travel_dude

With the previous Tkachuk/Doubty crap always brought up by Eric Francis, I almost expect some of those dumb-arse questions in any player availability today. But, Sutter knows what to tell his players. Shut up. Focus on the W and nothing else. Let them worry about us. I doubt that Doubty is 100%, so you know Tkachuk and others are going to hammer him every chance they see. Quick is also a target for Tkachuk, as he causes JQ to lose his focus easily. Expect a combustible game. Let's bring out the worst of this team, not the team that was winning a lot.

It's a little confusing, but it appears that Kuznetsov and Daniil Chayka will join the WJ team at some point. That is true of NA based players. A bit confused, though this is just competing for a spot, I believe.

Tato is my short form, but I get it doesn't quite fit.. Maybe Matato is right. I like Tato myself.

So far it sems that way. The Ruskies didn't list Kuznetsov as being invited. Kerins, Beck and Poirier not invited. The D is pretty deep for Team Canada, so Poirier was a long shot, even though he is killing it in the CHL. Thought they might include Sargeev on Russia, but they prefer guys that are playing overseas. He wouldn't even get a sniff anyway. Now, our Olympic hopefuls list is another story. Ruzicka, Backlund, Markstrom, Gaudreau, Tkachuk, Mangiapane, Tanev (long shot), Vladar, Valimaki (questionable right now), Coleman (long shot), Hanifin (50/50), and Zadorov (medium long shot). I think both Ras and Kylington are not on the projected list. No confirmation that they won't be, just not right now.

One drawback of starting the season once the team has built lines and had practices. I'm sure he will get back to his old self at some point.

The problem with early camp games is that they are against non-NHL talent for the most part. But Francis played just a single game where he did little. He may have shown in the intra-team scrimmages, but didn't look great beyond that. Pospicil, Duehr and Gawdin were the only ones to show anything great.

I agree that both RF and Zary have kinda not been what I expected to see so far. I can give Zary some reasons for the slow start; brutal injury for a guy that uses his edges. He has to pick it up soon. I'm surprised at the flack Pelletier has received from some of our fans. The kid does nothing other than win and produce wherever he goes. Leading the Heat (Ruzicka's call up not withstanding), game winning goals, game tying goals. Plays in all game situations. Could have posted this in the Pelletier thread, but it seems to not get a lot of use. Excited to see Pelts get NHL games at some point where we need a game changing LW to play in the middle 6.

I wouldn;t describe him as borderline. Did he have a setback - sure but Ras did last year. He played himself out of it. Gio was a bad fit for him. Here we are talking about a player that hasn't even been given the chance to play his way out ofit. So, we don't know. I would sit Zaddy. Play Kylington with Guddy and put Valimaki with Tanev. Kylington has shown that he has grown. Doesn;t need the training wheels. I'm saying this because we saw that Tanev and Hanifin were the IT line last year. This year it's Tanev Kyl. Even last year, they would move a player to work with Tanev to build up the depth.

Here's some positives: Top line: outscoring competition 15-2 at 5v5. 60.9% possession. General Scoring 1st in 18 games so far - 13-2-3 record in those 18 games. OT record - poor rate of 1 in 5 wins - seen that this can be at least correctable like last night.

Tato is on the preliminary list for the USA WJ team. Good stuff dude, keep up the great play.

I just haven't seen any positive results from being sent down. Not to say it wouldn't, just none that I can recall that had immediate effects. Mangiapane stayed up once he started playing well and started scoring. Dube maybe came up early, but really he was fine up to this year.

They would send Kylington down to the taxi squad just to save a few dollars. I don't like that. If you are doing it, it has to be for a good reason. Play a bunch of games to get back in game shape. That's all well and good, but why bring him back unless you are going to play him. He has to be better, but you can't be better if you have nothing other than a practice to prove it. AHL is fine, but Ruzicka is yet to play. We are 1 and 1 since he was recalled. Neither were blowouts, but I thought we lost the ball against WPG. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and play a guy. Let him show what he has in consecutive games. Valimaki did enough to warrant a 2nd game, but the choice was different. Him and Zaddy provide different aspects, but both are valuable.

I was on the edge of my seat at time. There was only one PP and it lasted 7 seconds, tow which we scored on our own goalie again. Unfortunate deflection. Definitely a goalie duel. That OT was just insane. I like that we are back on the road, but we have to start winning in the Pacific. Can't be giving away free points. Need to manage the goalies over the trip. B2B to start. Vegas to finish. Would like to see Vladar in 2 starts. Not sure which games. Like to get him string together two in a row and give Marky a rest. Then again, I'm not crazy about Markstrom playing the Sharks. I think you could do Vladar against the Kings, then Marky 2 in a row, then Vladar against the Sharks. Could do it the other way too. Have Vladar do the two middle game. Vegas hasn't seen him. No book on him.

One thing I like to see is the turnover of lines as opposed to waiting for faceoffs. Don't just take a low % shot, go to the net with it and then get your rebound.

Could not find a thread for this guy. Went back to 2019 and gave up. So, I started a new one. Bit of a weird story today. Valimaki is waiver exempt this year. Becaose of the injury he had, he didn;t accrue enough years. Not saying it's the right thing to do, just an option. The AHL has a pretty wird schedule. Between now and December 22nd, the Heat play 10 games. Tough choice. Send the poor guy down (making NHL money) before Christmas. Or possibly get him in 2-12 games here.

That was some crazy OT player usage. I love it. Tanev. Kylington Mangiapane Backlund Gaudreau. Tkachuk and Hanifin played least of players and we looked dominant through 90% of the OT.

Will the Breadman go Yeastmode in California and Vegas? We hope. Let's build up some wins in the Pacific and on the road.

Back to the top of the West. Still leadin in GF/GA differential. Top team for scoring first. Top team for away points. Other things: Top pairing in nets for SA% and GAA. Most shutouts by one goalie and team shutouts.

That was an exciting game. The OT was just insane. SO went to round 7. Pretty even teams, though we controlled everything but the FO dot.

Kyler needs to work on his breakaway moves, Trying 5 hole every time doesn;t always do it.

We didn't get a SO win, but we won in the SO. Funny

We win. Not a regulation win, but I will take it

Backlund makes up for the missed net

Dube please