travel_dude

I think you are right. I think Rooney's status recently showed him to be a longer time than initially suspected. I suppose the benefit is that if he was health and we waived him, we would have some dead cap space.

I have seen a bit of that passion recently. Lack of games against West teams maybe lessons that a bit, but no excuse for lacking in all games. Yes, Kadri should be using his line more than he has. The one man army isn't good. To me, that is one of the reasons why Bennett didn't work out here. He can pass, so why is he trying to go through the blue line by himself.

It's a tough call, considering Oesterle and Gilbert were 7 and 8 on the depth chart prior to losing Kylington. Personally, I am not enthused with any of the pairings I have seen to date, even prior to Ras being suspended. With Kylington being out of the picture, and possibly not ever playing this season, the prospect of trading Hanifin would leave us gasping for air. Not that Kylington was the solution or Hanifin is the greatest, but losing Hanifin to a trade would set us back quite a bit. Would need to get back a D-man in any trade like that. Sort of pointless unless the replacement is better but less experienced.

The two players we got in the MT deal are fine, but we need the skill to play with them. Weegar is actually good enough to man a top unit with a guy like Kylington. That part of the deal was a win. Huberdeau on RW or playing with some players doesn't work. Not sure why the thought ever was Mangiapane and Huberdeau is a good thing. Johnny-Lindholm-Tkachuk was a thing because of the sum of the parts. It was like the heyday of Johnny-Mony-Lindy. They just fit because they were on the same page and skill types. Johnny was the dancer, Lindy the bartender and Tkachuk the bouncer. Huberdeau doesn't fit (right now) because we don't have a dancer or a bouncer. Just a waiter and bartender. If ever they got a fast break going, you might see something. But Lindy is playing like a Backlund. Not driving near the net. The RW is not clued in. Anyway, probably off topic. Kadri needs what he had in COL. We don't have that really. Ruzicka is probably a good match, but won't battle as hard as you need. A bit too soft on others. He comes out of a board battle with the puck, but not by force but by hand/eye. Dube seems to be a good fit at times, but we have seen much of it without messing the lines. Or perhaps the games that Kadri isn't firing on all cylinders.

Kinda depends on the location of the cut. Kane isn't doing too well since his cut healed. Tendons are not good areas. Any idea where he was cut?

We are lacking creativity out there. At times, the only offensive threat starts with the D. With no Ras and no Kylington, we are suffering.

Atrage coincidence that Ras won't play in the outdoor game and McD is almost expected to miss due to injury. Like Bettman won't let CGY have any advantage. LOL

Naw, I think BT wanted him for years and winning the cup was proof it was the right choice. AVS wanted him but couldn't afford to add his salary in, even at a discount. They needed to move a D and would be worse as a result of it. And they had the MacKinnon contract looming. YOu win a cup, you may want to win it again, but it's not the #1 priority so much. You aren't throwing picks away or re-signing UFA's that will cost too much. I know that idea sounds weird, but you don't repeat unless you manage to keep everyone and can explot the cap. And repeating is only something you want to do, not have to do.

I could care less about length of time holding the puck. McD and Drai do it all the time, so it's not a measure of success or failure. Gaudreau is a beast. It's player specific. What they do with it is more important, like successful passes, zone entry success, etc. Giveaways and takeaways are more important to me. Speed and creativity on the PP. Maybe that's what you meant.

I think it's a bit of a struggle to break away from a certain structure to one implemented by a rookie coach. The ones that hated Sutter's show would be skeptical to adopt one similar in approach. That is not an excuse or valid reason, just a possible scenario. I suspect there are player that don't want to take a shot to the shins and they are selling out. Understandable but not a good enough reason. I look at the DET loss as a wake up call to playing slow. Try may have been there, but don't try, do.

Where did Zaddy say he wasn't interested in signing an extension? But to your point, there is something about the play and these kind of comments that disturb me. Almost like there is a split between pro-Sutter and against. That has a way of dividing a room, since you complain about a style then don't improve under a new one. What I find odd is why they are reverting to some of the very ways that they used last year that didn't work. The PP stagnation. The weak zone entries. The dump and chase. F looking lost in the D-zone. Did we not have a camp to iron this out?

I am wondering about the secrecy surrounding the extension of Hanifin. There has been some suggestions that Hanifin's presser was his chance to say goodbye. It's very possible that a sign-and-trade will be the final outcome. He has a 8 team no trade list, so s signed deal benefits him and the new team. Would only make sense with a known team and their nervousness in trading for a pending UFA. I would only be in favor of a trade at this point if two things were true. One is we have a known start date for Kylington and two is we have an offer that brings back a good young D in his place, either as part or the entire deal. If he is staying, then get him back with Tanev. That is where he looked his best last season.

There isn't much justification for that much when he is that old. In 3 years, the going rate will easily be 7M for that level of production. The UFA deals and terms don't really match the true value at the time of signing. No different than paying Markstrom 8M actual this year

I think there is still a tendency for our identity to be a tough team. Zadorov, Kadri, Weegar, Greer, Coleman love to hit. But I also think that identify should be secondary. You can be fast and tough. Or defensively smart and tough. Or drive the net and tough. Or scoring threat and tough. We seem to have no other thing that defines us right now. I won't make too much of it with one home game played so far. We won the opener because we were able to score. Best that we make the barn a tough stop for teams on the road.

