Thorny

“Are you frightened?!” ”Yes.” ”Not nearly frightened enough. I know what hunts you.”

We could have done more at F. I feel like we’ve done needlessly little. I wouldn’t say anything if not for Quinn. Actually fairly surprised we just kinda went “oh well.” A little proactiveness couldn’t have hurt, no?? Like, we don’t need to Tim Murray out, I promise lol. But the slow play strategy can’t even replace the guys we DID think we needed? There’s little imagination and on the fly adjustment we’ll see how that bears out in the years that follow. Something interesting to keep an eye on. Everything that goes to plan is good, because the plan is good what about speed bumps? Can we maneuver? can we drive

Totally. Ya my comment isn’t informed by anything anti greenway. I just think we might do him dirty

We’ve got 10 good forwards All that “stacked” at F stuff was somewhat overblown when we HAD Quinn, it’s simply off the mark, now Adams apparently retreating to “next rookie up” THAT quickly, with so much time to find a legit replacement (again, at least so far) is pretty weird and pretty disappointing, let’s be real for a moment We were *counting* on Quinn, and didn’t add a guy who we could even theoretically count on to an even comparable degree its odd at best and needlessly defeatist at worst

He’s a third scoring line player (which can be very useful) and we don’t have the pieces to form a third scoring line, because we didn’t (at least not yet) bother replacing Quinn, and went bargain bin hunting to fill out the 12th man role by bringing back Jost Can he fill in capably on line 2? Probably? Hopefully? I don’t have him losing minutes really, just shuffling around instead. If he’s mainstay on line 2, then Peterka is the marooned player with Jost and VO

I understand it’s two people but im going to pretend it’s the best ever nhl name instead

Who’s Bussi Murray

I think we might be headed this way tbh, good post We can put together 3 more/less ideal lines for what you’d ask of them, and conversely we have a mismatched, spare parts 4th and final line. They might just not use one. If Krebs is with KO and Girgs, there’s no one to even bother forming a “3rd scoring line” for. Might as well sub a fresh Greenway and Jost into lines as they see fit and keep the 3 running skinner - Tage - tuch Mittelstadt - Cozens - Peterka Girgs - Krebs - KO - - - Subbing in VO onto any of those 3 probably torpedoes those lines, and how likely are Greenway and Jost of all people to be able, then, to buck that trend? Just seems pointless to ice an Olofsson - Jost - Greenway line or some such, other than to give the other 3 lines a breather

I still like the ROR deal

Ranked 87th and 92 lol total ass https://moneypuck.com/goalies.htm It’s such an gimme area for easy upgrade that we continually pass on, or fail at - - - Look at Anderson’s numbers. They KNEW he’d be way better, that’s why they brought him back. Even though they knew he’d be super limited. That they knew it and didn’t pay for better is one of the biggest indicators that my theory Adams draws hard line evaluations could be true

I think it’s huge. I think their goals saved above expected numbers were putrid last season, like ~ 60th place or something. (Which theoretically isn’t a stat that improves with better team D) Maybe even lower tbh. They aren’t poor starters, they were also poor backups

I don’t think Tim Murray tried to accelerate the process “too quickly”, he simply tried to accelerate the process. and did it poorly.

If we are grading on a pass/fail basis? Probably Like playoffs are playoffs, there’s not going to be any lamenting from me if so, they’ve proven how difficult it is for this franchise to do it, it’s definitely a beggars can’t be choosy situation if they get in. But if we make it on the back of Levi and the backup still sucks, it’s still an unaddressed hole on the roster and that particular area doesn’t look favourable for the GM. It’s not a QB1/backup deal. Both goalie spots play, and play a lot. The negatives will just be less interesting and more few and far between if we’re a playoff team. The good will be well outweighing the poor. I just wouldn’t go so far as to say moot.

You often see teams have an ahead of schedule year before taking a quick step back, have mentioned this a few times before, you kinda see it a lot It factored into why I predicted playoffs in 22-23. If we make it this year, there’s no guarantee there’s not a stumbling block the following (not that I’d predict it outright) Mostly I’m just hoping this PAST year wasn’t the ahead of schedule leaving us due for a potential step back this season

No one got my joke in pointing it out, or at least didn’t think it was funny lmao

Tuch had a sick year passing the puck And Skinner, too As you rightly point out, the top line is the real deal, right now. bird in hand

I got this already!

It is?

This is goldilocks Though we def need “probably will be successful” and “probably won’t be” threads I agree with this to a T, and thought the same thing about UPL(and posted as much) when we didn’t play him to end the year at all

Ya like a D isn’t going to win the Norris if he’s playing on a team with a D man that has more points. Not saying there couldn’t be a reasoned argument to be made but I’d say there’s seemingly no chance if Power wins before Dahlin let’s be real: it’ll be facilitated in large part due to a Dahlin injury. Which in fact will aid Power’s narrative

Ya championships are super, at least often overrated in determining the greats I think Considering it’s a team accomplishment. ESPECIALLY in something like hockey

Rightly or wrongly, (ie, small sample size bias may apply) current perception was swayed heavily by Jack’s performance in the playoffs and make no mistake, it was electric. Had arguably the best playoffs of any player being truly dominant at both ends of the ice, during the most critical time you’d want a guy to do it, against EXTREME physicality (we all saw the Tkachuk hit) which actually minimizes the sample season concern. Look, I’m the Jack guy. But even I was impressed. I take 2023 playoffs Eichel if I want to win 1 game before I take the Thompson is saw this past year, and he was indeed great ymmv

That’s a good point and honestly is kinda cool That’s a good point and honestly is kinda cool It literally won’t let me edit out the double post on my phone so there ya go

It’s so weird. The new mantra of choice is 2 birds in the bush is better than 1 in hand