DarthEbriate

You're being kind in your evaluations. 20-21 -- Hutton had his eye injury in January 2020. Going into the next season with him as the only NHL-caliber backup to Ullmark was criminal. (Toker at least was able to give them almost league-average goaltending.) Somehow, Ullmark got a .917 behind this team's defense. 21-22 -- Craig Anderson had to come out of retirement. Aaron Dell might have had some average numbers as SJ's backup, but he was coming off a 7-game campaign where he put up an .857 sv%. And he was worse for the Sabres. 22-23 -- Anderson was average, which was good enough for the offense they had. UPL won games because they scored 5+ for him. The Sabres had the best winning percentage of the teams angling for 7th-8th and Adams did nothing to upgrade the net. UPL was still waivers exempt. Get a goalie. Go for it. Coward GM/owner combination. Instead, they relied on Levi to save them, and he almost did. 23-24 -- UPL finished with a .910 sv% despite two months as a top-3 goalie in the league. He was red hot and finished with only a bit above average #s. He was just a bit below average otherwise. Adams gave Levi such preferential treatment that Portillo didn't bother to sign with them, further depleting the system of talent. Portillo is still in the AHL, and not impressive at the moment, but he's had one very good season with a solid playoff run for Ontario, and his debut/only game in the NHL thus far was a gem (better than Ellis'). 24-25 -- They waived their veteran offseason signing Reimer (he of much better AHL and NHL career numbers than anything UPL had dreamt of). He was a solid tandem goalie to pair with the young unproven Luukkonen. Like, Adams finally got it -- and then he waived him! That's like going into this season and waiving Lyon and not bothering to pick up Ellis on waivers. So maybe Adams learned, or Jarmo slapped him upside the head when he suggested such a thing. Taken all together, it's as if Adams didn't just mess up the goaltending, but actively sabotaged it. Bounce him into the nearest supernova already.

He should have one ENG from last night. His shot is heavy enough to beat a goalie on the bench. And he's had a few solid chances at rebounds in close.

Last year, Mrtka turned the Thunderbirds season around mid-year. This year, he gets to start earlier. The T-Birds currently sit in second-to-last place in the Western Conference. Cootes has played 3 games after his time up. Re-enter Mrtka shortly.

It's awful thus far. MTL at +5 and BUF at +1 are the only two teams with plus goal differentials. Meanwhile in the Metro the only team with a negative goal differential is CLB at -1. Keep banking points now through BOS, because then they play one division game (DET 11/15) until the end of December. Ideally, they get a 6-8 point cushion and float over the bottom 5 in the division all year....

Benson returned to the lineup in game 4. He accelerated the tone Doan has brought and kicked in the scoring. It reset the first line and allowed everyone else to just do their job. Since game 5 both Power and Samuelsson have been healthy for each game (they were both in the lineup for Boston). Toss in above average goaltending and stir.

Leafs fans will all be prepping for Game 2 tomorrow.

Dunne can play center. Krebs. TNT back to center. Then Helenius. Not a ton of options.

Dang it. Kid makes the 4th line gel.

He's been noticeably good, and not noticeable for the wrong reasons. 6 games, 4 points. Over 20 minutes a night.

A distinct possibility.

The Luukkonen revenge rampage starts tomorrow. .918 sv % this season. Book it.

Good win. The better team won.

I want an empty net goal with Dahlin on the ice. Boost that gross +/-. Pad the stats. Pad the stats!

The Short will be with you, young Icewalker.... always.

Dahlin with the Imperial Stormtrooper... clear... lob pass... who knows?

Two good shifts, and Östlund pulled away to the defensive zone with the won turnover from Tuch instead of wheeling back on the attack.

No Kozak?

Was away for a bit... Muel-PO! Firing away!

woohoo!

Blast.

Their transition game isn't missing JJP. Kulich, Byram, with Benson... going to the net and stopping. TNT just setting up for the shot. Nice.

He earned a look last season. But... the RHD depth really should be a cheap JBD. And either Johnson (or Bryson -- because Adams) on the left side. Those should be your 7-8. Having to call up Metsa shows a limited vision, especially since they also signed another #8 LHD in Jones.

Byram and Doan would've banked one in.

It hasn't worked since the 2022 half of the 22-23 season.

Every shot was obvious and slow. I think Thompson and Dahlin switched positions once, but otherwise it was a stationary bunch of Historical Appert.