travel_dude

I've seen nothing to suggest that Dube belongs anywhere near Nordstrom. Lucic has been a guy that has had some pretty bad shifts. Ritchie? Come on, he's a 4th line grinder. The D pairs are just scary. Let's hope that Hanifin-Stone is just a placeholder for a maintenance days for Tanev. I've really lost hope with the last week or so of poor lineup choices. Stone and Nesterov do not move the needle, not even low risk low reward. Nordstrom and Ritchie are bit players at best. Leivo takes the fall again. I guess it's a plan to fail lineup. Evaluate a certain style. Hold the good players accountable for it, even if they are being sunk by bad players. Trade away the talent to get a hard working team. Re-tool every year.

Lots of guys that played minor (and pro) hockey I would never trust to making decisions. I mean Burke is a hockey guy. May not agree with him on a lot of matters, but he is a smart executive. Apparently, the likes of Mayray, Hamonic and Lazar impressed the pro staff. Most of us here had strong opinions about all of them, especially Neal and Lucic. But we don't have to overrule the scouts' opinions and walk away. Do I blame him for sign/trades? Only because he made the deal. I wouldn't say he was capable of making the decisions to go after player X.

I think things changes after that 2014 draft year. Feaster and Biesbrook (whatever) made the decisions themselves on Gaudreau, Janko and such. Didn't matter what the scouts said. Burke obviously had decided he was smarter than Button and the rest, cuz nobody thought Hunter Smith was anything. The following year, we had Kanzig, Gilmour and Harrison. Questionable drafting that year; Burkie said he loved all three 1st round picks. Was BT or the scouts deciding anything? BT isn't really a hockey guy himself. He would lean on his pro and amateur scouts. Drafting would be opinions that are weighted out. Trades are based on pro scouts. We seem to suck the most at that aspect. Too many failed trades/signings. Bolig, Mayray, Brouwer, Neal, Stone, Lazar, Smith, Hamonic, Chris Stewart, Bart-man, Lack, Forbort, Lucic (no better than Neal for the money)....

Lucic makes a ton of mistakes and doesn't sit. Cost the team a game with dumb penalty (yes, Marckstrom made a questionable decision to set up the 5 on 3). Nesterov can do no wrong? Gio and Ras are perfect together or you can't drop Gio or Ras to a third pairing. Dube just okay, but other somehow escaped the knife? Mangiapane gets a penalty and GWG, but he's the one that drops to the 4th line? I get Sutter is a demanding coach, but he is making weird decisions on things I am not seeing. Is this just his way of saying nobody should be comfortable?

So, do you think Sutter is a basic cook and doesn't want spices? Monahan and Backlund are vanilla. I don't know if Gaudreau is spice or tomato paste. With some players he could be cumin. Watered down versions. Gaudreau, Ras, Lindholm, Kylington, Bennett, Leivo, Rittich. Bland Monahan, Backlund, Lucic, Gio, Tanev. Not a lot of spice remaining.

I will cut BT some slack on a few things you have listed. They were based on Burke decisions, not BT. Hickey was not a bad choice at the time, but it seemed like after the draft BT knew he wasn't panning out. More teams than not missed out on Point and Arviddson. Blame that draft on Burke though.

So, projected lines for today: Tkachuk-Lindholm-Leivo Gaudreau-Monahan-Ritchie Nordstrom-Backlund-Bennett Lucic-Ryan-Mangiapane Giordano-Andersson Hanifin-Tanev Nesterov-Stone Markstrom (Starter) Rittich I've got only a minor problem with the defense. Nesterov over Valimaki is puzzling, but I can understand the coach might not be impressed with Valimaki's recent play. As far as the forward lines, I must have missed where Mangiapane was deserving of the demotion. I get he took a penalty for "roughing up" Scheifele, but I thought he was the best player on his line.

My point is that we've lost 1 game in regulation and 1 game in OT with Kylington on the roster, while the other 4 were wins. In our biggest lopsided loss recently, Kylington was on for a goal for and one against. Can you point to Nesterov as an obvious reason for any of the losses in recent games? Not really, except for the penalty when we were down a goal late. The bigger issue is that we are using a middling player with our best rookie D-man. If he's not a big improvement over Kylington, why bother having him. Get a D-man that is an improvement and at least were aren't scored on as much with the 3rd pair out there. We've lost 5 games to Ottawa, which if they were wins, would put us 2nd in the division.

