travel_dude

Perhaps we undervalue him. Gibson has had no good season since 18/19. He is only 30, but would you argue that he is worth that much more than Markstrom? If we are being fair, we play as poorly in from of Markstrom as any team does. So, maybe we devalue him because of the need to excuse the poor play or poor coaching. I don't see the "reported" offer any less believable than the reported one from Colorado for Hanifin. People leak stuff for various reasons.

The fanbase is a passionate bunch. Canadian fans seem like spoiled children when comparing the 7th man in the stands. They call out any weakness of the other team, and loudly. They deride the refs when they blatantly miss a call. They don't seem to spend the time knitting or texting. Half their forwards are making less than $1M. They signed castaway Janko and he has 12 points in 22 games. The once vaunted defense is down to one big name. The talent they have vs us is probably equal, or so it would seem on paper. We have a $15M shutdown line. Perhaps coaching is the difference. We both seem to be able to win games and the odd time the goalie steal one. Just can't figure out how the so-called top line is a combined minus 41 for just two players. Kuzmenko is only (!!) minus 10. So, the blame doesn't fall so much on him.

The funny thing is we had better success drafting early by drafting forwards. Monahan, Bennett, Tkachuk. We could have drafted Nurse or that guy that VAN drafted before Tkachuk. I just don't know if we evaluate D in the right light. We seem to be okay in 2nd rounders (for the most part). Thje only D drafted in the first in the last 15 years are Valimaki and Erizon. Unless we win the draft lottery, the BPA C/F available is Helly. How do you feel about Hage?

I always cheer for Arizona. Have a soft spot for them. I don't remember the last time I cheered on Pitts, maybe when they play the Oilers? Ottawa, blech. Montreal, merde. I was a Montreal fans back when Yvan Cournoyer was a thing. Back then you were either a Habs fan or you got beat up for wearing a Leafs hat. Seattle is approaching the expansion the opposite as Vegas. All in all it feels a little dirty cheering for teams to pass us. A loss with Markstrom still in the net is really annoyiing at this stage. Perhaps the coach has finally realized that 15 points behind with 11 games is not a playoff team. Running the table only gets us to 93. Vegas only needs 4 wins and Nashville only needs 2 wins to eliminate us. Our tragic number is 4, where 3 losses and 1 Vegas win eliminates us. There are more combos but they include NAS and STL.

They won !! They actually won a game. As such, we are tied for 8th last. With Seattle. MTL, OTT and ARo all within 7 points of us. Doubt they lap us, but we look like we can't get out of our own way. Like our last losing spell, every mistake is in the net. Might as well give Wolf the remaining 11 games.

Shades of Mike Smith; Marky goes for a skate and bleeds the puck. Almost an EN goal for the Hawks.

Mrazek has our number. Well, I guess it we put some decent shots, we might score. So far he has made 2-3 good saves.

Dreaded 5-3 PP for the Hawks and we get the Chelsea Dagger on the 2nd half of the PP. Now 2-0 after a 2 on 1.

Sames lines except Coronato in for Hunt. Okhtiuk in for Hanley. Markstrom the starter.

Teas are sputtering into the playoffs right now, especially their last 10. WPG 5-5-0 EDM 5-3-2 PHI 4-4-2 TOR 5-4-1 DET 3-7-0 NYI 3-6-1 Other than WPG and TOR, the other teams have a points % of less than .6 That's 92 points on the season. Talk about backing in.

So the roster changes keep happening. Hanley and Hunt out, Okhotiuk in. Markstrom the starter. Trap game.

There was a point before TDL that we believed to be a playoff team hopeful. 7-3 record in February. A first for your starter on the table? At least that. But at the time, NJ's pick was no better than the Flames. And having Markstrom would have meant a playoff team pick. The value of retained salary over 2.5 years can't be understated. It's not your typical TDL trade, it's that and a futures trade.

I would be okay with one of those D that seem to have crazy offensive numbers so far. Bulium, Parekh, Yakemchuk. There doesn't "seem" to be any C's in the top 10 other than the top 2. If we don't win the lotto, then go D then C (VAN pick). Maybe Hage over Boisvert? I only say that based on the rankings in that article. I don't know. We really need a high end C. Hage is only a late 18.

100% We don't really need a $6M mentor here, just a solid guy to provide quality starts. Wolf has proven that he is more than a guy you play in a scheduled loss or against weak teams. He's showing more understanding of how to play the puck and isn't losing the net when facing shooters. What I have seen too much this year is a reliance on the goalie to save our bacon. With Wolf in nets, the team in front understands that they may have to work a bit harder, because that's what you are supposed to do. Get rid of the layers of screens and let him see the shot. We may not be 100% satisfied with the return on a Markstrom trade, but we shouldn't just hang up the phone. NJ may have competition to land him, if they still want to. Allen is a good 1b goalie, but I don't think he can repeat his STL numbers. Besides, NJ may not be the only suitor.

I too like what I have seen in Zary; he's slippery. I was not advocating for the trade, just pointing out some of the challenges with both players. Gaudreau had his growing pains as does Huberdeau. Johnny was really bad for the buttonhook plays that sometimes resulted in odd man rushes the other way. Huberdeau does some of that, but I see Mangiapane doing that more now than Huberdeau. 9 times out of 10, when Mange stops short it results in a nothing burger.

