travel_dude

Yeah, that is what I was thinking. The value of Hanifin is to a team that doesn't have a young offensive D but has wealth of forwards. The Backlund thingy is trading a vet to a young team that has lots of D. It may not make us better in the interim.

If it's not physical, then it's just getting the IQ focused. Who knows, it may have caused a decline in performance last season he played. I don't presume anything, just that when a player appears to be mentally ready to play, it's shows up before the physical part. In his cae, the physical part has never been in question.

I'm not suggesting you need to trade Tanev today, just that his age and injury history makes him a weak link for the futire. If he was as injury free as 21/22 (except the playoffs) I woulnd't be so worried. But the injuries are starting to catch up with him and he is getting older. Could be fine or he could be heading downward. I would use Backlund to get you a younger defensive D and use Tanev to get you a decent C/W. Trade has to be before he declines. Sounds a bit scattered I get it. You have to make trades while players still have value though. Or they are just declining in importance and you keep them like TOR uses Gio.

I don't know man. I saw the 2004 replays as being more conclusive that this one. The line is so fuzzy when all the blades scrape aabove it. Has to be white between the edge of the line and the puck. It was goal on the ice though, right?

Had his time where it made sense. It doesn't now. He's as much old school IMHO as Sutter. Couldn't figure out how to make us top 5 with Gaudreau and Tkachuk. Really struggled with new talent and had no clue how to use them.

Set on D is really just an opinion. Yes, we have 6 D signed for next season. Yes, they are capable D. Yes, they are adequate D. With a decent goalie, they would have been adequate (with Kylington). I just think you always have to balance the team according to what you have for the rest of the team. You don't need 4 stud D if you have 3 backchecking C's. You don't need offensive D if you have guys that can move the puck. You use your trade assets to build in another area. It's the overall package that has to be balanced. Lose an offensive D to get an offensive C or W. Lose a offnsive winger to get a defensive D. I think you can graduate the offensive D easier than the defensive D. You almost need to go trade for those types. Kuz maay be on his way to that, but still some time away from it. Not sure about the othes we have on the farm. Stone is a offensive guy with a good shot and is hard on other players, but not otherwise good defensively. Hanifin is good with the puck, but not great holding liines or backchecking. Not good near the blue paint. Tanev is great except lacks size to ckear the front of the net. Zaddy should be great in front of the net but seems to wander. Good offensively. Kyling is hybrid. Probably has the better chance ast being good in all ares. Decision making is sometimes suspect. Strong on his skates and fast at both ends. Ras is a bit smaller than the way he plays. Weegar is pretty good all round. Good in close. Keep Stone as a 7th. Trade Hanifin to upgrade somethng else. Replace Tanev with a younger Tanev. The rest are not the issue.

Leafs down after finally making the 2nd round. Like we can talk much, We had the play-in useless win against WPG, the win against DAL and VAN. Oilers lose due to poor goaltending. Ubless they get perfect goaltending, they will have theor hands full.

I think it's a nod to the Stamps. I'm not sure what dictionary you are using, but it leaves out the obvious?

From what I heard about Maloney's recent comments is that he was tired of the 2-1, 3-2 games and wanted more scoring. Easy to say, but it suggests he wants an offensive thinking coach. Sure it depends on the coach and GM but it's headed away from just trying to get in. You look at the teams remaining and they aren't the 3-2 teams.

Had we not fired Sutter, there would be nothing to cheer for. I mean the usual cheering during a win streak, but the team had to be perfect to get close to one. Had the GM not left, there are chances it would be the same direction as before. I can only blame Sutter for the coaching and AHL player usage. Not that I think we suck, just that we make the same rades and signings every year. There may be good reason for it all, but I would like to see something fresh.

You missed the part where Bettman said absolutely not to Bowman having a job this year in the NHL. The suspension thing meant he couldn't just get a job if offered. Needed approval.

I'm not aying we were a bad team as much as poorly coached this year. Goaltending was putrid when the need was there. Scrambling to get in with 2 weeks reamining and you need to fight off 2 other teams is crazy. FLA was a better coached and better team and barely made it. We were not close to them at all. The posts only matter when you are down a goal or you needed an extra one to ensure a win. We played the kids in a meaningless game and won exactly like we could of for a meaningful game.

I don't think it was one or the other. It just was an example of what the players saw as a coach unwilling to listen or one that harped only on certain players. The GM will make the decision on what is best for the team and secondary the player. If there is no interest, then he has to be ready to waive his NTC come TDL. Love it or hate it, we don't have the cap to pay Backlund what he is looking for on an extension.

