In the other thread there were several comments about improving the bottom 6 by pushing guys down. It became somewhat of an echo chamber in the other thread. The problem is that Compher seems to create a drag effect on any line he play's on in the bottom 6. How many times has
@Richard88 posted data showing this over the past couple of years?
Unless he plays with MacKinnon or Rantanen, it's hard to see him being productive. But that would mean breaking up 9296. And if that's the case, there might be better options than Compher next to MacKinnon or Rantanen.
It's kind of interesting because Kerfoot has been more productive because he has been playing next to Matthews this year (And Leafs fans keep trying to sell high on him. LOL). This is kind of what Compher is like.
But the problem is, his only path to being productive can't be tied to MacKinnon or Rantanen. And if he's on a line in the bottom six, he cant be such a substantial drag to those lines. So it's not as simple as having Compher playing with better players on the 4th line if he's going to create the same drag effect.