darth_henning

It wasn't the smartest play, but 4 times outta 5 that goes to Russel and out of the zone. I'm not about to tear the guy down about it, it's going to happen to every player a time or two a season. That said, I would love to see the minutes for all our top 4 come down a little with a better 3rd pairing so they're less prone to making such mistakes.

Not his fault. A bad bounce that handcuffed both players. And he made up for it with that goal -line save when Ramo was down. I honestly think that Ramo is a better goalie than Hiller. Not sure why everyone's so keen on him leaving. I would love to get O'Connor, but I agree with others it may be a while before he saw time in the NHL with Ortio and Gillies in the system. That said, we do need tenders at all levels so it would be nice to have options.

Ramo was our best player tonight. Other than a very unfortunate giveaway from Wideman that lead to the goal, he had everything they threw at him. Baring that bad pass, that game definitey would have gone to a shootout. Hope they give Ramo a few more starts on this road trip. Sad not to get any points tonight though when the Canucks and Jets did though. At least Edmonton did us a favor with the Wild though...

I don't know if I've seen enough of Ortio to say he won't be as good as Kipper in terms of ability to make stops and save games. I've only seen his NHL games, and honestly, I can see him being as good in that category with a couple more years experience. I do agree that I don't see the same athleticism and flexibility. I think anyone will be hard-pressed to match that for some time. It is indeed rare, but its not the only way a goalie can be good. I agree. His save% and GAA are a little worse this year than Hiller, but neither by very much and they're hurt by a couple of bad blowoouts against him. He has a much better Win-Loss ratio in point of fact, which to me matters way more. I'd like to see him actually get a few straight starts. See what he can do if he's let to run with it. I have a bad feeling that if we let him go this summer he may wind up being the next Dubnyk on another team. But I don't see any way we won't keep Hiller, and Ortio may well be coming up.

I can only assume that's based off the fact he played on the pens. I've never seen Potter play a game so perhaps others can fill me in on what's wrong with him. But looking purely at NHL stats: Engellend - 296GP 13G 28A 51P -12 352PIM Potter - 123GP 8G 24A 32P -10 53PIM 10 pounds and 1 inch shorter for Potter. On the surface I guess Engellend looks better, but if you adjust it for an equal number of games played (dividing Engellend's totals by .4155 to 123GP): Engellend - 5.4G 15.8A 21.2P -5.4 145PIM Potter ------- 8G 24A 32P -10 53PIM Most of Potter's stats come with the Oilers (12 games on other teams), while all of Engellend's before this year come with the Penguins. Maybe someone who's seem Potter play can tell me what he does that's so bad, but from empiric data he can't possibly be any worse. Noted for future posting.

I doubt Potter could pssibly be worse then Engellend though. Might be worth at least looking. (I know he's not a prospect, but what else do you call guys in the AHL that's one word?) Wotherspoon should play every night in place of Engellend. Again, can't be anything but an improvement. We do need a big tough guy on the back end, hopefully that's what we'll see if GlenX gets traded.

We're always down on our defensive prospects, but really, for any of them - Wotherspoon, Potter, Kanzig, etc see bolded part.

I think its pretty much a foregone conclusion regardless of what the contracts are (not sure how to check that without cap geek now), that Hiller and Ortio are our rotation next year and Ortio will be a starter in 2-3 years. Hiller and Ramo don't have the best stats, but both are capable of stealing a game. Sadly both let in the occasional soft goal which is what hurts their stats. Are they the best goalie duo in the leeague? no. Are they servicible enough to get us through the season and possibly a round or two of the playoffs? yes.

No one's specifically said they're tired, or that they can't handle it. Just that it would be good to have options that we can trust so that they don't HAVE to play that much. Right now they do not because they CAN, but because we NEED them to. That's the issue.

Pretty much exacty what Tech said. We don't need huge reductions for our top 4, but even a couple fewer minutes per game is going to be helpful down the stretch. The problem is we ccan't trust Engellend to play 3-4 more minutes per night without risking a lot more goals against. Diaz isn't outstanding, but he's pretty decent as a 4-6D and does well on the PP. If we could even find someone equal to him to play with, that's the one big upgrade this team needs and gives our D a more balanced ice time.