I know it's a non starter, but interesting. On one hand, Gaudreau was always fun to watch. He was a one man zone entry machine. Regular season thrilla. Got the fans out of their seats. On the other hand, that was then. Don't know how he would fit this new version of the team. Huberdeau might be a playoff stud that we lacked. Hard to say since we haven't been there. He doesn't fit whatever we have built here. At least he hasn't.

It's a fool errand to predict the final standings. MTL and OTT both winning recently. I woulldn't even count them out of passing us, even though they are far behind. PIT and SEA are iffy at winning games down the stretch. Then again, I look at the teams we play and find it hard for us to take 5/11. It's not like the basement teams will be sitting top players. And hungry players want to earn a spot.

It's a retained salary trade no doubt. I'm not in any rush to get rid of him, but if he is worth a lot in trade then you for sure need to make the move. Maybe by TDL. Mangiapane for me is the bigger issue. Too many bigger D out there that can contain him. Paying $15M for a shutdown line? Seems a high price to pay. I'm not willing to take back crap or overpay to have someone take Huberdeau. If you want him, pay for it. We'll suck it up until he is back to a p/gp player. All that said, there is a time and place for development of young players. Coronato should be in there every day and learning from the vets.

It's actually 12 left. CHI has been really bad on the road this year, but they were missing CB for a big chunk. They are 5-5 last 10 but have only won against bottom feeders. I don't think we have a solution right now for CHI on the rush. Of those games against the feeders, I would think we lose 1 to ANA and 1 to SJS. I project our total to be 81 points and that might be stretching it. Our last 10, we are 3-7-0

There wasn't much to complain about (effort and goaltending was good). Our version of an attack some days resembles TimBits hockey. Whack away at the puck when we get close to the net. Throw a pass into a scrum. Fly-by when we have a 2 on 1, or no 2nd wave when there are rebounds. There's a lot to like about compete level with this team, even now. The team isn't going to score a lot of goals just going on compete.

I might be one of the few that actually sees a use for Kuzmenko. He's one of the few players we have that actually hits the net when he shoots it. He's a puck hound and I see him not turning it over as much as others. I don't think the fit is there with Huberdeau. Then again, I'm not sure who really fits with Huberdeau. IMHO, he turns over the puck on what should be routine plays. Almost like he thinks the game a certain way and nobody else see it that way. I know Huberdeau is untradeable, but I don't know what to do with him. Without a top C, he looks lost. Nothing against Sharky, because I think Sharky is doing the best he can with Huberdeau. The guy just thinks pass when the options aren't there. Even when he's in close and has a direct shot at the net. There seems to be little options available this summer for us to remake the team. Mangiapane, Coleman, Kuzmenko, Huberdeau, Kadri all have the most value. I should say that Huberdeau and Kadri have value to a team that wants to pay for that type of player and don't mind the term. I like Coleman, but he's the type of player you need to win a cup, not where we are. Mange is a player that might have value, but hard to find a fit. So, thinking about what we have, and letting the final pieces develop depending on what we have at the end of the summer, let's see what we have remaining: Zary-Sharky-? Pospisil-Kadri-Kuzmenko Huberdeau-Backlund-Coronato ?-Rooney-? If we were able to get a 1C, then we move Sharky to RW. Zary is a cerebral player that could make any line better. Moving Huberdeau to Backlund's line helps mitigate his play away from the puck perhaps. We can retain on Coleman and Mangiapane, even though I prefer to keep Coleman. We can't just run the same lines as this year again. It's just not there.

We have had a much harder time against the backups, right? Unlike most of the spoler teams, we aren't playing young guns to give them reps. Other than one goal tonight I didn't like, I don't think Markstrom would have fared better. Wolf made several stops that easily could have been a goal against either of our other goalies. The next 3 are against teams we have lost to. April we play WPG, EDM, LA and VAN. That leaves 4 trap games. Points are important to every team in all but 5 games. We are pooched. LOL. We have 2 call ups left to bring up guys and Coronato in the dog house.

I don't even think you need to bump down anyone for a full game to play Coronato extra, Sit Hunt or Greer, but not because of their play. Both have already proved themselves to the GM. You get a 4th line of Greer/Hunt-Rooney-Coronato. You give him minutes with Backlund. The other player he replaces goes to the 4th line or sits. He can play with the puck well enough, so he needs to gain confidence without it.

The weird thing is that teams like Buffalo and MTL and Ottawa are starting to gain some wins. There appears to be only 5 teams that will never catch us. I didn't include ARI, even though they are only 1 back of MTL.

It's funny when you go back to the draft preview: Jurmo's projectable 6-foot-4 frame and smooth-skating lend itself to covering large swaths of ice and carrying the puck from one zone to the next sometimes effortlessly. His speed makes him one of the best puck-rushers in the Finnish U20 league. He accelerates well when he's already in motion and is a deceptive skater in the neutral zone with crossovers and changes of pace. 6'4" (or 5), and close to 210 lbs. Smooth skater? Hard to project from Liiga to AHL/NHL. Sometimes it's better to be a D man first and a guy that scores 2nd. We have quite a few guys that can score.