Whether or not Monahan is the problem with Gaudreau or playing with a guy like Ritchie or a limited view with Dube, the bottom line is they aren't winning games. I thought it was a waste to use Lindholm with Lucic, so this is at least a better look. On another note, Flames are 1-3-0 since Nesterov came back in the lineup.

The media is on is like a dog on a bone. I'm closer to what Bieksa was saying. It sounds to me like the coach is thinking the same thing. And that's where I am right now. I thought the puck flip thing to be just a bunch of negative stuff put forward by media that thrives on intrigue. People seem to have bought into it. If there is any truth to it, maybe Gio was annoyed for Tkachuk for slamming (and locking) the door behind him when he left the ice. Get over it. You have a guy that leaves it on the ice and you get pissy about an ignorant gesture? Maybe they talked about it, but who really knows. If so, I hope it was clearing the air, not telling someone to fight their own battles and stop being a drama queen.

This is a slight modification from the last Ottawa game. Lindholm was playing with Lucic and Bennett (thought that was a bad setup for a guy that was playing as #1C). Dube was playing with Monahan. Basically, this is a return to the playoff lines. I'm interested to see if the 3M line can get back to what they were like last year. Backlund had a bad shift last game with this setup and it cost us a goal. The bigger change is obviously using Lindholm to see if they have anything to change the game.

Bieksa had an interesting comment about Tkachuk. He felt that Tkachuk was doing everything he was supposed to do, but was putting too much pressure on himself to do it all. Hitting and checking taking more of a toll on his scoring. Add to that Sutter's comments (sure he's supporting him outwardly and not throwing him under the bus), where he said he needed to use Tkachuk more and in the RIGHT circumstances. That leads me to believe Sutter things Tkachuk is trying to do too much and leaving one part of his game lacking. Tkachuk has also said he needs to do more, taking it on himself. That is not the problem with the team. I see what he is saying. The media is more focusing on the puck flip as being the reason and point to dressing room issues. Might be a little of both.

Hockey purests don't like the idea of chips in pucks or other modern ideas. So, instead of 2 pros that make decisions seing things live and get a lot of things right, you want to have 5 people doing their job in a backroom or mom's basement. Who do the C's talk to after a penalty or goal for an explanation? Go to the bench and use a tablet? Oh, right they are faceless. Instead of lights to display a delayed penalty, why not eliminate the ref watching on TV to look for penalties and have sensors on the pads. A stick hack lights up red. A punch is blue. A trip is purple. I'll stick to the imperfect system. The NHL should police it's own. They reward the better ones with playoff games. The Wideman effect was real and they did nothing. Mostly because Bettman was PO'd about CGY defending him.

I read it the other way that they finished the season with a winning record and got close to a playoff win. Checked the wins and it lines up from January to end of season. Last year, there was just so much more to be happy about. End of the BP story and we turned it around. Beat Anaheim 6-0. Beat EDM twice in January. Great month.

I think you see both extremes. One team getting called 8 to 1 in penalties. Fans don't think it's fair. The no calls in those games are usually on both sides. Or the nothing is wrong games. The playoff reffing benefits the dirty teams more. I don't think there is a system of lights that works. What we have, needs to improve, but it's owners that are balking at making the needed changes. They don't want the book, they want subjective calls until it hurts them. They probably liked what the ref said and 90% of the owners are fine with it. They don't want 20 minutes of PP's a night. As a fan it sucks we have to watch the measured calls. Usually benefits the team that is trying to tie it up. "exciting" hockey.

For clarity, he's talking about last January. Nobody had career years.

Considering that he tried to get Kadri in 2019, Hall in 2020, among other things, I suspect he knew what he had. You can't always fix things according to your own timetable. Need a goalie and a tough D-man becuase you can't handle big players. Need a RW and a top C. Need a good 4th line. We were able to get some things done. Couldn't land a #1C or a top 6 RW, either through trade or UFA. Not enough return for Gaudreau and Monahan and maybe even Gio, so no deals done. Signed some guys to fill a void, but really just disposable assets. Maybe the Ward record was the reason for hiring him, but I feel it was BT's worst mistake. Playoffs were not just a player failure. Coaching should have been evaluated better. I don't really know what to make of this season. We were better without Lindholm as a #1C. We were better with Gio-Brodie than Gio-Ras. We had a collection of 3rd pairing D-men no better than this year. We are not a radically different team personnel wise. Brodie and Hamonic and Reider and Janko should not have made that much difference. It seems that because we could not get a #1C and couldn't land a top 6 RW, we were forced to try for depth by forcing some things. Hanifin-Tanev is the good story for the year. It could have been Hanifin-Ras and whatever. Or the return of the Gatorade line or the dominance of the 3M line. We chose perceived depth and sticking with the Ward looks from day 1 and just ending up with a real NHL coach. The team plays like they are all going with different gameplans. Nobody on the same page. Tkachuk wants to be a pest, but need to tone it down. Gaudreau should be defensive, then dump the puck because he has nobody that can take a pass. Monahan needs to be defensive but not quick enough to then get up the ice. Gio and Ras both seem like they want to be the offensive guy, but nobody backing them up when either go in deep. Bennett on the perimeter. Backlund playing with Lucic. Mangiapane has the puck every shift, but will get plastered because he has no out. I just don't know.

