JoeSchmoe

I'm not saying he's on PED's. I did say it's likely he needs surgery and/or is not as motivated as he was last year. I will say his falloff from 94 points to a projected 54 (albeit in 6 less games) is pretty unprecedented. Given the extreme fall off (way more than anyone I recall who subsequently went on IR or get surgery), my mind harkens back to Colabello... whether it's right or not. Also, if he does need surgery (the most likely case- given a full offseason didn't seem to help), we should probably put him on IR now so he's back ready for next year. Last year, he had you out of your seat almost everytime he touched the puck. This year, you could count on one hand the number of times he's had a holy 💩moment. If it's not an injury, I'd consider shopping him while he still has some of last year's shine on him.

The NHL is a league where players play through injuries. If Thompson is hurt he isn't the first, and he's surely not the last. That said, I don't recall seeing players drop off this drastically as shown below. It was such a treat to watch him last year. So many highlight reel plays.

Now that I'm blocked (and happy to be)... A public service message to everyone else here. One of the key standards on this board is to debate the comment, not the poster. There's only one poster in here that I feel consistently bullies people around.. Often times under the guise of debating the post. When you say things like I've seen said to others that, this is "truly the dumbest thing I've ever seen", it goes way beyond debating the post. You've taken a piece out of the poster. Again, AS I SAID, likely Tage's struggles are due to a surgery he's put off or just lack of motivation. Just after seeing one of my favourite players of the Jays '15 run go down like Colo did, my mind still goes there. To the other posters that come on here, and consistently say things I don't agree with... Cheers! I'll try not to berate you, or treat you poorly. We all have our own lived experiences to get us to where we are today. Also, many of you are legitimately funny. I'm not sure if you're trolling or genuinely mean it, but keep doing what you're doing because you're entertaining nonetheless. Go Sabres!

To the Jays fans here, how many recall the story of Chris Colabello? Colabello hit .321 in 2015 until he got caught using PED's. After that, he had a few years in the minors before his career completely fizzled out. I know this is going to bring out the regular chorus of boo birds, but any time I see an athlete fall off the cliff as Thompson has, my mind goes to PED's. Was he taking something last year (and the end of the season before) to give him an edge? Likely, Thompson needs surgery and is playing in pain... Either that or he's mentally checked out and isn't putting in the work off the ice. Ever since Colabello though, I'll always wonder about PED's for guys who fall off a cliff like Thompson. (The exception is Alek Manoah, who seems to have fallen victim to the 🍩 rather than PED's).

At best, it's a tax for people who can't do math. You can't win. At worst, it can be those things you described. If I'm in a position where my livelihood depended on the promotion of gambling, I'd find another job.

Just tuned in this period. Cozens looks to be moving!

Sit him

I've said it here many times. The worst trade easily is when we traded Andreychuk and Puppa for Fuhr. We already had Hasek, and though he was still young, he was starting to show glimpses of what he could be. In the end, Muckler shipped out Andreychuk - a guy who scored 54 goals that year, for a goalie who at the time was about as good as the guy we already had... Maybe worse. For whatever reason, he thought Fuhr's "experience" was more important than the 54 goals he gave up. We win the cup that year if Muckler doesn't make this trade.

Kale Clague was a standout in the advanced stats last year. Unless someone that watched a lot of Amerks games could convince me otherwise, I think it'd be good if he got a fair shake at the NHL at some point this year. Likely that only happens due to injury, but his numbers from last year definitely warrant another look.

Possible way too soon glass half full take... UPL is looking more and more like legitimate NHL level goalie. I still have my doubts if he'll ever be an elite #1, but as a minimum he's at least playing competent NHL backup level hockey this year. At age 24, there's still room on the goalie development curve for him too. All that said, he's had similar stretches in the past and could easily go cold as he did before. Somehow, it just feels a bit different this time though.

Is Quinn our best F?

Yeah, I'm really out of shape too. That's what makes it all the more tragic.

I'm 48 years old, 5'11", and on the wrong side of 200 for the wrong reasons. That said, I can confidently say that I would handle myself just fine should Power get out of line in a dark alley.

Shouldn't this thread title say Skinner is out week-to-week and not indefinitely?

😁

One other point... Quinn is the anti-Thompson. He really seems to create chances with his all systems go play.

Yep, he looks too cool to care especially in his own end. Just like Thompson is too cool to pick up a puck at 110% speed and blast around a defender like he used to do at will.

The drop in speed from him, Cozens, and Tuch has been from the very outset of the season. Could they have just not prepared for the season properly instead of all three of them being injured? Another thing... When Granato took over the team, one of his talking points was how he was going to whip the team into shape in practice. It seemed to work. I get the sense he's reverted to being the Krueger coach who's more concerned about resting his millionaire players instead of whipping them into shape.

Remember last year when he'd do that multiple times a game?

He used to be really good at hockey. Now he's not. Most nights it doesn't even look like he's trying to be good at hockey, the way he plods along, hoping he can do something good at half speed. Most of the points he is getting are passenger type points... He's not driving play. Demote him, sit him, claw his ice back... Do something. PS- Last year I posted a "what happened to Thompson" thread and he went off like crazy immediately after. 🤞

Never thought I'd say this, but these two need a coach that will beat the effort into them. They're the leaders, and eventually their slack off style of play will start to affect the youngsters that are giving their all.

This is Dahlin all year in his own end. Low effort, too cool to care play.