23-25 minutes is a lot per game though. If we could get a bottom pair that could play about 15-19 minutes a night, can you imagine how well the others would play if better rested?

Could we maybe find a better D-man than Russel? Possibly. But he's the number 1 shot blocker in the NHL. That's a very hard stat to replace. Split up him and Wideman and you have less time for him on the ice, and our shot blocks will go down dramatically. That's a key factor that's helped us win games by limiting the pucks getting to the net. And we're still out-shot on a lot of nights. Decreasing Russel's ice time substantially by putting him on the bottom pairing is a horrible idea. Yes, the D does need to be improved. The best way to do that is to have a third pairing that you can actually trust on the ice, and not be worried about letting in an obscene number of goals when they're on the ice. I hear the broadcaster say Engellend and I'm 50% sure a goal will be going in. That means that the first and second pairings get played more because the third pairing has to be limited on ice time, tiring out the top 4 players. Best fix for that? Having a third pairing that can play 15+ minutes a night rather than 10 or less. Then your other 4 D-men can actually hover around 20 rather than all averaging close to 25 or more. That makes things better without messing with the pairings.

Add me to the concensus. Our top 4 are fine. Arguably the best top 4 in the league really when you look at the combined stats. That said, our bottom 2 is weak. Diaz is a servicable 5/6 and I'm pretty happy with his time on the PP, so I don't think there's any reason to change him. But both Engellend and Smid are liabilities. Any time they're on the ice I cringe. Engellend isn't even remarkably physical for his size. If we coud get a top 4 player to play with Diaz, we'd actually have a pretty impressive D core, and also finally have some insurrance for any injuries that may occur. Really, its the only trade target we shoud be considering either by the deadline or in the off-season. As for forwards we're well stocked. 9 players with 10+ goals this season, the second most of any team in the league. That's good depth, especially considering that Bennett and Poirier are likely added to the lineup next year. Our focus up front should be on resigning who we have (minus Bollig).

Yeah. I don't trade Bennett until we have some idea what we've got with him. Sure the shoulder COULD be an issue long-term, but he could also turn out to be as good or better than Monahan. Wouldn't you love to have two #1 centers on this team for the ffirst time ever? Yes, we need D, but do we need it this instant to make a run at the cup? Definitely no. We have time to trade, draft or sign what we need for a couple years before we're a legitimate contender. Don't trade young assets now..

Personally, when there's debate about delaying things like the ring road or cancer center, I don't want to see public money going to the stadium. The Greyhound lands do need redevelopment, but the West Village massing plan is way better for the area than an arena

The West Village is a really bad idea for a stadium site. The interchange of Bow Trail and Crowchild is high volume, but already has cpacity issues at peak. Also, the road placements for 9th and 5th ave. entering and exiting downtown, even if maximally realigned don't allow sufficient land use to allw a large-sized stadium and sufficient parking (not to mention the intersection troubles). It does have transit access, but sadly most people who come to games still use cars. There's also the issue of the 14th street redesign to consider. That area is better suited to an arts/cuture district mixed with condos and a riverfront pedestrian area much ilke East Village. There's been a lot of debate about a good site on the skyscraper/city design forum I'm a member of. General concensus appears to be that the best places would be as part of the northern Stampeed Ground redevelpments just north of where the Saddle Dome is now as there is acceptable transit access, and good north-south access from a couple directions, or on the current McMahon stadium land. There's lots of space to accomodate both a larger arena, and good north-south and east-west access points already established with space for more interchange access (though there is a distincty NIMBY issues with some residents). The problem with both is it involves either dealing with the Stampeed or University to approve this. But there isn't really much unclaimed land in the center of the city to accomodate a project of that size, and it has to be near transit, so options are sadly quite limited.

Diaz has definitely improved, but we need an upgrade to play with him. I'd be happy to keep him on the bottom pairing for a while. He's good on blue line for the PP, and despite horrible line mates has actually done quite well on the 3rd pairing. Smid and Engelland do need an upgrade. ASAP

We'd probably be looking at something more like: Glenx/Baerschi, Engellend, and probably a third piece for Larsson and a pick. Now that's definitely improving our depth at the blue line (probably for a good long time), but do we want to pay that? I definitely don't give up Ramo because we need a good backup if we're going to do anything the rest of this season, Ortio should be playing equal minutes when he gets here, and that's not yet.

