PerreaultForever

I wouldn't read too much into the order. I bet they play Cozens line against McDavid's. I can't argue with this shift. Krebs is playing his way off the roster.

I agree. Why I said it is obvious Tuch drove the line as I've been saying since he got here. When Granato put them back together in the 3rd they were improved . I get the idea, move Tuch down with Mitts to get the 2nd line going, but that means Thompson has to drive the top line and he simply isn't doing that. Skinner so far is playing like Kreuger era Skinner. VO is what I've always felt he is. A shooter, with little else to offer, and fully dependent on his linemates to set him up. We need another Tuch on this roster. (or two)

He avoided contact when he first got here. Remember how we all wrote him off (well most of us) as a guy who could be a power forward but just wouldn't use his body like he should? Maybe he simply prefers to play non contact and now has a locked up contract....................................just saying. Really, no excuses. It's game 2. Why on earth would any team play an injured player in game 2? He needs to be accountable. If injured just get that info out there and get healed but I seriously doubt it. Did we reward him too quickly? Well that remains to be seen.

Looks like Vegas is buying in to Cassidy. They are playing a solid shut down (Bruins style) game and I saw Eichel even back check on a play so that was something new. The early speculation of that move not being a good fit might have to be tossed out the window.

This is so strange but I'm sort of intrigued by it. We were talking about this Mitts thing last game and had opposite views. This time I thought he was better and you thought he was worse. I haven't figured out how we are seeing this so opposite yet. Let's see how this plays out over the next 10 games or so.

and he's a little (maybe a lot) dirty. But we need some of that.

I'm not on board with your name suggestion but I am liking a lot of things about Peterka. He needs to back check a little harder but he's got an edge to his game and he attacks well. As he develops he should become a very solid winger.

I know and that's not what I said. I wouldn't have protected Borgen (because of the rules) but I would have dangled Bjork out there unprotected and hope they might have taken him. They might still have taken Borgen, but at the time Bjork looked more valuable than he does now and they were short on forwards. The idea of 2 Bruins (sort of) rather than a Bruin and a Sabre might have seduced them and Borgen would have been passed over. No guarantee obviously, as I said.

I agree on Quinn and would play Vinnie next game. Bring Quinn back in slowly if he works hard in practice, if he doesn't down he goes. Power is struggling with the speed and pace a little. Not sure how that plays out going forward but I would consider 3rd pairing minutes for a while.

Wrong. Just wrong. After the game doesn't cost us a bad penalty. We stood up to him earlier as well remember. In this case they shot the puck up at Cozens face so he was pissed and went after the rat. You have to love the fire and the compete.

Well after watching this I don't think there's any question Tuch elevates the play of his linemates substantially. Thompson looked like the Thompson of 2 years ago and Skinner was a lazy floater until Tuch was put back on that line and then they were our best again. Thompson got the money, he needs to step it up on his own. Mitts wasn't a problem this game. In fact he was pretty good. Quinn however, imo, doesn't belong out there yet and should sit the next game in favour of Vinnie. That line just doesn't work as a unit. Is Mitts really our best face off guy though? I mean he might be, but is that good enough? I don't think so. Unlike Thompson, Samuelsson is earning his money. Comrie was okay. Dahlin and Tuch were our best players. Cozens is definitely getting there. I'm also starting to like this Lybushkin guy. Gimme more of the same and he might just become one of my favourites. Overall we look more like a real hockey team even though we were outplayed all game. We took advantage of some chances which was good, but we do not have much sustained offense and we will have to be much better than this to win. (Florida won't get out of the division with their D as it is)

It doesn't guarantee it but AT THE TIME he may have been more appealing to Seattle than Borgen so they might have taken him instead. If you remember they picked a ton of D men and ended up trading a few away. Forwards were few and far between for them in terms of availability and at that time Bjork hadn't played his way off our roster yet and was valued higher from being a Bruin. They weren't excited about grabbing Borgen, he was just the best we left exposed of the younger players.

We probably wouldn't have signed Lybushkin. I know the left side right side and all that but from the two Kraken games I saw he'd be more valuable than Bryson.

