do you think when wills back the line will be will, mack and cherny? or cherny will be moved to second line? is that a possibility of will moving to second line? thats what I’m scared of
i do think the first line will be cherny (LW) - mack (C) - will (RW) when will returns. cherny's listed on elite prospects as a LW, but today against van, they played ekky (LW) - mack - cherny (RW), so cherny is also capable of & clearly effective at playing his other side.
i am not scared or worried about will moving to the 2nd line. i already answered that question before and i still feel that same way. if will gets moved to second line, that means someone else (cherny, graf, ekky, whoever) is playing better than him and deserves to be playing on mack's wing. the lineup should be whatever ensures the team will win. if will wants to be on the first line with mack again, he'll improve and earn that spot back. if he can't, then he'll slot into the lineup where he's most effective, wherever that may be.
will cannot be perpetually assessed against mack the way people (sharks fans here and on twitter alike) are doing. it's not normal for a 18/19 year old to immediately slot in as an undeniable 1c. ben kindel is playing 3c for the pens and that's honestly really fucking amazing for a 18 year old in his first nhl season. will's development will not be linear, he will not stay on the first line forever, and that's OKAY and GOOD and NORMAL. we WANT talent spread throughout the lineup, we want scoring depth, we want MANY good players bc that's what actually makes a cup contending team POSSIBLE.