There are 29 defencemen with double digit +/-. (about 10%). The teams with a bottom two +/- worse than us? Arizona and Edmonton. The bottom +/- are dominated by all six of Buffalo's defenders being -11 or worse. Those are the three worst teams in the league. Not good company. Smid averages 14 minutes a game. Engellend 13. Prosser (MIN) and Summers (ARI) are the only other players with double digit negatives that play less than 15 minutes a night. Most of the rest average 17-25 minutes a night. So essentially Smid and Engellend accumulate a minus at twice the rate of these other defencemen. Eckman-Larson, Faulk, Savard, Yandle and Petrey all may have similar minus stats, but they're also putting up double digit points (though that's really scare about how many they may let in). Smid and Engellend have 3 and 1 respectively. There may be an element of Toughness and Protection that we're lacking from other players, but there's no way that we can't find that with some upside on +/- and/or scoring. We don't have to move pieces, and I certainly wouldn't trade much, but we do have a variety of options at the trade deadline to upgrade what is undoubtedly our weakest position. If Engellend and Smid were't so bad, Wideman/Russel (and even Gio/Brodie) might be able to play lower ice times if we could trust our Bottom 2. We could use another RW, but with Poirier coming, there's no urgency this season for that, and we have lots of LWs/Cs that can go over if needed. I agree that I wouldn't mess with the team, various chemistries are becoming quite clear to help shape the future of the team, and I'm happy with that. But if there's a weakness it should still be addressed.

I'm fully with Cheers on that as well. The top 4 don't need tinkering, possibly for a few years really. Our top pair has the 1st and 3rd highest +/-, Russel has the most blocked shots, and Wideman has the 2nd most goals. I'm pretty sure most teams would kill to have that collection of stats. Diaz isn't terrible. His stats are very hurt playing with Engellend as much as he does. He's a decent PP quaterback. Do I want him in the top 4? NO, but I think he's our best 5/6 option currently. Engellend has the 12th worst +/- of defencemen and 3 points. Smid has the 16th worst +/- of defencemen and ONE point. (and throw in that the only goal against tonight was because Engellend blocked Hiller from getting in front of it) Hard to find a worse pairing of stats. If we need to make any trade before the deadline It needs to be for a decent 4-6 Dman for the bottom pairing. Otherwise we'll get killed in the home stretch and playoffs when they're on the ice. Its our one glaring weak spot. Right Wing isn't great either, but its servicable, and many of our C or LW can play there, and Poirier coming up next year will hugely bolster it. D has to be the priority right now I think. BTW, not impressed enough with our top D yet? They are ranked 1st (Gio), 15 (brodie), 20 (Wideman) and 49 (Russell) in D-man scoring league wide. You know how many other teams have FOUR defencement in the top 50 of D scoring? NONE! Dallas and Anaheim have 3. That's it above 2. That's not a group I change.

Right. Habit. the 'dack I meant good options on ways to keep him up. It's a great problem to have (much like having more NHL-caliber centers than positions finally), but right now, it does create a crease crunch. That's what I was referring to.

I agree, the best thing to do is probably let Ortio get a good practice of dominating in 'ford and see how deep he can get them in the playoffs. Ramo and Hiller can play out the year. Even if Ortio managed to play as well as he did his first four games, we're not topping the league this year. Just getting into the playoffs is a win. Bring him up next year, along with some other changes and go from there. He'll be a great goalie, but we don't have good options right now unless Hiller or Ramo go in a package deal, and I'm not sure at this point that its in our interest to move pieces with current chemistry and results unless there's huge returns.

Unfortunately after Anaheim he'll go down. Not surprising. It really hinged on this game, and though its not his fault, he couldn't solve the curse.

Firstly, no more trades with Toronto after the last one. (Though you could argue that we both lost that one) Secondly, the only thing worse would be trading to get Phaneuf back. Locker room cancer. Entitled bonehead from every report I've seen. Definitely unquestionably NO!!