Simply put, he's a UFA. The category just is due to not playing NHL games but still being a pro. What do I think about him? I think me and a few others said we reaaly had no idea of what he could become in the NHL because he wasn't given a shot. IN fact the coach spoke down about him as a AHL player that has proven nothing. Not exactly what he said, but he thought you needed to be big to succeed in the NHL. I think he would take some time to adjust to the size of the players he faces. He plays more in your face than Gaudreau, so he would pay the price. Yamamoto from EDM is the same type of player, but gets injured every year as a result. That type of player needs to work harder and dig out the puck for a guy that can score. Has a good shot, so I think he could also score if he got free. He may decide to re-sign because Sutter is gone and the new coach may give him a shot. I think it would be a waste to let him walk without offering him a deal.

The last two weeks of the season were a big FU from SUtter. Have about the same record as we did all season, like that was enough to get in the playoffs. It was all about trying to look good but doing nothing. Saying that you are going with the starter to take you to the end... As if he was good enough and wasn't having his worst season. Get a few wins out of it. We were staring down 10th or better and managed to do just enough to screw that up. I wasn't even happy with a win because I knew the next would be a lodd. Or we would come up one short.

Hall barely lived in Calgary per se, so it's not exactly like he spent his years in Calgary. But beyond that, I do like Hall, just don't see the point. Trade Lindholm for Necas? Sure, that makes sense. I'm not opposed to trading Backlund either. He's done what we asked of him, but at some point you need to move on. While there is value. Tanev is a warrior and one of the few pure D we have. Age and injuries are catching up. Hanifin's hockey sense gets on my nerves. He one of th better D we have, but we've seen the best he has. Zadorov for me is a selfish desire to keep a big body. I know he is not great some games. But, he is nasty when he is behaved.

The exact number isn't even relevent. Ther is zero risk to play him this season. 13F vs 14F on the club while we have 3 goalies. The problem is that we have too many waiver eligible players unless we use the kids like Pelletier and Zary and Poirier. Or we waive Stone after we sign him. It was so stupid that we had to waive Valimaki. There were much better options.

SEA is looking like the spoiler of the West. They finally have their goalie playing top notch. I will hold off judgement of the Oilers until I see what they do with fewer PP's. Skinner in net. Too early to call.

Which is a bigger fail, Leafs down 3-0 against the Cats? Or the Ktaken up 2-1 on the Stars?

We made some dubious choices that year we carried three. Was it Irving or Ortio, I forget. Just kidding I know it was Ortio. Think we ran Hiller and Ramo at the same time. I guess the difference is we don't have Sigalet as the goalie coach now. I do think you need to manage the risk a bit. Start him early enough to know what you have and have time to make a trade if he's ready. There really isn't anything other than one meaningless game against one of the worst teams in the league that gutted the team. He did fine, but it's not a sure thing.

Yeah, that seems a little odd that the two top teams play before the conference finals. Anyway, good luvk to them. Great experience this year. Wolf had the taste of getting to the Calder last year and came up short. He wants it.

I think the biggest issue is we needed a goalie when we signed Markstrom. We got Vladar, but there was no guarantee he would be better than a 20 game backup. EDM would have signed Marky, so maybe that's a huge loss for them or a win. Outscoring mistakes is what they do.

It's drawn out to intensify the agony for the GM's that sit with the best chance at winning it. It's so dumb. The show the team that is picking at position 16. If it's the team that was ranked there, the lotto hasn't gone. If one team doesn't show in the expected spot, then you know they moved up. It's messed up though, since a team at 12 or later isn't winning the 1st overall.

It was more of a question of Wranglers "W" or a stylized horey head. The emblem is bland. Some of the AHL teams is CHL level creativity. Not exactly a province of wranglers either. Can use oil in any way shape or form. What's left that relates to the NHL team? Heat? Ring of Fire?

^^^^^^ So, just some thought. Can't do 3 buyouts a year. Neal was a buyout candidate that we traded for a non buyout player. Should have just kept him the 2nd year and bought him out then. Ahem, maybe not. EDM is still paying the 1.9M in buyout cap. Sutter was brought in as a leader. You need those guys to fill out the AHL roster, not a bunch but one or two. We kind of wasted the AHL as a place to go and spoil. Mostly the last coach who refused to use them. We had injuries and used the fringe NHL'ers instead of the prospects. And we drove some away, maybe we can save a couple now.