I don't pay attention to his play much, so I can't tell you how dirty he is. I actually wanted to trade for him, but I think that is done. He may have been leaning a bit, but Ras left his feet propelling up to hit the guy. He's huge, like 6'5". Sure, some of it was missing the real target and momentum carrying him, but was not needed.

So, that game against CHI..... Wasn't that one the game that Sutter ripped apart Pelletier for his OT play? AT the time I felt it was as much Kadri and the D overplaying the puck in the O-zone. Pelletier got burned at the O-zone line. Don't remember his real mistake on the play so clearly, but no worse than Kadri's. From Jan.1/22 to end of season, he collected 26 points in 44 games. He ended the season at 56 points, 2nd in goals and 3rd in points. I can understand not liking the player or feeling he's not worth the money. Or is playing like crap right now. But to suggest we will have to buy him out, is a little over the top.

I think he has no clue how to fight, so there's that. He's big and tough and will fight, but I think he should choose his battles. Not sure what he would be like in the NHL, since I see him similar to Zohorna. Maybe that's just bias. If I am not mistaken, he C'd the top line for some time. But, I will say this. If he was any good at faceoffs and NHL, we could sure use a huge C. We lack real size down the middle.

Oh, I understood that as soon as I heard it was 4. From a team perspective, Ras makes us a better team. We saw a pretty disjointed game against DET. I don't lay that on the D, but they didn't help much either.

Unfortunate for Laine being injured as a result of a senseless hit by Ras. He's gonna be out for some time. Hard to say, but he will miss at least the next 2 games. Big hits are still part of the game, but Ras hit high.

Interesting numbers no doubt, but I would hazard to suggest that we don't see much break out speed attempts. By that I mean if we are not generating any speed coming out of the zone, then what we are seeing is a combination of dump and chase speed and PP entry tries, if you get what I am saying. Huberdeau's speed doesn't surprise me because he rarely moves with speed on the rush. He's constantly being checked as the passer, so teams know they just need to take his time and space away. Perhaps I am misreading the info, but what I have seen is how this has played out.

Zary solves one issue of forcing Govich into the C role. I think he could do well to play on a different line as a winger. Would involve moving Greer out and Colemen to 4th line. Only suggesting Coleman because he is defensively responsible and could be good to help the kid get used to it. For weak side draws, Coleman could also take draws. I suppose a line of Govich-Zary-Duehr could also work. Not a lot of vet presence but could be good to build a line. Wolf is winning games (undefeated in 3), but his GAA is not so good, mostly sunk by one game. 6 GA against Abby. Would like him to get some games but want to see his play stabilize a bit first.

Yeah, I know. It was a plan that was acted upon late. Then again, perhaps the big egos of him and Tkachuk couldn't survive the same team.

The signing itself was not the big problem. You sign players like this that you expect to help the core. He hasn't. Had we kept Gaudreau and Tkachuk, this would have been more of a help. Trading Monahan was a sideways move, so I am not in favor of the total cost. Without play driving 2nd line players that fit with Kadri's game, this won't be fixed any time soon. I have liked what I saw from Ruzicka and Dube, but they don't seem to take this into account and make changes that negate this little bit of chemistry. I would almost swap Kadri with Ruzicka just to put him in a better passing situation or allow him to have a better shot.

Very few tradeable assets right now, even the 1st rounder is questionable with the multiple conditions we have attached to them. We have capable players but no one player that checks more than one box. No Gaudreau (zone entry play driver), no Tkachuk (douche, scoring threat), no top D (top scoring or complete shutdown), no PP quarterback. I don't think we will be able to get an impact C in any trade. Not like there are many or any available. Might have to settle for a trade for a winger capable of driving play and QB'ing the PP. To do so, we might have to make an unpopular trade. Pick Dube or Mangiapane to move forward with. One hasn't reached their peak and can play 3 positions. The other is a winger that can play one spot. Can score but remains to be seen if they can hit 30 again. Mange probably has the most value, but won't get much unless he picks it up. The better known cap has handcuffed us with a Lindholm deal. He's not worth as much as what he will cost now. Regardless, he's our only top C. Trading him for a winger is not an option. So, either a bigger package for a top C or surround him with play drivers. Spending more on Hanifin isn't going to make him a top 2 D. Weegar is making the max Hanifin should even get. And I'm not sold he is worth that or should be signed like that.

To make him look good you need other players looking good. I would say he's been about mid pack for suckitude. No players like Nichushkin to lean on or make him look better. Honestly, I haven't seen anything like the guy who beat the Oilers when he won the cup. Nothing close. As far as selling him after a year? Yeah right. We may have a better chance long term by selling Lindholm and Hanifin. Not because the trade would make us immediately better, just that long term it would help reset the bar. Two semi-soft players that are going to get big raises. Lindholm isn't really soft, just that he's not going to war without others putting in as much.