travel_dude

All of this is so true. We turn F's playing with Backlund into checking players. Mangiapane had one season that all his shots went in, but couldn't keep it up. Some of our C/LW can play RW but a lot of them just move the play. I would suggest that we get Nylander just to add some scoring so we can develop a 3rd line without Backlund going forward. I tend to think we have some decent prospects that could develop into something, but we have to focus not just on maintaining but a little of playing guys where they can develop. Ad scoring in the top 6 and we aren't so desperate to keep Backlund. It's long term. We may trade him this summer or TDL, which seems to be more difficult to accept. Maybe a new GM and coach can give an honest assessment at TDL to say we need to win by losing a player. Time is right. The loss in FA is worth the possible loss in season. Back to the draft, I would be happy with a number of players. The need is not a player to come in right away.

If I recall, he played LW with Lindholm. Think it may have been Toffoli on the other side. One of the first goals they score was an amazing pass from Hubey to Lindy on a ruh. GOAL. The comments were his attempt at being funny, but it came off wrong. He was just being the usual jerk at pressers. When you have to come back and say why you pretended to not know his number, then the joke failed. My beef is more to not getting what he was seeing. The lines are broken, you don't keep doing it over and over. Coaching was as much the difference between no playoffs and getting in as goaltemding or not scoring. I can probably think of 10 games that coaching mistakes caused the loss. Inclues picking the wrong goalie when it was obvious to fans. Includes using the wrong lines at the wrong time. Whatever, we are done woth the fool. Appreciate what he was able to get out of the players in year 1. Everything else was a fail.

To add to that TC, he was good in the first 6 games before Sutter trashed the lineup and bag skated the team. Hubey with Lindholm, but hey we got scored on so time to ruin the lineup.

It doesn't take much to become dysfuntional. Coach building the bottom with his ideal players. Goalie choices that see first shot goals has players wondering why they have to score an extra 2 or 3 just to have a chance. Pissing on the young guys in front of the vets. Talking up a guy that is completely uselss and the rest are just doing their job. You can blame the GM overall for the roster available. The GM wasn't able to get the coach to use those players. Not much point in saving a roster spot for Valimaki when the coach has said he doesn't belong.

I think Weegar hit his stride at the WC. Showed what he is actually capable of. I know, different competition, but he was so poorly coached here it wasn't funny. My concern about Huska is that he leans back on Sutter type choices. Seeing he was respnsible fo the D. But anyway, I do think Weegar is likely to be our best D-man next season. He's different than Ras and Hanifin. Not that it makes us any better, but trading Hanifin probably means Weegar plays top minutes. And that we use Hanifin to get a top 6 player (my hope). It's a risk, relying on Kylington, but you manage the minutes and it shouldn't be a big issue. Bring in a 3rd pair guy that could play 2nd pairing if needed.

That shows a strong bias coloring your opinion, regarding coaching. Regardless of who we had on the team this past year, was there ever a game that you thought "genius"? I don't consider rolling 4 lines as smart if your 4th line is mostly crap. They had good games, but nowhere near 20 of them. Starting the 4th line immediately after a PP? Like you know that you have a rested player coming out. The offensive guys don't kill penalties. So, you get a top line coming out. Duh.

I see Laffy kinda like Nolan Patrick; not really a top 2 player in the draft but rated that way. I think he has a lot more to give but I think they rushed him to the NHL without some growth in the AHL first. WOuld I make a trade for him? Sure. Would I give up our best asset right now for him? Questionable.

So, Iginla to become the special advisor to the GM.

Former teammate of Coronato John Farinacci is a FA this summer. Any interest? RHS C.

Who was the starter that didn't play a single game this year? On LTIR perhaps? RL are his initials.

Have to wait for some sign of cowbell and not the tendency to replace the bell with a piece of crap.

So, you need to use players deemed too small then to make trades, right? But I will point out that small height is not a reason to exclude them Jonathon Marshmallow. 5'9" Discarded by FLA in the expansion draft. Playoff MVP.

