PerreaultForever

Oh did he? Florida tax breaks strike again I guess. I wasn't paying attention. Well good for them.

Here's something everyone will enjoy. Announcer in the Edmonton Philly game "Ristolainen continues to struggle"

Well if you don't do well in a big contract year you never will, but yes, he looked good in this game I just saw. Florida as a whole looks very good.

You know all this discussion of how much of a player he was is irrelevant. Could have been a waterboy, doesn't change a thing. Team covered up abuse and they ALL knew. If the league does not kick out Quenneville and Chevaldyov it's still a cover up. And all the players and ex players who say they didn't know are also full of sh##. It was all over the locker room and there were homosexual slurs tossed around and any captain like Toews and such who says they didn't know is outright lying. Glad this is exposed, but justice has not been served yet.

Absolutely. I've said as much in other threads. They have definitely provided some enjoyable moments so far and they are better than expected. A number of players individually are better than expected. There are positive signs for sure, but it's a long climb.

Bobrovsky is playing really well. As much as it pains me to say it, Reinhart looked pretty good in that Bruins Panthers game. Definitely outplayed Hall. Ullmark was Ullmark.

No, I still think it's a tank when you pass on all available decent goalies. I have enjoyed the wins, but this isn't going to continue. We're not nearly as good as some people seem to think we are. We won't be at the bottom. That'll be Arizona or maybe Montreal who might steal Wright similar to how Toronto got Matthews but we wont' be anywhere near the playoffs.

and they lost more than that. Don't forget about Danault . Koktaneimi and even Perry. I know people here don't like him and he's well past his prime, but he did provide leadership and some big contributions on their cup run. Staal they're probably fine without 🙂

Montreal is really really bad.

Oh how weird. Netflix recommended this to me literally like 5 minutes ago. Can't ignore that kind of coincidence. I'm going to add it to my list now.

That's true as it unfolded. I was thinking more of when he was hired and we had player reactions from all those one on one chats and dinners. Everybody seemed enamoured by his words at that point.

Honestly, I think Krueger was a complete and utter fraud. Talked a good talk, and obviously gave a good interview, able to convince people he knew what he was talking about, but not an actual coach at all. Kind of get the feeling he designed a plan on paper, one that wasn't necessarily wrong in theory, but then had zero ability to adapt those ideas, work on players flaws, correct mistakes, run proper drills and practices and all that other coaching stuff. Granato on the other hand is implementing very simple basic schemes and letting his players play them focusing on teamwork and interconnections. But really he's just saying go fast, go hard, get in front of the net and shoot when you have a chance. My hope is it develops as they develop, in time we shall see. imo it's a decent way to start over, which is what was needed.

I will say Dahlin has been better in the regular season so far than he was in the preseason (where he was awful) but he still runs around too much and gets caught out of position. Pairing him with a positionally stronger and more reliable partner helps him a lot and I would question Granato's decision if he pairs him back with Jokharju again when he returns. I also think Dahlin's decision making is slow and flawed. Carries the puck alone when he should pass it and to a lesser extent vice versa. Many of the basic fundamentals of his D game are weak and that's on the Sabres, not him. maybe it's slowly being corrected now, but idk.

he did, but mostly I'm impressed with Hagg. idk why Philly gave up on him but at this point he's playing as good as, probably better than Risto did and we got draft picks along with him in that deal so for the moment, that stands as KA's greatest achievement.

I think with more time, Cozens might even be able to get Skinner scoring again. The way he plays he is creating some openings for him and there are early signs of some possible meshing together there. Bjork, on the other hand is rapidly playing himself off the roster imo.

You're absolutely right, but nothing will happen and there will be no punishment for Stamkos. 5-1 we had a chance to take a few liberties back at them/him but we don't do that (yet). Hopefully one day we will. We're less afraid of the front of the net this year. We push back a little. It's a work in progress, but it is progress.

Well that was the party line. That's how Dubas got the job. They've tried to bring in a host of fill out the roster tough guys and so called grit people but they've mostly gotten duds. Nick Ritchie for example was dumb desperation. If you prefer, call it a failure of the superstar forward model for team building. All your money on 4 hot shot forwards. Nothing left to build a team with. So I don't want another one of those guys. Skinner is already too many. Leafs really miss Hyman. Him I would have signed.

Well I thoroughly enjoyed that.

I agree, but we don't have that guy.

I didn't because it goes off topic, but briefly, I think what you see in Toronto is proof that relying too much, or solely, on analytics is a fool's pursuit. Players like Marner have great skill and can at times put up great stats, but they lack character. I would prefer we not try to build that sort of team.

I hate Tampa. That's all.

This is possible, but it's also been a refrain heard around these parts for years. Just add more talent and they'll all be fine and yet when various pieces of talent have been added it hasn't worked and we end up with Halls and Skinners. With Dahlin, I'm just not sure he has the drive and character to be a star D man so maybe if that falls to Power then he can fall into a role where he can excell without the expectation of being dominant. idk

I was of course joking with those comments (which were the standard critiques). I'm not really concerned with how many points he gets this season. Florida's a really good team and he is sure to rack up extra (empty net goal the other night for example) What I will be interested to see is if he elevates his game in the playoffs or if he's a Mitch Marner. This was a question we never got to answer here.

No. I don't want anyone from Toronto.

ya, but can he drive his own line? He's no Draisaitl. 🙂