PerreaultForever

You might, but you should consider one of the things Cassidy said about Taylor Hall. Roughly, he said he thought Hall was benefitting from the influence players like Marchand had on him. He felt that if he had a full season of watching how Marchand works out, prepares and leads he'd become an even better hockey player. So ya, you would kill him, and you are stuck being a fan of this shitshow.

Also, religious and committed as he might be in the weight room, doesn't mean he couldn't have gone to a buddy's house, maybe had a few and decided to show off and be stupid. There's no way to know, but IF (stress IF) he did injure himself in some off season dumb way and the Sabres know about it, it might explain their entire attitude towards him. But no way to know.

I would kill for a guy like Marchand to come in and lead this sorry sack of ***** we call a hockey team.

so is Jack's leadership.

All I know for sure is I don't want any more of this: and I do want a little bit of what they're talking about:

Indeed.

I prefer the dawning of a new era way of looking at it rather then closing on the tank so half full not half empty positive over negative blah blah blah. I just want a reason to be hopeful and care.

This is blatantly wrong. Who would we have beaten in our usual division? red Wings and New Jersey that's a wash. Maybe Ottawa, but they were tough and played well second half. Everybody else was a playoff team and two of them are final 4. Unless we get substantially better, we're 7th place at best next year. idk why people are stuck on the tank. Maybe that's a problem with the franchise. Always whining and blaming. Ya, it failed. They didn't get McDavid. Eichel's a really good hockey player but not "generational". Kane was a punk and didn't blossom into the power winger beside Eichel that he was supposed to be. Lehner lost his ***** and crapped out so no goalie. ROR didn't like being a #2 center and lost his love. We hired the wrong coaches. Traded away or squandered too many draft picks. Multiple mistakes were made. It's a long list. and it hasn't stopped yet. Yes, Cozens seems like he was a good pick. there's a few decent prospects, but SO FAR, any change is just hypothetical. To this point, KA has done absolutely nothing good and nothing that gives one any faith in this improving any time soon. Until he actually does something good, all we have to look forward to is a top draft pick, again. Forget the tank. All these years later we should be better. Really, it's kind of hard to stay this bad this long. It takes real ineptitude.

How about their first this year and their first for 2023? In all these trades/scenarios I'd be all for adding 2023 first rounders (obviously not lottery protected).

This Vancouver article that was posted on the title page might be a starting point but as much as I don't like Reinhart, he's worth more than just the #9 overall pick in a weak draft. https://theprovince.com/sports/canucks-why-theres-buzz-to-deal-ninth-overall-pick-for-sam-reinhart

It simply has to be a new era for me to keep my interest. I've had my fill of this and if it's mostly the same core and people returning I'm out. Hasn't worked yet and won't work now. We need a new core and a new attitude. With a full reset you at least get a cause for hope and a bottom or floor to move up from. Then you can get back to being like most normal teams and expect progression year to year and be pissed if there's a drop off.

I am forever in awe of how nitpicky and exact this board demands at times. have fun. I'm out of this one.

That's what I'm saying. They were gambling it might go up. Not that year, but sooner than later. It was a gamble in any event and the 10th round was gambling time.

I think your definition of flourish must be different then mine. I said as a second pairing guy. If you can get a good pick or prospect for him this summer I'm making the deal. But if you can't, I'm just not feeling the need to give him away. He can be moved easily at the deadline that's all. Depends who we add of course. I am however, a little concerned about the physical side of this team. depends who we add. I only value Borgen more because we currently aren't deep at that position. We have a bunch of guys similar to Bjork and Thompson in terms of value.

I think that's partially true, but there was some thought that the curtain was going up (as it did in fact) and several red army guys were drafted late that year too. I think Montreal picked Tretiak. It was a late round strategy.

No, you're misreading me. I want to trade Eichel, Reinhart AND Risto before the season starts. Ideally before the expansion draft. I'm just less concerned with trading Risto sooner than later. I just don't value Bjork and Thompson all that much.

Not saying he does. His value is as a second pairing D man with some toughness and nastiness. On the right roster he can flourish still and be a solid performer for a real playoff team. His trade deadline value would be high.

doesn't mean much of anything unless you factor in who we were playing against and the type of game it was. Not just to save a roster spot. Nobody we will lose is overly important. You max value on all these guys. Trade deadline is the best time to move D men. I'd rather we did it before the season, but if not it'll be okay in his case. Gives us depth as the kids develop.

I think whatever happens will happen fairly quickly together and the moves will be before the draft. Eichel likely goes first as the teams (like LA) that don't get him might be inclined to go after Reinhart as a consolation prize and thus drive his value up even higher. That's how I'd do it if I was KA anyway. Risto goes last because I'm not even that concerned to trade him. He could be kept until deadline next season if you wanted to or the returns weren't that great. I don't think we give Seattle anything to take Miller. I think they'll take him anyway. And if they take Bjork or Thompson or even Borgen instead, I don't really care. I'd rather not lose Borgen, but it's not worth giving up extras, unless of course as an extra they'd like Okposo for free.

Ya, coincidentally, we took goalies that year. Barrasso and then Puppa in the same draft. They didn't scout those Euro leagues as much in those days and Hasek had a weird unorthodox style, Chicago was pretty much gambling when they drafted him. I doubt they ever thought he'd be much of anything.

Well, I sort of agree but disagree. No, there is no shortcut, and huge salaries on a few players is definitely the wrong approach imo, if you are going to have one huge contract, star goalie is the position to spend that money on. Hasek leading the pluggers is the perfect example, as is Carey Price with Montreal right now. Great goaltending can take you further than great any other position. The almost cup with Hasek is always talked about but back in the 70s the only thing we didn't have was super goaltending. Ours was just okay. The bullies had the star goalie and we didn't. You switch goalies and we have that cup not them, Kate Smith and all. As I've said elsewhere, to right this franchise, goalie has to become a primary concern, not an afterthought as it has been for ages now. But back to Hasek, as much as he loved winning the cup in Detroit, I think his greatest hockey moment for himself was winning the gold. 3:44 mark, that save is just insane.

You can spin that as a narrative but it's not true for me. I never blamed Perreault (even though he did slack some nights) nor Peca or Drury or Briere or Hasek or whoever from the past. Turgeon was a slacker and the LaFontaine trade was a huge win. To me, our current so called stars are in the Turgeon boat. I'm on the record not being in favour of the Skinner signing. My call every year is for mid level free agents not stars. I'm totally on board with building a balanced roster, but if you dump all your money on stars who cannot lead and do not win, it'll be a disaster. However you want to categorize these guys (put the blame on the team breaking them or them failing doesn't matter) either way they're broken and they are thus part of the problem. playing for a contract/trade. He's had chances to shine before. Where was the leadership when we needed it??????????????

As much as I'd love to get rid of Skinner (in any way) there's simply no point in these things. Skinner isn't going anywhere. He wanted to be near southern Ontario and he just don't care so he's here until his contract is over unless we excommunicate him to some remote place as we've done before. We're stuck with him like it or not.

yes please.

Equally however, a decent mid level goalie looks much better behind a great D. Who were the stars in the last 2 playoff games? First Pieterangelo (and their entire D really) and tonight Hedman.