PerreaultForever

But you can't just play a guy and treat your nhl team as a training ground. Coach wants to play his best roster available to win does he not? At the moment, that's not Quinn. Vinnie has been better - at this time.

I'd like to think you're right about Kulich, but I don't think you are. Rousek and Weissbach are definitely less than Quinn and imo Quinn isn't ready. Maybe in a limited capacity, but not really. Murray, well, he had moments last year but he's not as good as anybody on the current roster. I guess I'd accept that assessment of bottom 3. It's a drop off in all cases though, which was kind of my point. Depth to me is guys who can be inserted as equal to what's already there. Or very close. Pilut will apparently sub for Jokiharju and that too is a drop off imo. I'm not sure how many injuries this roster can handle before it totally drops off. Not that many more. Definitely not more to the D.

I don't mess with a winning line up but isn't it refreshing to be debating sitting a decent player and having an extra player(s) rather than a totally crap line up with few options?

How much of that roster is NHL ready ?

Sweet!

This is it. There's virtually no depth to this roster. Any number of injuries to any one position will undo whatever they have going.

That's the beauty of sports though. You can never totally reduce it to physics and math. The heart and desire. The passion. There are emotional components that just don't reduce to formulas and equations. It will be interesting to see if the Bruins culture remains strong when Bergeron retires for real. His leadership is a huge part of it and idk if you can easily replace that sort of thing.

Well nobody's going to argue against McDavid's abilities, but you have to admit that Tage's goal was better than anything McDavid did all night.

he plays hard and physical so these things are going to happen. Hopefully it's short term.

I don't think he's up there with Beniers etc. at this point but he certainly has played better than I expected this early in. I wouldn't be surprised if he still had some ups and downs this year but I don't see him going back to Rochester, that's for sure.

Told ya we could win this game. Sure, we hung on and almost blew it. A little more veteran presence might have helped calm these kids in the late 3rd but overall we matched their speed and when you do that they show their weaknesses. Comrie is solid. Peterka is the real deal. Keep these lines and when Granato thinks he's ready Quinn for Vinnie but otherwise this arrangement is the better one. Oh and have I mentioned I'm really starting to like this Lybushkin guy!!!!!!!

Ya, I think this is a real thing. Young teams often play better on the road early in the year than they do at home. Less pressure, team bonding, and a greater focus on hockey first. It's a good thing.

I actually think the Sabres are capable of winning this game. Not saying they will, they could just as easily fall apart and get blown out of the building BUT if we get better goaltending than them (which is quite possible), Cozens frustrates McDavid a little, and the reunited top line gets it together in a wide open game we could surprise people. It's a style match up that we generally play better with. Draisaitl is the guy who might kill us. Depends on the line match ups.

The team culture is arguably the best in the league. Krejci back and DeBrusk happy, both hated Cassidy. Ullmark looking the best he ever has. Rumour has it Bob Essensa is a very good goaltending coach. Montgomery has them playing a style more conducive to the current league and thus several players have elevated their game. Bottom 6 is contributing more. If Marchand and McAvoy come back 100% they will be a true contender.

Boston and Pittsburgh look better than last year. Agree on Washington and Kuemper doesn't look like much so far. They miss Wilson more than people think. Don't count the Leafs in yet. With their goaltending issues all it would take is one or two of the big guns going down for them to fall apart. Carolina looks like the cream of the crop.

So he's been bumped down to the 4th line as he should be. Quinn sits for Vinnie as I said he should. Granato's moves here are all very reasonable and totally based on the on ice performance we've seen. He's just coaching. That's his job.

that's why that doesn't work.

McAvoy, Gryzlyk and tonight Carlo all out, that's half their starting D. Ullmark absolutely robbed Reinhart on a break which was an odd thing to watch. I'm not sure what the deal was with Florida, I'm guessing it was salary cap related, but they only dressed 5 D and then Ekblad went down leaving them with 4 D for the second half of the game. They miss Weeger big time. It was however, a good hockey game to watch.

He can be an effective winger. I'm not going to argue that, but he doesn't belong on that line. You've got 3 guys who like to shoot the puck and nobody that likes to play on the wall or in the corners. It's a terrible mix. Tuch seemed to create a little mayhem and open up more space for Skinner and Thompson. Thompson would dominate that space last year. These 3 have just been shooting from a distance with little follow up. Tuch also seemed to get both of them to play a little more physical by contagion or leading by example or whatever, and so far this year they just aren't. VO Mitts and a physical body we don't have on this roster at the moment would be the best option imo as I like Peterka with Cozens.

What game? When did he ever have it?

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.