The Mitts thing is interesting. I'm not going to add anything here but I am sure we will be talking about this again after other game(s). TT looking lousy after the contract would be a nightmare, as would a Skinner regression. Hopefully just a one game thing.

Slightly annoying............Will Borgen playing very well for Seattle. It's ancient history, but I still wish they'd have exposed Bjork in that draft. Seattle had a bunch of D men available at the time so they might have taken him instead. Oh well.

I have this feeling there's going to be disagreements on Mitts all season. Some people saw him as good while I (and some others) saw him as skating fast (when he wasn't tripping on his own skates) but missing opportunities and passes. Some sort of whirling dervish but ultimately ineffective and often out of position. IDK, give it more time and see how it unfolds. His line starts scoring some goals and I might be convinced to change my mind. At the moment however, I think the Thompson line isn't as good without Tuch and Tuch with Mitts don't have the chemistry yet. maybe they will develop it, but at the moment it doesn't work imo.

Analytics can deceive. Agree on the D pairing. I suspect that is why they extended him now. They see this combination long term. I've been arguing for years that Dahlin needs a rock beside him and a set pairing. I think we finally have it. Power however, might need a better partner.

Well that was pretty enjoyable. I don't think we really outplayed them and all those break aways will kill us against a team with better talent but there were a lot of things to like in this game. I did not think Anderson was going to steal games for us this year, which he did, so I guess the question is how many games does he have in him? I thought the Cozens line was the best. Peterka looked very different from what I saw in preseason. He showed me a little of that snarl I'd heard about and played very well. The team as a whole showed more team toughness and that's going to be important. Dahlin looks like he's ready to be dominant and Power looked fine. In fact, I'm more worried about Jokiharyu than him after this one. He's still running around and chasing pucks too much. Power was the more positional sound player of the two. I did however think Mitts looked awful. At this moment, he is the weak link. Nice to start a season with a win.

Because a critical fanbase for a team that has had a decade of futility is to be expected. Don't worry, we will all be applauding the Eichel trade if all the parts add up and if Levi is great for us one day we will applaud the Reinhart trade and so on and so on but if the team has no goaltending worth talking about we also have to discuss that failure. You simply don't win in this league without good goaltending and ours is suspect at best.

I'm not really on Ullmark, but I am going to stay on Adam's failure to address the goalie situation (unless Comrie and Anderson shock me) as I think it's the crucial point in what I suspect will be a bad season in the end. Every goalie that we had a shot at might come up at some point. Ullmark is just one of them.

I agree with you, and I don't think he really will have any huge issues. If the team loses again however that might change. I just really wish we had a good goalie. When a young D man makes an error he needs that last line of defense to bail him out and if the errors are costing goals and thus losses he might start to second guess himself and take that backwards step.

To the first sentence, I definitely agree. The ups and downs are inevitable and to some extent necessary. To the second, it's not about "avoiding" them but about how you deal with them when it happens. The words "appropriate amounts" is the key. The risk imo is too many mistakes leading to too many losses and that idea of the team winning gets lost. Also they can lose confidence or blame team mates or develop bad habits. All depends on their individual personalities and the team culture. I guess my worry, if it's not obvious yet, is breaking the fragile culture that they are trying to build and creating another round of losing acceptability. I disagree with the speed of this build.

I don't think it's as much about "relying" on them as having veterans with them to help guide them and cover up for their mistakes. It's all about line chemistry. I'm skeptical of bumping Tuch down but I suppose they want to give Mitts every chance to succeed.

I'm not upset Ullmark left either. Players rave about the culture in Boston and everybody seems to love playing there so when they made him a big offer of course he took it. If I'm "upset" (and I'm not really, I'm actually kind of cold and numb to all things Sabre) it's over not finding a solid replacement. There were options at the time, decent options, and most came with low price tags.

To clarify, I'm not worried about Power cracking long term. In time he will be a very good D man, the question is only what happens short term if he hits a bump or struggles. Dahlin had his ups and downs as you know, and many people questioned his true value as a #1 overall. imo we did not develop him well and threw too much at him too quickly. He might have it sorted now, but I think it stunted his development a little and he still has some bad habits that I hope he's going to have gotten over this year. The question is who do we go to if Power hits a rough patch.