PerreaultForever

The Svechnikov injury levels things a little, and maybe Schmid is the X factor. He's been outstanding and if he puts on a Conn Smyth worthy show you never know. But they are the underdogs for sure.

The ideal season for me would be 62 games. Home and away game against every team and that's it. Then the top 16 make the playoffs east or west. Not going to happen though. Too much revenue at stake for them ever to consider shortening it. They're more likely to add games and have even more teams in the playoffs than to shorten it.

I don't think it's any more complicated than they were available and he considered them better than what we had. They are both stop gap measures. Parayko is a solid D man and a deal I would try to make if I was Adams and he was in fact on the block as rumored. No trade clause though so he has to want to be here.

That's true, but used at the right times, they can have an impact. Risto was just too stupid to know when to keep making the play and when to switch plans. Once the little hamster on his brain wheel decided to take a run at somebody he kept going no matter how out of the play it took him. He's just horrible at making quick decisions. This is also why he's been a LITTLE better now for Torts, because Torts simplified his game and his responsibilities. A lot of people have been raving about Gudas this year and suggesting we look at him as a possible D upgrade. Gudas was notorious for making that extra hit and getting suspended for it in the past. Seems like he's learned where that line is now and thus is a more effective presence, As a whole, although they might get suspended now and again, there's no question a guy like Trouba and/or Gudas added to our mix would make us a better team.

and they won the games he wasn't playing in and lost the ones he was in. He was -6 in the series. If you don't think Florida hitting the Boston D on the forecheck and around the net was the deciding factor in the series, you were watching a different series.

I was comforted by what he said about analytics. My fear has been, as many of you know, too much reliance on them, so when he said he looks at the eye test and they sit down and try to figure out what/why when things don't mesh, that to me sounded like the right approach. Clearly, wants to build a fast offensive oriented team (as we are seeing). Not sure I'm down with him in terms of how he views defense and definitely don't agree about hits. He's right, it's not the old league, and you don't have to pursue reckless hits all over the ice and puck possession is important, but as you can see in the playoffs with Florida and others, aggressively hitting on the forecheck and knocking the other team off the puck in their end is a key to winning. Boston drove a lot of their O from their D and their D was scrambling and coughing it up under the onslaught. It is important. If you want to win in the playoffs that is.

Except, he lost in the playoffs because he was hit and the Bruins didn't hit. The only time he won the cup he was surrounded by a team of big hitters.

For me personally, it's just to make a sentence sound better and provide a little variety. I can switch to truculence if you prefer 🙂

Oh ya, I have no idea if Josh Bloom will ever be anything. Vancouver maybe thinks he will be. Stillman's a bottom end journeyman mediocre defender. Apples and oranges there but not really a comparable. All I'm saying is we were HOPING Bloom might be a gritty forward as he developed. We need some of those. That's all.

I was hoping he'd be a Captain Canada type guy but I guess not. not many players volunteer for this thing these days. Definitely not many top names or veterans.

No, we wondered why they traded Bloom because he was one of the few prospects we had that was supposed to have had some sandpaper in his game. Most of the guys we have are skill and speed guys.

Final score Kraken 5 Pavelski 4 Dallas no score. Surprisingly non physical game for this stage but fast and fun. Sabres could have played this style I think. We need to become as relentless and fearless as this Kraken team. We have the speed, we just need the tenacity. Tampa really misses Gourde. That guy is a playoff warrior. We need a Gourde on our roster.

I wouldn't like it, but it'd be better than Leafs Oilers. For now though, I'm pulling for Lindy with NJ and the longshot underdog Kraken.

Kind of figured they would dump Gallant. In many ways the Rags mirrored Vegas. Gallant had that team playing well and they were a unified bunch with some players over achieving and then Rags got greedy and destroyed the chemistry by bringing in a bunch of big name has beens. Gallant had to play them regardless of how bad they played. No win situation for him. He never gets along with GMs so hardly surprising he'd be dumped. Hiring Sutter instead however is sort of head scratching. NJ on the other hand is playing fast well structured hockey. That Carolina series should be incredibly FAST. Earlier I thought coach of the year would be handed to Montgomery, but now the man who should get it is clearly Lindy.

Problem with this round is if you hate the idea of Edmonton Toronto (and I do) you end up having to cheer for Eichel and Reinhart. Just feels horribly wrong.

I want Kraken and Devils to win but I don't think they will. I suspect in the end it will be Leafs Oilers and I'm really going to hate that.

With all the praise Florida is getting these days it seems the right time to point out that Rick Dudley is the senior advisor there.

Umberger would be the object of the sentence. Meier got Campbelled would be the correct grammar would it not? It was shoulder to head, but Meier was bent over, the shoulder wasn't raised.

old guys heading for the golf courses all over. Kane was garbage. He's done. Trochek was garbage. Another guy from the loser version of Florida hmmm...... So I guess the optimists here will look at Schmid and think Levi next year. Speed and youth. Difference however is they added some key pieces to that mix and kept some grit. Let's hope we follow suit. That Lindy Ruff guy has an odd name, but I guess he's a pretty good coach. 🙂

For who? Too late for Bedard, who's next?

Do YOU want to wait? I don't.

idk, but I don't think they know what they are doing. You bring a guy like Sutter in you're committing to hard nosed physical close checking hockey. If not why bring him in? So now you fire the GM, presumably blamed for losing Tkachuk and/or signing Huberdeau long term or other bad moves and then you boot the coach so that plan's gone and it's on to some new plan. Maybe they tear down and rebuild but it feels like the players vs. Sutter and the players won out. I don't think it's a coincidence that Florida with Huberdeau crapped out in the playoffs and Florida with Tkachuk did not.

I'd prefer a better top 4 D to Gudas, but if he's a possible option then sure. He's an upgrade. Bertuzzi is an interesting but problematic option. I was high on him earlier as he is a power forward and does go to the dirty areas. Good passing ability too which surprised me. BUT, he's also a turnover machine. Despite his offense, he was also on the ice for 7 goals against in the Florida Boston series. The guy marches to his own drummer so not sure how he'd be in a young locker room. So, risky choice. Possible high reward, possible disaster. I'd probably pass on him now.

Weird. When they fired the GM it sounded like they were giving Sutter the green light to shape and mold the team. Guess they changed their minds and I guess that also likely means a huge rebuild won't be happening either.