not sure but Cole’s going to be an opportunitistic kid. He’s going to get the puck. You’re going ti see him score on the power play. He’s going to have to get a break somewhere and get himself open and get a lane to get to the net where he’s using his skill and his speed to get there. He’s going to be an opportunistic player. It’s not like he’s going to go into the corner and come out with the puck. It’s not going to happen, so…yeah…they didn’t play well that line…as a line.
