Curt

I mean, it’s not, because this isn’t the NFL. It is unacceptable, but sometimes ***** happens. Id expect a W too, rest advantage at home.

Greenway-Thompson-Cozens Skinner-Mittelstadt-Tuch Peterka-Jost-Olofsson Girgensons-Krebs-Okposo Line changes are interesting. Stinks for Peterka, but I can’t really come up with something better, unless they broke up Girgs and Okposo. Olofsson needs to go. Peterka-Jost-Olofsson should be the lowest TOI line, and the other three lines look good.

I think he is fine. Not great or awful. He has the physical tools and the will. It’s just that he is a big transition offense guy, so it can probably be tough to find the balance between getting back deep to help and finding opportunities to get out on the rush. Plus he is still pretty young, so I expect him to keep improving in this area as he gets older.

To the bolded, they didn’t though, they didn’t outscore the opposition by doing that. Some games they did, but on the whole they came out on the negative end.

This is correct. It actually supports what Thorny was saying. No player can drive a team all on their own. Gretzky was incredible, but his supporting cast was so good that they won the Cup without him.

I don’t get what was wrong with the post.

Rochester Americans GM is Jason Karmanos. FYI

Please do not call Ryan Johnson RJ. It’s just way too soon.

I know that Adams/Granato have said things like that the past couple years, but they were pretty consistent throughout the whole season in those cases, stressing development/improvement. This season they have shifted to stressing that they need to start winning. They publicly set expectations. I would hope that if they miss the playoffs, at the end of the season they don’t back track on that. They would need to acknowledge it as a failure to meet expectations. This team? As in this group of players? Never, because they haven’t been together very long, they were purposely playing a transition offense heavy style, and they are very young. I don’t think you can hold this group of players, coaches, and front office responsible for all the sins of the past 12 years. I also disagree with your overall premise here. I think that a kinda fast and loose, offense first team can definitely transition into being a more well rounded team with good defensive structure. In fact, I think that is a quite common process of improvement. NJ went through this kind of process. From 2021-22 through 2022-23. Their offense came first and they made defensive improvements after. Toronto too started off all offense, no defense several years ago and made big defensive improvements the past few years. Tampa Bay definitely went through this too when their championship core was coming up around 2013-14. Washington also famously did this over a period of a few years culminating in their cup win. Im sure if I dug around more I could find other examples. It may not be YOUR personal preferred way to develop a team, but I don’t think it’s automatically wrong or guarantees failure. Interesting thing is that it looks like this defensive improvement sometimes goes hand in hand with a coaching change. (Glances over at Granato, then quickly looks away)

It’s just so subjective that you’ll never get a sizable group of people to agree on a definition. Dominate games or change the course of them? With what kind of consistency? Tage Thompson can dominate games or change the course of them. Dahlin can too.

I mean, I don’t have a problem with building an all kid team and giving all the young guys a chance during a rebuild/retool, but at some point you need to bolster them with some vets when you want to compete. I fear that Adams didn’t add enough good veterans. Not that the rebuild is doomed because of it, but it may take them longer to figure it out with fewer veterans to help them along. And it might negatively impact the chances for playoffs this season.

My guess would be that Granato is trying, but he has the youngest roster in the league. I think it’s just taking some time.

I believe you. I wish they were playing better too. A season is long. Most teams go through ups and downs. I’m hopeful that they can get it turned around relatively quickly.

Take it that way? I don’t know how else it could be interpreted.

By your definition, no, definitely not. Dahlin and Thompson are closest but need more consistency. How many superstars are there in the league then, like 5? Thats fine, it’s a word without a set definition. He isn’t a superstar then, just a star.

I get it. I mostly agree when it comes to worrying about “blocking” young guys with good veterans who could improve the team, or worrying about using too much assets to acquire a good player. But when it comes to playing a high quality, more efficient style of hockey, yeah, I want them to learn to do that.

Haha, I knew you feel this way, which is why I prefaced my statement. It’s true, there is danger to thinking too long term. It’s just the next logical step in improving team performance though. It’s the next set of tactics that the team needs to become proficient in. In my opinion.

Yeah, and I’m kind of thinking slightly beyond the point of making the playoffs (dangerous, I know, but hear me out). Maybe they could squeak into the playoffs playing just like they did last season l, but we kind of know that when you are playing only good teams, and the officiating changes a bit, that style of going all out for transition offense doesn’t really work in the playoffs. This is an adjustment that they will need to make.

Agree. I wasn’t making any point regarding anything you said. I was just following up on a conversation that Perrault and I had a couple days ago.

Attendance reported in box score is 13,025.

I also heard these comments and thought they were very on the nose. Needed to be said. It’s part of why he is here. I think when he first took over, Granato’s focus was young player development, building confidence and getting the team going offensively. Now they are putting more focus on improving their team defense. At the moment it looks like they are struggling with integrating it into their game. I think they will get there. How quickly they get it together will determine whether they make the playoffs. It’s a long season and most teams go through ups and downs, they have a little time.

Brind'Amour was an NHL Assistant Coach for 7 years before becoming an NHL HC. Peca has been HC in a 2nd tier junior league for 2 years, an NHL player development coach for half a season, and an AHL Assistant Coach for 2 seasons, and now an actual NHL job as an Assistant Coach this season. Do you honestly think that those two resumes of experience look equivalent?

Elias Pettersson with 2 more points tonight. 8 points in his first 4 games. I think this guy is becoming a super duper star. Very good player? Yes. Superstar? Depends on your definition.

Are you really taking a gloating victory lap after game 4 of 82? Personally I think it’s a bit early to be trying to shove it in everyones’ face how right you are.

I’ve been there. It’s easier.