thewookie1

Neither

I meant the young D, I’d imagine most of us thought Fitzgerald would be a fine 7th Dman and Bryson could handle a bottom pair role admirably. Instead Fitzgerald and Bryson have taken turns being the common denominator in most GAs at 5v5 I guess in a sense I’m not saying he didn’t fail as much as I’m unsure how he could succeeded in both adequately playing 6 NHL certain level defenseman and still garner the needed viewing of the 3 Dmen involved presently. You can count on injuries to occur but never to what extent. Plus hoping your starters get hurt so you can’t figure out more about you 7/8 Dmen just sounds wrong.

God I wish Mitts played up to his potential. Fun episode; loved Tuch and Cozens trying to hide in the cafeteria

Doubt that goalie ever amounted to something lol

To be perfectly honest I don’t think KA failed with the acquisition of defensive depth but rather the defensive depth failed to live up to expectations. To start the year we had Muel - Dahlin Power - Jokiharju Bryson - Bush Some were unsure about Jokiharju and Bryson had been all over the place the past couple years but they were both seemingly growing and NHL defensemen. Jokiharju has done better since the preseason but has been injured twice now. Bryson has done exactly what he did last year and his year prior; show great defensive prowess with skating and puck handling then suddenly implode at any need of spot filling a Top 4 and then he just spirals. Depth wise we had a mix of NHL experience in Clague and to a lesser degree Pilut along with a potentially solid #7 in Fitzgerald who had impressed last year. Acquiring depth is not as simple as signing guys; they must be ok with playing in the AHL for significant stretches and not make a fuss. Fitzgerald was automatically going to make the team due to his waiver issue and having shown potential last season in fill-in roles. Otherwise it was seemingly deep at season’s start. Then injuries plagued the group and all the young depth turned into pumpkins. Not just 1, but all 3, which wasn’t likely to say the least. After all, what are the odds we lose 3/4 Dmen within 10 games of the season’s start? In order to see Bryson play and judge his usefulness, he had to play; him sitting as the 7 wouldn’t help KA figure out Bryson at all. On the flip side, while acquiring a better 5-6 Dman would’ve been nice in hindsight; if any of the 3 younger guys starts playing well, where does this vet go? We all saw what happened with Sheahan when we replaced him. Managing a roster is more than just plugging players into spots; it also is the relationships you create with the players and their agents by extension.

This is likely the case; Eichel is a great player that can be many things for a team but cannot be your apparent cornerstone piece as it seemed to get to his head. Vegas sees him as the piece that will put them over the top where as Buffalo looked for him to rise them to the top.

Well the 23' 1st is a non starter for me

The good news with those losses were that we were in every one of those games; so they are certainly growing. We just need to get over that proverbial hump.

Bruins fans felt Reilly bumbled badly anytime he was pressured in the Dzone and we honestly have plenty of that already at a cheaper cost lol.

The West never helps us in the standings. They always go to OT and perhaps even lose

I’d have 3 theories: 1. The drop off is more noticeable since our speed is higher than Pittsburgh in general thus our tired looks much different than our energized. 2. Vets are far more skilled at conserving energy than youngsters. They are better at staggering their drop off whereas younger players are a bit more boom then drop. 3. Our Top 3 D played far more time overall than their D as a whole. Dahlin nearly played an entire game worth of time between the two.

On Ullmark, I wouldn’t have given 7mil for 6 years. Especially back then where he came off a 3rd or 4th straight season where he got hurt and missed significant time. As they say, hindsight is 20/20 and he’s thrived in Boston after a year there. Also, I don’t excuse him from not figuring out a better goalie situation but I do understand that this past offseason was a barren landscape in terms of options.

@Thorny Care to elaborate?

I just don’t see Chychrun happening for his apparent cost. Okposo is either back 1 more year at a lesser number or likely retires. Girgs is likely back due to leadership reasons. The only way I see them giving up on UPL is if his play continues to be abhorrent; if not he’ll get another year due to his “age” As for the rest of the D, I’m pretty much in line to rid ourselves of many of the failed younger guys. Jokiharju can stay though barring absurd trade potential. Olofsson can be made redundant if Quinn grows into his role offensively. Mitts and Krebs are hard to gauge due to their youth and sporadic great games.

To be honest, I honestly don't think there's been much in regards goalie choices. Ullmark was given an equal offer but chose Boston Husso was traded for a 3rd prior to even reaching UFA, plus it was for the pick 1 choice higher than our 3rd. Campbell has been a trainwreck He tried to trade for Matt Murray which was a shot in the dark, that has so far worked for Toronto, but Murray nixed the trade. Statistically goalies haven't been great this year in general and the number of solid goalies are fewer that 32.

Wish Dahlin broke that bitch Guenzel’s arm

Run the goalie

So many ***** posts

What in the world is wrong with our endless injuries.

Wow, and I'm completely unsure how to judge them this year. They aren't terrible by any means but they aren't world beaters either. While the standings may not show it, they are definitely improving.

Rough way to end it but the vet team got a couple more bounces, a bad call on Mitts and 3 goal posts to thank for their OT win. Now onto tomorrow; kick their ass!

Would need protection on that 1st or it downgraded I'd offer Jakob Chychrun and Karel Vejmelka for Mitts, UPL, Ryan Johnson, and our highest and lowest 2nd in 2023.

Pretty much, that's the hockey equivalent to political suicide

Think of this as any job or general group of people. Once people know you, then you can have the leeway to be a jerk at times. You can't waltz into a room of people; start calling random people out and then proceed to complain when the group doesn't like some unknown person picking fights with their collective.

No interest in bringing back McCabe, already tried that. Connor Murphy isn't a bad player but I'd be cautious as to the cost.