PerreaultForever

But it's not wrong. Borgen is a solid 3rd pairing guy with grit and toughness. He is playing well for Seattle, is a fan favourite, and we could definitely use a guy like that right now. So call that a myth if you want to.

I have no idea. I do watch Bruins games and I know they survived and thrived with half their starting D out. They have prospects like Ahcan who can't even crack the line up and get out of the AHL. I know Carolina had enough depth they could give Bear away. I know Philly was fine with Risto out. (actually, they were better, which is a point worth ending on) .

Just WIN and the fans will return. Simple as that. People are still skeptical and afraid of wasting their money on a bad effort/result. Can't blame them. It's been a long road of suffering. Give it time, win, and it'll all be back to how it was. Another cycle of losing hockey however will make that much harder if not impossible.

depends on how you define "quality" I suppose. are you suggesting our D depth is adequate?

I didn't look up the stats but I did notice Mitts was doing better and Tage was terrible. idk, are there any stats on big tall men and draws? I have to wonder if he has trouble getting lower and getting the right leverage in close. Might be why they've tried Skinner a bit. As a team however we aren't very good on them and tend to lose big ones often. A good PP (for example) needs a good face off man so you don't waste that valuable early time and can have offensive zone control right away. Or maybe you don't NEED it, but it definitely helps.

Cozens is carrying his line. Problem is he doesn't have top notch wingers to play with. Peterka is an up and comer and will get there and I see them developing good chemistry in time, but at the moment it's up and down. Cozens is showing me everything he needs to be great with a good line. Good puck possession even in traffic, smart decisions, toughness and grit, competitive attitude. Still needs to improve on his finish but with better wingers he'd look even better. I am not worried about him (or Peterka) at all. Arguably Mitts needs better wingers too, but he's soft and always will be soft imo and once Savoie is ready he's going to be gone or on the margins of this team. What we really need is somebody who can win a damn face off .

Yes, Samuelsson and Lybushkin gave us improvement in that area. Problem is we don't have similar guys in the pipeline ready to step in and fill that hole with the injury. Our D pool (both young prospects and competent Fitz level AHL subs) is simply too thin.

Indeed, an area we have struggled in for years now and still are. Fitz was in the right spot and trying but he was outnumbered. Too many players stay on the outside and try to make stick plays and simply aren't physical enough. Pilut was useless in this regard.

I saw the Red Wings Bruins game. They did not impress me. If we play like we did in the 3rd against Chicago we can definitely beat them. Even with the injuries.

I know. beat the Leafs is my point.

Chicago is a very low skill team but they went to the dirty areas with effort and for 2 periods this looked like it would be a disaster. Third period we finally asserted a little physicality and we went to the paint and Thompson played the way I've wanted him to play all along. Use that body, use that size, GO TO THE NET and not just float around the outside looking for snap shots. We need to play like this for 60 minutes. Hopefully the end result drives this home to them and we see that kind of effort we saw in the 3rd all the time. This could have been a disaster and maybe even the return of soft loser identity but as it went, maybe it'll be the true realization for them of what it takes to win in this league. Fingers crossed.

Bruins with their hottest start in franchise history - and they were the ones we were going to catch for the playoffs right? Maybe switch that idea to the Leafs.

Absolutely too early for conclusions. It's an of the moment observation. Everything could change next game. or not. We shall see. I have high hopes for Savoie. About 4 years from now I wouldn't be shocked if he was our top line center. but also, too soon to say.

Nope, they're not good. But the team's not good. Only players playing good or better than last year are Dahlin, Tuch, Cozens, Lybushkin and the goalies. Include Peterka if you want but he has made some rookie mistakes too. Vinnie and Zemgus are kind of same as always but hardly significant. Samuelsson and Jokiharju would be in the list but since they are injured I left them off. Everybody else is worse than last year and not good enough. and worse than that, there's no list of good depth players chomping at the bit to take a job.

That's possible, but do you really think Carolina was worried about the Sabres? I doubt it.

Title should be the PP is crap. Too reliant on Dahlin so too easy to defend. Not enough screening net front presence, lost O zone face offs and poor passing which leads to lost possession. We are a speed team so we should have an even faster moving/passing PP. Skinner should not be part of it. Cozens should be on the first unit.

Aren't all hockey players at some point contractually obligated to borrow from the Don Cherry catalogue?

Obviously we didn't try to beat it.

you and Quinn need to get a room 🙂 Just kidding, and I can see that yes, that might have been his best game, but it still wasn't a good game. We have a thin roster and neither of Krebs or Quinn is helping us win.

so?

So, let's see, we just lost to the team everybody said was tanking for Bedard and would finish dead last in the division. Okay, great. You know, I'm thinking Quinn and Krebs are so damn impressive they should get ALL the ice time. Stupid team. As ever.

Why? Why should anyone be exempt from anything? That's not how you build a winning culture. Sitting Mitts would have been a solid decision and we'd all have applauded it. It's what teams like the Bruins would have done. But okay, so you don't want to sit him because he's.............too valuable?...........too fragile?................whatever Granato's reason move on to who sits if you want Krebs in. Asplund? The guy who has played solid hockey all season and earned his spot? Earned an upgrade from the 4th line to the 2nd. Arguably made Mitts and VO instantly look better? What does that tell him? Oh we don't really think you're an important part of this team. It's dumb. It's dumb. It's just plain dumb. It's Sabres. Quinn and Krebs should be rotating in to the 4th line until one of them shows signs of being something. That's it. Either that, or sit slackers. I just don't get this at all.

You've forgotten some of the really bad streaks Dahlin had but still played. Some people here even called him a draft bust (silly, but it happened). We needed him paired with a solid veteran and at times he needed a step back. AHL for him is debatable but he did develop bad habits that could have been avoided imo. Still remains to be seen if those habits will creep back now that Samuelsson isn't beside him. We shall see.

Asplund out so a young guy doesn't sit too long is dumb. One more thing that makes me feel they don't actually want to win this year. If not Quinn sitting, then based on play it should have been Okposo or Skinner sitting. Not Asplund. Big game to see if they have character and bounce back. I know virtually nothing about what montreal has this year and don't really care. Just beat them!

I always thought these old ones were better.