travel_dude

How many Elias Pettersson's are there in Sweden? We have our own version of it with MEP. VAN drafted another one with the same name as their star. Too bad about Beck. He has been derailed with injuries too often.

Since you are following them, how do you think they stack up against the West. From what i see (wins/losses), they have struggled a bit against West teams. 5-3-2 record is decent but Minny is the only West team they have beaten that is above the playoff cutoff. That isn't a criticism, just and observation. I do want them to destroy EDM and SEA. Take down WPG a few notches.

You really think he would make an impact with Lucic and Lewis? I think back to the games last year where Ruzick got shifted to the 4th line. Wasn't particularly effective in the role and ended up scratched for a bunch of games. Was 3rd line or bust and when Jarnkrok came in, he went down. Yeah, it was cap and roster spots, but he never got another game. Then I look this year when Dube played on the line. If the standard was you will play 8-10 minutes and not just have to crash and bang, and the results of the line didn't determine your staying or going back down, then fine. I just don't believe Sutter has that same belief. He would want to use Zary in a top line role. His view of the 4th line seems to be heavy forecheck and not get scored on. And that isn't exactly happening. This isn't the same as when we had Hathaway and Jooris and Mangiapane on a line.

I do think it's more than just win a cup. It's get into the playoffs and win a couple of rounds every year. But you need a few young guys added in every year to do that. The reason I say win rounds is that's where the excess revenue comes from. Half arsed builds don't win games and don't go far. Key is finding the next Backlund before he ages out. And the next Tanev and Markstrom.

Just don't be too surprised if it happened. If it was a top 9 spot they wanted to fill then yes, it's obvious who should be there. A 4th line spot is harder to gauge. Especially if you continue to play Lucic and Lewis. Zary would be a waste there. Get rid of Lucic and actially ice a line of competutive players and I would be fine with it. So we lose some identity but we have a line of... Pelletier-Zary-Phillips Not sure how that is worse than the present line.

My regrets with Bennett come from poor usage on the team, resulting in him wanting out. Regrets with Valimaki was simply the loss of a depth defender where Mackey hasn't exactly proven to be any better. We made a choice to waive Valimaki over Mackey or Stone. Or even waiving a 4th line player to have roster depth on D. The Rooney signing hasn't exactly worked out. If you aren't going to call up guys like Pelletier or Phillips for the top 9, then why not Zohorna for the bottom line. He wasn't a top 6 player during camp, but he has to be at least able to do something at C or wing.

Sutter mentioned that he uses different methods depending on the player, but I think his personality rubs some the wrong way. Gaudreau talks about his words after a game winning OT goal in the playoffs; nice goal. That's about it. I think Sutter has a problem with individual vs team success. You could be a standout, but the line sucked, so you all suck. You do well, the whole line is doing well, so you are all playing good. That may be the case when it's positive stuff. You could be on a line that sucks and you haven't raised the line up, then you don't deserve anything. Or you are paid to score and you don't. If you are a vet, get better. If a young player, not going to hard areas. Of course, I am basing this on public comments. I don't see the real Sutter at practices. He could be great in the room, but his bench persona makes that doubtful. The team is trending in the right direction, then has a weird night. For the most part, we are seeing a team that is in stage 2 of team developing. 4th line is killing us, but I don't know how much that infects the rest of the lines. Are the D getting burnt from having to cover for them? Does momentum shift so much that it's hard to get it back? If so, why are we shooting ourselves in the foot and playing them?

It would seem that the top 9 is set. While they played well, they just weren't finishing. Yotes goalie was pretty good out there, but not making it hard enough on him. Again we struggle in our zone and get caught for too much zone time. While the 4th line didn't get scored on, they certainly struggled in our zone and exits. I haven't seen Lucic struggle to make a play this much since the Bill Peters days. The Rooney experiment isn't working out. Lewis does have some push left in his game, but I worry when I see that 4th line jump on the ice. There isn't much point in carrying Rooney for now. Whatever he was in NY isn't showing up. That may be from playing with fringe guys, but who knows. Wouldn't it be better to bring up Zohorna if you aren't using the stars from the Wranglers? He could fit a 4th line role. Plays C in the AHL right now. And maybe it's time to sit Lucic for a few games. He has no pace anymore.

All I can say is I don;t want to hear a word from Sutter about letting the team back in the game.

Think it may have been deflected a bit.

Oooh Ruzie, you missed

Malfunction at the junction. Holy crap

Makes up for 2 missed calls. Kadri with the finish

One could use cowbell right about now. More Cowbell that is

Ruzie keeps his feer moving. Lost the puck but draws the PP. Make it count Oilers lost.

Keep a rollin 4 lines

Couple of missed calls this period

Vladar doing things that Marky wasn;t able to do. Keep the team in it when they suck

So much for the 2-0 start.

Lucic has really lost it.

Too bad, since we have high event players. Lindy, Hubey, Toffoli, Dube, Mange, Ruzie, Backlund killers on the rush.

What a save by Vladar

A bit of Backlund screen there. Que the benching in the 3rd

And you are right about size. Even being over 6, he still gets the least ice time or close to it.

For some reason the Backlund line was benched for most of the 2nd. There was a suggestion that Backlund lost every draw. When 4th line has as many shifts, then something is going on.