TrueBlueGED

Quick, do Risto....*ducks*

Who did give us anything during that stretch? Why zero in on a 3rd liner? If he had performed the same way all season he'd have put up a top-6 season. Maybe a more equal distribution of those 35 points is what you're looking for, but that's just not how 3rd liners normally produce. In fact, I'd say the consistent 3rd liner is close to a myth

I fundamentally don't understand the hate that Sheary gets. Were people's expectations especially unrealistic? He's a solid 3rd line player who produced as such.

Didn't you just tell us to get over the O'Reilly trade? Get over Vesey. I would say no. Sheary is the better player by all available metrics other than height.

That, I think, is a clear yes.

So the guy with the same points and better possession metrics was near useless, where the other guy is a clear upgrade because he *may* have more upside. Good to see you taking the GA approach to evidence.

Based on what? Certainly not based on scoring or shot metrics.

Insert a Botterill and college player joke here.

Yea, I think there's virtually zero chance Botterill brings in a goalie to compete for an NHL job. He's banking on a different goalie coach fixing it.

Has Granato coached any of the NTDP prospects at the top of this year's draft?

Sir, as our resident Mr. Draft, you're not allowed to consider a late 1st/early 2nd to be "spare parts" ?

It's the NHL, I'm not comfortable assuming any kind of sound logic.

This has to be a pure money move for the Caps, right? I know Niskanen showed some slippage last year, but he's still pretty clearly a better player than Gudas. Beat me to it. And sign me up for Ghost!

Maybe as an alternate, but I know there's something about only being able to change the primary jersey every 3 years and we changed it when the league switched manufacturers. Maybe an exception can be granted, but I'm not expecting a change to the primary this year.

But you are pretty, Inky! Don't let anyone tell you different!

Sure, sign me up for Kessel. I'd certainly rather go after him than Zucker. Plenty of reasons other than locker room poison. First, there aren't 30 teams that can add a $7.5M salary due to cap constraints. Second, there's going to be a group of teams who could add it but are rebuilding and would not want to deal futures for a 27 year old. There's another group legitimately set at center that would rather use their assets in other ways. There will be a group of (presumably small market) teams that the owner simply won't pay a $7.5M bonus. Sure, there will be a few who buy into the culture rumors. And there might even be some who misjudged his ability and thought Botterill wanted too much in return (it's laughable to think about on the surface, but looking at Botterill's work it's not insane to think he actually liked the St. Louis package). The idea that every GM in the league not named Armstrong was scared off by nebulous "room" concerns is pretty flimsy. This is also a league where Dougie Hamilton was moved for pennies on the dollar (the original Boston trade, not the Calgary trade), Hall for Larsson, Panarin for Saad, etc. A total head scratching move due to bad GMing isn't exactly a rare occurrence.

What do we know about Jack's approach to the game? He's gotten better every year, in every aspect of the game. Certainly not the kind of trajectory you'd likely see from somebody not honing his craft.

And I expanded my criticism of your position. You care more about what he said than how he played. I think that's a really bad way to judge athletes.

That's literally the opposite of what the article said. It said that he felt the team thought he was the problem, not that he himself thought it. And I still can't believe you're putting more weight into what he said than what he did. He said he lost his love of the game, but his game never showed it. So who cares? And maybe it shouldn't even be taken so literally? Mayhaps it was just how he expressed his disdain for another losing season?

Because it still has an impact in the present. This isn't like rehashing the co-captains who would have been long gone anyway. We're still facing a gaping hole at center because of the trade, and we're going to have to use assets to fill it we could have used to improve elsewhere.

Well, I don't disagree as much as you might think I do. It's not that I think being able to clear the crease and whatnot have no value at all, I just don't think they're as valuable as you think they are relative to other skills. I also think that if their relative value was as high as you think it is, that it would eventually bear out in goal and shot results.

No, I at least need a placeholder who can play in the NHL without embarrassing himself. I've mentioned Stralman before, and I think he could be an ideal fit for a couple of years.

Let's go with the assumption that this is true. That doesn't necessarily mean a defenseman who is good at these things is good enough at them to overcome the other aspects they're bad at. At best, it's a balancing act. Conversely, just because a defenseman struggles with something doesn't mean the value he generates in other ways isn't enough to compensate. Dahlin's turnovers were brought up earlier, and he did lead the defense corps in turnovers. But he also led in takeaways and his turnover ratio was equal to that of Risto all while generating way more in terms of shots and scoring chances. So who cares?

Correct. And no stat exists to say he did, even if he did. However, there are a lot of stats that say he was our best defenseman in basically every aspect of the game.

This season. I need to see real, sustainable improvement to the tune of either making the playoffs or being so close I want to cry that we missed. He arrived to a team that was quite flawed, yes, but possessed a nice collection of talent and assets plus a foundational piece. It shouldn't take 4 years to move 20 points up the standings. It probably shouldn't even take 3, but I don't begrudge a GM a second coach.