TrueBlueGED

Same. I continue to think he's just not an NHL player.

I love Larsson, don't get me wrong, but he'd be a total monster if he were just a half step faster.

God dammit!

So, in other words, he never had a bachelor party.

These refs suck.

At 410. One unit on the Rags.

I certainly hope so. Interesting stat on WGR (I think yesterday morning, but could have been today): Kane's average shot distance from the net has increased every single year he's been in the league. I affectionately dub this The Drew Stafford Trajectory. Helps to explain his declining shooting percentage as more than bad luck, anyway.

I agree, minus the secondary scorer part. No way Murray pays the price he did if he thought he was getting a 20-goal scorer. At least, I hope not. I think Murray did what most of us did: saw Kane getting 3rd line even strength minutes and very limited PP time as the reason for his failure to be a regular 30 goal guy. Get him with our (eventual) centers, 1st unit PP time, and watch him score 30+ annually.

My point was not to say Samson is as good as Backstrom was in year 2. My point is that when people discuss the best centers or players in the game, I almost never hear Backstrom's name come up until well into the discussion, if ever. But his body of work says he deserves to be in the first few names mentioned. I think he doesn't get in because he doesn't skate like the wind or have a laser beam shot or send guys flying with huge hits...he's a sublimely smooth player with great passing, but physically he doesn't jump off the ice at you. Reinhart's in that mold--there's even an argument he was better than Jack at even strength last year, but good luck convincing anyone of it.

Oh, I definitely think it was the plan. Bylsma can't help himself with the speed combo of Jack and Kane. I just hate it, and your last sentence is why: he absolutely does nuke chances like Foligno does. He has dead hands. Remember how long it took Jack to register an assist last year? Big part of that was Kane flubbing golden chance after golden chance. YOU! When did you break your shackles and jump off my anti-Kane&Eichel bandwagon?

I also think, that as a general rule, silky pass-first players without a standout physical skill set tend to go underappreciated. When talking about the best centers in the game, people will always gravitate towards Crosby, Stamkos, Tavares, etc. well before they get to someone like Backstrom.

Good for you. ...I wish you and PA nothing but happiness ;)

Meh. I never bought the stuff out of Winnipeg that he was a bad teammate or anything like that, and I don't think being friends off the ice will suddenly imbue him with hockey sense. It's obviously better than a clash like he had with Byfuglien and Ladd, but don't think it means much on the ice (I think he'd stick up for the kids on ice even if they weren't close off it). Define crushing it. Given what we know of his personality, I'd be shocked if he didn't like to party.

I almost want to see Vesey get a hat trick just for Pi's meltdown. Almost. :p

Tyrod Taylor is the Roy/Connolly of quarterbacks. Good enough to win some games and sneak into the playoffs here or there. You can absolutely do worse, but you really want to do better.

Oh, for sure. Just saying the zone start statistic isn't the big deal I once thought it was. Aside from that...pretty much what Taro said. I will say, I'm super gun shy about Dmen in a small sample of games given our experiences with Gragnani and more recently Nelson. Maybe Fedun is okay as the #7, or maybe Nelson was just that bad this year that our vision is distorted.

A note on zone starts: traditional zone start statistics are based upon where a player is at the faceoff, and coaching usage is inferred from this. However, most (as in, the overwhelming majority) of shift starts are on the fly. So somebody having a ton of defensive zone draws is not necessarily a sign they are being tasked with especially difficult minutes, but could just be that that's where they end up on a whistle after an on the fly shift because they're bad at getting/keeping the puck in the offensive zone. So with Gorges for example, while Bylsma may be inclined to toss him out there for defensive zone draws when game flow and shifts allow, his gargantuan percentage of zone starts there is probably more a sign that he's worthless for generating possession. I've used zone starts like you have, but I'm trying to get away from it because of this.

I was talking about the second half: trading him away if you want to re-sign him as a UFA. Unless under that scenario he's made it clear he either won't re-sign or is testing the market no matter what.

Correct. I was simply snarking the "he would have made the team but for injury" meme that emerged over the course of the last year, leading people to think he could be our top-4 LHD answer this season. People got way ahead of themselves with Guhle is all. The concept of Guhle, if you will.

Maybe. I mean, that's half the logic in adding cheap vet forwards for depth: flip them at the deadline for essentially free mid-round picks. But with a piece like a top-4 Dman, that's a pretty big gamble to take (assuming we really do want him long term).

Maybe, but not scorching hot. Maybe only a lukewarm take, honestly.

I would argue that a player who cannot complete a basic hockey play, such as an unforced pass, is in fact simply a bad player. More broadly, I think way too often people will label a defenseman who is bad offensively as a "defensive defenseman" by default, without actually bother to analyze whether the individual actually brings defense value. Bad offense does not mean good defense, nor is the inverse of that inherently true, yet I think that's how the labels get thrown around.

I'm beginning to waiver on my opinion that O'Reilly should be the next captain. Between the emotional impact when Jack got hurt and the clear emotional lift with his return, it just may be his team already.

Roy for Malkin 2: Desert Warfare

I would like to take this opportunity to commend Bylsma for properly managing Eichel's minutes: 16:56 total. Well done.