I don't know how that works for the other parts of their responsibilitoes that being on the ice matters. goalie interference high stick lose sight of puck pushed in kicked in That's the easy stuff. TO is already reviewing stiff after the fact and stopping games (ex. goal not seen). Considering they can't even get to a point where a chip determines exactly where the puck is, not having refs seems to be pie in the sky.

I'm so sick of changing standards in a game or from one game to the next. Even the playoff standard changes every game. Hits like the one on Kylington are a joke. No call on the ice. Yet we saw soft calls on much lesser things. And blatant non-calls.

Based on a rookie goalie or Murray from the backend? The last time the Sens were a decent team was the says of EK. Tye have somw talent, but will never be close to a contender. Their MO is pay just enough to have fans get excited and fill the seats. Then as soon as the stars earn their pay, dump them for next cycle. You can't build a winner just with young players on the cheap.

Coould the D possibly make a pass anywhere besides the boards? I'm talking about the first pass to the wingers. Isn't there a bunch of iice out there? I've got no problem improving the team without robbing the future. We have needs. The fact that Lucic is playing with Backlund should tell you something. We don't have a better LW? He has his place, but 15 minutes a night may not be it. Hall, Arviddson add a dimension we don't display. Speed. Maybe we are a priduct of an old coach and new one unable to change this late. Or we have such slow players we have to play that way. I don't think Sutter wants us to exit slowly. Or run the exact same play every time.

If you play Hall with Gaudreau, it has to be Gaudreau on the off wing. I actually think that opens up more two on ones from the pair. Both have speed, and a last second pass to Gaudreau on the off wing is a one timer. Johnny could set up Hall from any spot on the ice, so I don't think it matters. In the off chance you pkay Hall with Lindholm, you just need that RW to be a decent one. Mangiapane or Dube. Doesn;t mater. Right now I feel Tkachuk is dragging down the team. Not his usual self, has arsed plays, isn't as effective going to the net.

I'm just suggesting what the team is, but what they could do IF they make the playoffs. 16 wins and very few losses means they have figured it out and are playing BIG BOY hockey. You don't win in the playoffs by coasting in (see Oilers, Edmonton) like the Flames did in 2018/19.

My take on the roster this season: Progress Hanifin-Tanev - they have beocme the top pairing on the team. Dube - was never worried about him, but he looks a lot more confident. Mangiapane - hard to really say progressed, but he is one of our best forwards this year. Valimaki - progressed in tht he's been able to play. Lindholm - really just the fact he is the top C puts him there; otherwise I still think he is playing pretty good. Lucic - doing the things you want him to do, but I hate the easy giveaways in the D-zone Ryan - basically even, not worse, not better Ritchie - not so much positives, but he has played better than a 4th liner at times Regress Monahan - just a loss of his deadly shot, lack of speed. Tkachuk - where is the edge, where is the never give up attitude, why still trying the little poke passes and between the legs play. Backlund - holy crap, what happened to the steady two way play. Bennett - has done little with the opportunity, hasn;t changed his shot or tactics Gio-Ras - man, I can;t even tell you where the problem is other than it's not working Neutral Gaudreau - no help, so I don't know how he is supposed to turn it around Leivo - shows up well, but a down year otherwise Rinaldo - meh, he is okay but not moving the needle Nesterov - well he;s playing in the NHL, not much else to say When three of your old top 6 and two of your expected top D regress, you aren;t going to win much. Nobody going to the dirty areas or able to make clean passes regularly. A PP that looks like they are just killing time.

Good to see. I think he will be valuable to the Blazers this year. The WJC pumped him up for the AHL games. AHL pumped him up for the WHL start.