PerreaultForever

Ya, well La la la and May Day are the 2 big ones so I suggested May cause I think he's a colour broadcaster now and LaFontaine and the Pegulas ain't going to happen.

Should have asked them if they'd rather watch Trailer Park Boys rather than listen to Nickelback or ice fish for that real Canadian angle.

Well, Like many I had a number of players ahead of him but I hope his game translates to the NHL level sooner than later.

April Fool's Day? Odd choice but at least there will be a day. If I were them I would honor him that night and then have him in the booth with Dunleavy in a true passing of the torch kind of way. Let Rick regale us with all his best stories during the game while Dan calls the (likely) dull game. maybe get Brad May to come in and give him some sort of trophy/award/portrait/thing in that ceremony.

As always, I'm sure they HOPE for certain things to happen and become obvious, but there are far too many variables and uncertainties in terms of player development to be sure. While they might have a Plan A, they'd best have versions B and C ready as well. I haven't seen anything from this management group that clearly defines the future of this team aside from maybe the heavy reliance on analytics for the draft(s). "Players who want to be here" isn't really a strategy, it's just a dream.

I thought they might try that with Eichel but I suppose this gives them a more plausible version of the Kucherov. Pacioretty-Eichel-Stone all healthy come playoff time would be a pretty impressive top line.

Exactly. Culture, environment, team identity. We have none. We constantly keep changing coaches and plans and schemes and players and most of these guys realize pretty fast they're not going to be here long term and they play at that level. I mean we here often get caught up trying to figure out what is line 1 vs 2 or 3 or 4. Other teams have set roles for specific lines and they slot the best available player that fits into that role. Hence Lazar can play in Boston because their 4th line is a match for his style. Ours keeps changing. I thought maybe we were starting to head that way when there seemed to be some consistency with a second line of Cozens Murray Okposo but now it's all just a big blender mix again. No one has any idea what this team will look like next year, and I doubt management actually does either.

It's sad and telling that our throw ins make the rosters of better teams and contribute (E-Rod, Lazar) and their throw ins can't find a role or contribute to a very bad team. Obviously none of these players are integral to winning a Stanley Cup but it does make this organization look clueless. We just keep shuffling the deck with new (to us) bodies, the names change, the results don't.

Just wondering, what has VO done this season to justify paying him "big"? When everybody paid attention to Eichel he was left alone and sniped on the PP effectively but has he really done much of anything to make him any more than a lower range average player in terms of money?

Exactly. This is what I've been trying to say here and there in various threads. The body of work for players like Mitts is really small and they are far from guaranteed to be top line players. We have many potentially good players and prospects, but there are very few players who you can definitively say are a lock and are going to be cornerstones moving forward. Wait what? These aren't the tank years??? 🙂

What an impressive sentence and sentiment. I'm sure you will get many likes for that. Some of us are curious how they will manage the cap but carry on.

How long is he out for?

If Eichel actually plays for them in Feb. they're going to have to move somebody off their roster aren't they? Are they not right up close to the cap without him?

Watch him score 30 goals as Crosby's winger 🙂

Oh I know, and I was kidding. He's having a very good year though. Much better than expected and a lot of it was with Crosby out of the line up. The Pitt announcers rave about his game. Just shows you how mediocre players can thrive on good teams.

I guess if you want to say something nice you say they didn't quit and came close, but it was not good. UPL showing the same weaknesses. It's a problem. Sharks are not and were not good, but they didn't need to be. This is going to be a long and painful second half of the season much like every other year.

E-Rod? 🙂

Unless you want to reunite the Subban brothers Klingberg, Manson, Schultz, Gudbrandson not much else in free agency. Gudrandson would be the cheapest and if he was interested I'd sign him. Would also want Manson but He could stay a Duck unless they have cap issues. I'd actually sign one of them AND Pysyk. It's kind of funny though isn't it, after we eagerly ditched the viking RHD we need a RHD. Seems to be an ongoing Sabre type thing.

"valuable" is a stretch, but Jag is too harsh. Veteran RHD with a small amount of grit I consider him a decent depth defenseman. With all the youngsters I'd consider keeping him and not as a temp but as a piece of a team that you want to build a culture of stability around. 3 years 1 million per. I'd even consider slapping an A on him until Power is ready to take it over.

Bruins have been my #2 team and playoff team over this last decade. I've explained that before, it's a from childhood thing that started with Orr and the jerseys. Preds play a nasty tough brand of hockey I agree. They have decided to compensate for lacking skill with toughness. Will be interesting to see if it gets them into the playoffs and if they will be a tough out or not. I really like what Anaheim's doing. Excellent drafting and balancing skill with toughness. Unlike the Sabres, they see the value in a DesLauriers . Zegras plays bigger on that team because of ND and Carrick and some of the others around him. They also kept veteran leadership in Getzlaf. It's a smart rebuild and appears to be faster than ours.

Once again, and for the last time, I wasn't saying Krebs was LIKE Lazar in terms of style/skills, just saying in terms of draft spot and expectation upon entering the league, they were similar. Lazar never lived up to it but later found a role bottom end. Thus, the expectation for Krebs is there, but temper it. He might, he might not. Now please stop nitpicking. Its pointless.

Hayden is on the roster for grit and toughness. Arguably he's not that tough, but that's why he's there and why he should stay. When you can add a young guy who is grittier and tougher he can be replaced, but you're not going to replace him with a young skill player, that would be a mistake. With all the young guys added and being added soon (hopefully) you need some guys to respond for liberty taking and let these kids play braver. He's a role player and that's his role. Eakin is face offs and PK. I'd hope Cozens and Tage are trying to learn from him while he's here, cause they suck at draws, but he also has a role. Replace him with better sure, but it has to be with a face off PK type guy.

To a large extent I think this is true but not a lot is really well defined at this point. There are too many players who are just okay but not great in their roles. The bottom six isn't well defined at all, but I think the reason you see Hayden over someone faster or more skilled is they eventually want that bottom line to be tougher and grittier like many other teams have. If nothing else, salary caps (eventually) demand that. I'm a big believer in line chemistry and a balanced roster and in that way of thinking I feel that Murray should be on this team as we need size.

idk what "made the team" with this roster really means as it'll be a different roster after the deadline and next year I assume but I liked the Murray Cozens Okposo line and would like it back for the rest of the year . Murray makes a line better as he offers a different style and skill set from most of our players. He's no star, and I'd definitely like to see him play more aggressively and with more of an edge, but I'd keep him for now anyway. Put that big body in front of the net often. He just needs to hit some people though. Tage is getting away with a skill game using his reach but Murray is less skilled so he HAS to use his size more. Bjork and Caggiula can just go away as far as I'm concerned.

Obviously a big solid rhd would be the ideal compliment for one of our lhd prospects, no question.