travel_dude

Markstrom's reflexes look good, but that was a bad rebound. Guess I shall not mention who was on the ice. Stetcher went off due to his stick and Weegar coming on. No coverage up the middle, but it was an awesome pass. Doesn't really matter, it was shooter on goalie.

Uggg. Marshmallow gets the opener.

What a bad PP by Vegas.

Is Tanev in or did I hear something else? Gilbert is playing.

No Cowbell until it's a playoff deciding game or the playoffs. So, ya, October.

Well, there are opnly 10 left and we play WPG and NAS once each. WPG and NAS play each other once. If we get 10 wins, we have 99 points. That means WPG could only get a maximum of 102 points. NAS could get a max of 102. I don't really like predicting, since too many variables.

Posting open

Vegas Lines: Barbashev – Eichel – Marchessault Smith – Karlsson – Dorofeyev Cotter – Stephenson – Kessel Howden – Blueger – Amadio Martinez – Pietrangelo McNabb – Theodore Hague – Whitecloud Logan Thompson (projected)

Flames Lines: Mangiapane-Lindholm-Toffoli Huberdeau-Backlund-Coleman Ritchie-Kadri-Dube Lucic-Lewis-Duehr Hanifin-Andersson Zadorov-Weegar Gilbert-Stecher Markstrom

Heck, you could sit just one of them and still have a better line. But, hey we seem to always win with Lucic in. Except for all the losses he plays in. Maybe it's not crazy. When Lucic sits, he comes back and we get a string of wins. We win against the Ducks, so he must be the reason.

You are doing the exact same thing. You speculate that the results wouldn't have been any different. Win/loss showed one guy winning and the other not so much. Were there any standout performances by either since March 1st? TOR loss, MIN win. Maybe the Ottawa game? Harder to tell with Vladar, played 4 periods, gave up 3 in total. Some agree some don't.

Or we could send them Markstrom. Long term signed. Would give them some stability being there until the rebuild is over. It's probably not a great move for us, but I think it sends a message that we are intent on youth.

What RobRob was talking about was the stretch of 13 games without a regulation loss, from November 29th to January 27th. During that time Markstrom played 17 games. 5-8-3 record. Maybe not stealing the net, but should maybe have played more?

Lines, pairs and projected starter against Vegas: Mangiapane-Lindholm-Toffoli Huberdeau-Backlund-Coleman Ritchie-Kadri-Dube Lucic-Lewis-Duehr Hanifin-Andersson Zadorov-Weegar Gilbert-Stecher Markstrom (Starter) Vladar

I don't think it even comes down to blame. A coach should not get a free pass in a season like this. His ways may have been known, but it's also up to him to get the best out of players. He probably should fall on the sword. The reason why I think this is because he can't change. If the players could broker Lucic and Lewis and Toffoli to bring their suggestions to the coach, that might do something, but I think it just makes the room toxic. He might use suggestions for 1/2 a game, then revert. Here is a small list of the things I think Sutter has ownership for: If you want Huberdeau to not be a rush player and focus on D, then you don't get to call him out for not scoring. If you suggest that a player doesn't need to play on his strong side, you better accept the results. If you are aware of the goaltending issues but just keep going back to the well, don't blame scoring. If you make a joke about a player or trash him individually, then the team is going to react. I'm probably more on the side of firing the coach, since I think with better coaching this year, we would be in a playoff spot. Maybe Huberdeau would still have a down season, but I doubt he would have been as frustrated. If you have a hot goalie, you don't keep going back to the guy who is losing games more than double his winning. That was the early part of the season. 10 games in a row in the most critical stretch and you barely get 500 hockey out of a goalie. Make the switch because it's a B2B. Trust in the goalie is key, but not if the starter is not winning.

I had hope that DET would keep winning. ARI made EDM look really bad last night. EDM only won due to timely PP's and holding the player with the puck in OT. Against the Sharks, they needed 3 overturned goals to win. Yikes. If CGY can get Marky back in nets, we can give the teams below us a run for the bottom. Vladar looks like he might go on a heater. LOL.

Ya, that's exactly what they figured they were getting because everyones knows what it's like to play for Sutter. Who is gonna tell them? And Huberdeau had the belief that maybe Lindholm could get 50 goals setting him up. Sutter called Huberdeau the best passer in the NHL. Yet, he barely got 6 game in with Lindholm. And he was played more than half the season on RW. Some of that was just to allow players like Lucic to play there. Some was to fit Pelletier. Some was for the other random players that have player on LW with him. That doesn't seem like smart coaching. Look I get it. You blame the players because they don't execute. The "system" works for the Wtanglers. Must be a problem with the NHL players. Not a coaching issue, he has no control about what they do out there. And if they can't take the criticism, they don't deserve to be here. Has he ever criticized Lucic harshly? What about Lewis? I have heard nothing bad. "Those guys are pros, they know their role and do it well". Yeah, I guess getting scored on is their role. Anyway, you want to argue about it, go ahead. I cheer the team, not the coach. If they decide to keep him, I will just get used to more of the same.

Well, I for one care what people think and don't insult them in public. That would be like a boss publishing a story about how lousy an employee you are. You bring up stats that we all know about. What is less understood is how many games we lost due to poor coaching. No idea, because the coach only ever says "somebody didn't score or we didn't get a PP goal or we didn't get that timely save". I don't know, maybe play a LW on LW and not simply say it doesn't matter? Pull a goalie when you still have time to do something about it? Not use some magic formula for ratio of starter vs backup? Perhaps not put out 4th line against a top line just because that's the way you roll lines? Maybe hold vets to the same standard during the season? In a season like this there are typically one of two results, sometimes a bit of both. 1) coach is blamed and fired - reasonable expectation that a poor record means you failed 2) identify the problems and make trades/buyouts We lose a bunch of UFA's as it is, so there is some natural turnover. We have cap issues that will require some work and possible trades. As well, we have to maximize cap by using young players on ELC deals. I would prefer to have a couple of Ruzicka/Pelletier/Zary/Coronato to one Ritchie. Having the right coach for prospects is essential. Do we have the right one now?

Modern management would suggest that you don't trash an employee only. You give praise when due and you correct when not done. He acted like a dick and the players didn't like it. Thought he was being cute. Trashed the team as being low skill. Called out the top players in a loss, specifically the F. Rarely said anything negative about the goalie. His goalie that is. The criticism about gameplay or systems come with losing. No captain named, so there is no buffer. Players only meeting will be rough because you have the outspoken Lucic. Sorry bud, you are part of the problem. What you suggest works both ways. And you are not part of the future. Anyway, the coach search doesn't need to be solved before the draft. There will be available coaches after the season ends and the playoffs are done. I'm also not a fan of a coaching search while you still have the head coach. If you are making the change, keeping him while you look makes no sense. Right now would be appropriate. He hasn't earned a return next year. Waiting until we are basically out of the playoff chances to make changes shows lack of ability to adapt. Le the interim coach throw things out and allow the players to come together.

Realistically, the other teams all have to fail while we win. We also have to be one point up on both to get in. So, technically we are 5 back of a playoff spot. The odds of all three happening are not great.

THAT DOES NOT COMPUTE.....BEEEP..... Technical issue due to the NHL not wanting the fans to be able to continue criticizing Sutter. I thought it may have been a CHROME O/S issue, but it seems to have affected other platforms. I got a DNS error when I tried a different way, but not sure.

Yes, the NHL didn't want us to have nice things. Back to lose one, win one. Yeaaaa 500 hockey.

Time for Eric Francis to pump him up.

Let the rout begin. Vladar with the shutout.