jad1

Jack's sulking has very little to do with this team's fortunes. Hall, Staal, Skinner and Reinhart are not struggling because of Jack's attitude. Dahlin overthinking plays has nothing to do with Jack's attitude. Jack doesn't set the lines or determine the power play strategy. He's not the one making Hall and Reinhart dig pucks to set up doomed point shots by Irvin or Jokiharju all game long. It's not his job to figure out the best way to use Staal to maximize his skills. There are ways to snap Eichel out of his slump (teaming him up with Reinhart instead of Thompson, letting him play off the puck more) that have nothing to do with his attitude. There's nothing wrong with Eichel that a seasoned NHL coach couldn't fix, and the fixes would have little to do with attitude.

Team is no longer buying what Krueger is selling, so they abandon the scheme and play every-man-for-himself, and boom: 4 on 1.

I'm going to chalk that up to a moral victory.

Let's not be too hasty here.

Maybe Torts wouldn't work here, but if you got a coach who coached these players like Ruff coached the Briere/Drury Sabres, that would work. A coach who could actually use players like Dahlin, Montour, and Jokiharju to actually build an effective transition game. A coach who could figure out how to better use Hall's, Skinner's, Olofsson's, and Eichel's speed. (The Sabres have to be the slowest fast team in the league). A coach who could actually define a role for guys like Mittelstadt and Thompson (seriously what is the plan for these guys when they hit the ice?). You see this team's talent peek through on the power play when they are able to use their talent to be a little creative. But that talent and creativity is crushed by the slog that is their 5v5 play. I mean, on the power play, Dahlin's possession game is insane. We see almost none of that in his 5v5 transition game. Why not? Is that his choice or the coaches? Get a coach who can motivate and challenge the skill players, build effective lines, define each player's role, and the team will improve.

This team is so poorly coached it's insane. They need to hire a dinosaur coach for a couple of seasons to right the ship.

Well he did outplay Hall tonight, so he's got that going for him.

This team has no plan for zone entries. It's 5 guys doing their own thing.

I'm sold on Borgen. He, Risto, and McCabe can built some toughness from the net out.

I get these guys haven't played up to their contracts, but it's hard to believe that they're weighing the team down when they're still able to drop $8 million on Hall.

I would trade Hall for a better coach for Eichel.

Reinhart is playing a good game, driving play. Still rather see him on a line with Eichel though.

Borgen looks OK out there.

They need to hire that guy as coach.

Take away Olofsson down low and the power play glitches. They have no plan B.

10 and 44 on the back line has been bad news this game.

Would you call that style 'wearing roller skates to play ice hockey?'

A lot of skill shown setting up that shot by Olofsson.

So who do you call when you want to make a deal with Pittsburgh? Burke or Hextall? Who has the final say on draft choices? Buffalo fans used to argue that the Bills needed a Prez of Football operations, but then they hired a GM who knows his a## from a hole in the ground, and everything is fine with Beane running the show. Teams just need to hire a competent GM. It's harder than it sounds, but it's better then adding an unnecessary layer of confusion to the front office.

It's mind-boggling. The NHL provided the players with tests. The players peed on the stick. The stick said the players were negative. The League can't figure out what went wrong.

And Thompson back on the first line, because he, ya know, 'earned' it.

It's a Lindy Ruff team. Not the most talented, but the effort is always there. It's characteristic of dinosaur, re-tread coaches. The first thing they address is team effort. Once you get high energy from the roster night after night, the other problems work themselves out.

Seattle is an expansion team that will have to hit the cap floor. That's difficult to do when you're not signing your own RFAs. An expansion team will take a vet with a high cap number to hit the floor while loading the roster with inexpensive young guys (Vegas did this with Fluery). The length of Skinner's deal, however, could put the kabosh on this idea. Seattle won't like the contract when the RFA deals come up for their young players in 3 years.

It's a win, good on them for that, but I don't think this team is coming together. They play with no urgency. No creativity. No edge. All in an effort to win by the smallest of margins. They play to minimize their mistakes instead of maximizing their potential. Their lineup, at this point, is better than the Rangers and Devils. But they are only able to eek out 1 goal wins against these teams. Maybe it's just bad luck that the proven goal scorers are slumping at the same time, and when Eichel, Hall, Skinner, and Dahlin break out, the team will be competitive with the Bruins and healthy Capitals. Or maybe these guys are slumping because they're being asked to play the game the same way that Lazar and Okposo play the game. Time will tell, but this lineup should be better and more exciting than it is currently showing.

They could tick him off so much that he waves his NMC. It makes sense for Seattle to take him. Top six potential, salary that eats up some cap.