darksabre

At least we can take solace in the fact that the Leafs might also be bad

UGH! They're really doing this aren't they? How am I supposed to wait for the next episode. This is big stuff!

Hell, Tage Thompson played 65 games last year and he's an AHLer. And from what Botterill said yesterday on WGR he's going to be one for a while.

It kinda does. Luckily for him, and us, it looks like he's actually a real hockey player, and not just masquerading as one.

Vesey, Rodrigues, and Mittelstadt could all be in the A right now. Even Olofsson is questionable given his lack of 5 v 5 production and how much the PP has cooled off.

I've been waiting for the correct take and this is it.

Botterill needs to make some trades to bring in real forwards on contracts that extend beyond this season. They have so much cap freeing up next year that they should be able to get a head start on using some of it if they can find some takers for picks and cap dumps of pending UFAs. I really don't want them to have to get into FA bid wars and whatnot over middle-six level players, but that might have to happen too.

Can't lose your spot to the next guy if there is no next guy

I agree. But you can criticise his linemates for the same stuff. They're not getting anything done either. The lack of NHL players in general is a problem.

I think ice time is part of it. He was getting a lot more in NY which means he was probably playing with better players. He's on the 4th line here and his numbers seem to reflect that. If they want to get him going they might need to put him on the second line or something.

I really like Mittelstadt's raw talent, but I accept now that he should probably be in the AHL rounding out his game. He's just not an NHL player yet. Botterill made some comments on Schopp and the Bulldog yesterday about Tage being ready to join the team again "at some point" and it made me wonder "well why was he here all last season then if he needs to be in the A right now?" Seems like player development is going a little strangely for this team...

If Eichel can put up over a point per game every season for the foreseeable future, and Dahlin can get himself close to that same pace next year, this whole mess will have been worth it, although getting Dahlin wasn't by design. The rebuild has been terribly executed. But it could/should still work out, although on a longer timeline than we'd all like. I wouldn't be as optimistic if we hadn't lucked into Dahlin though. Dahlin takes the edge off of tanking for Eichel.

I'm gonna have to watch this tonight. Exciting!

Yerdon implying on Twitter that Larsson might be hurt. I guess he wasn't available to the media after the game.

Oh!

The Sweden trip probably hurt the goalies more than anyone. It's tough to get into a rhythm playing one game in 10 days. I was watching Hutton a lot last night (trying to find things to work on in my own game) and what I noticed was he was cheating the initial shot a bit in some situations in order to cover up the second opportunities that were inevitably arriving on his doorstep. Carolina was playing a game that had him constantly trying to re-square to the puck and it was clear he was struggling with this. I wouldn't be surprised if Ullmark looks rough if he gets tomorrow's game, he'll have played one game in the last 15 days.

The only goal I really had a problem with Hutton on last night was that blocker side PP goal he gave up late. He could see it the whole way, he just whiffed on it.

Satisfied to get a point out of this one.

Haula was so distracted by Larsson that he let Larsson screen Mrazek

Existing

Joki on the spot!

Please just get a point out of this one. Let's go.

Dolemite is My Name was excellent. Highly recommended. Have you ever seen the movie it's based on? Worth a watch too, mostly because it's terrible lol

Mrazek is getting a rough ride tonight

Lol who had "Lazar breakaway goal" on their bingo card?