So, looking at the season, who would you bet the farm on? Hill was the superior goalie during the playoffs and had a good run in regular season. Quick was broungt in for depth.Brossoit was the starter leading up to the playoffs and round 1 and 2. Thompson was their guy for most of the season. Had there been no injury, Hill wouldn't have got the start. Not saving that was right. My obvious point is that not many teams are lucky enough that their starter is on LTIR, they get a goalie on waivers, don't lose Brossoit on waivers and manage to run a team on multiple goalies up to and including the playoffs. Silent applause form not waiving Hill at the time, since he could have been claimed. Depth of good goalies is only possible if you have guys in the AHL, run 3, makes trades for extra depth or have a guy come out of nowhere.

Gudas? Too expensive signing or too old?

So the amount of golies that they invested in, only to have their 4th stringer be the best of them. That is in addition to the goalie that hadn't played since last year.

Well he started in Latvia with the national team. But what good is an ex-NHL coach that hasn't been involved in NHL hockey in years?

I'm not a fan of Vegas. They had the exact right team to win the cup this year. The dynamics of winning the cup changes every year. Prior to the seeding, you really don't know what will shake out. Vegas had the right pieces and the right moves at the right time. Where the Flames fail is that they don't make adjustments that work. Vegas right sizes and looks at players that can help. Flames seem to make knee jerk moves that don't work.

There was some interesting iso shots of the Vegas netfront. You could look from the net out and not see a FLA player within 20 feet in any direction. The slot was vacant. Any pucks from the high slot had to go through 3 layers. So, the inability of the Flames to clear the netfront was easily the reason we had a lot of goals against there. Oilers were using the guy on the far post to be ready for rebounds, but you take them out and there in the one-timer and that is it.

I think you are just putting in the thread for when you expect him to be fired in a year or two. Put your reservation in now, I get it.

And Tkachuk again misses the end of a playoff run. Injured against the Stars in a round 1 loss a few years back. Pushes in a heated series until someone levels him. It was never going to be Tkachuk fencing in front of the net and drawing a penalty, it was always going to be a hit over the edge and a team targeting him in return.

I didn't understand the offer for Eichel. It's like we offered a minibike for a high end car with a ding in the door. Buffalo colluded though, so it ruined the offer. The Stone deal was kinda strange. All the talk about not being able to sign Stone when it was really could we sign Stone.

He's the usual story of a coach that has success. Thinks he's the reason and goes Full Metal Jacket. Became toxic. Took the keys back from the sports car and tried to change what made them work. Once you go Russian I guess you never come back. Now is not exatctlt the time for a coach to switch from the KHL to NHL. Players are one thing, and they have to be careful what they say (both for their families and their career).

Coach goes with the struggling goalie. Check. Coach ignores the one goalie that had a winning record and go with the starter. Check. Previous season, the goalie starts seemed to match the records. Result, 11 shutouts for the season. That was long before the end of the season, so burnout ya know? Asking an AHL coach with no experience coaching NHL players at that level is a little bit like starting Wolf for 82 games. Chances are he does okay, but chances are he loses confidence. If you were strictly using AHL players from the last two years, he would have a good impact. Huska has experience with the guys like Mange, Dube, Ras and Kylington. Not just in the AHL but in the NHL. I would have preferred a brand name coach or one that has been an assistant on a contender. But there is no reason why an assistant coach that has been under several NHL coaches hasn't learned a few things. He would see the mistakes made.

Yeah, not sure what I was thinking.

Yeah, I think we overreacted on the Tkachuk deal by signing too long. I have no problem with the players and they likely are the leaders on the team. But, I'm not really happy with giving long term deals now. Backlund and Tanev are aging out and should get max 2 years. Hanifin could get a longer deal, but I'm not really thinking that's a good idea. He's been in the league so long that he will break down sooner.