Drag0nDan

I kinda liked byram as the wing opposite tage tbh. Ideally id see it as JJP - Quinn - Cozens - Tuch - Power JJP and Quinn on opposite sides, cozens in the middle, tuch down low, power at QB Tage - Skinner (or Benson... potentially not on roster) - Greenway - Byram - Dahlin Tage and Byram on walls, Skinner down low, Greenway working net front rebounds and high slot, dahlin at QB

Oh i don't want to - it was just the first post in the thread.

Power's contract is going to limit suitors, and require money coming back. Usually that results in... the berglunds and sobotkas of the world. I personally would like to see power with a new coaching staff before i'd be willing to write him off.

I don't think tuch and thompson need to play this big heavy game because they are large. But my god could they play a little less soft?

I can't remember exactly, but i feel like they were jawing up the ice too so it was definitely a cheap shot.

I'm for buying him out. No spreadsheets needed really. I'm not listing anyone as "untouchable" but... to just keep bringing back people and not shaking up the roster is a little wild to me when the team never wins anything. It makes signing a FA wing/center challenging since the top 6 has tuch, skinner, jjp, quinn, cozens, thompson- with benson also right in the mix. Players I'd like to move on from - Krebs, Girgs, VO, Skinner, Robinson, Jokiharju, Clifton. Honestly I'm open to Tuch too. His contract is cheap and that has value to a team trying to maybe shed salary. As for filling in those spots? I don't think you can just plug in prospects and expect to improve. Maybe 1 or 2? But somethings gotta give here. You need to find NHL talent, and you need to use a deep prospect pool to get it. You have too many puck moving lefties (dahlin, power, byram) - so move johnson somehow. You have too many forwards at the same ages - you need to move some to try and add talent into the top-6. There's not enough room on a roster for kulich, rosen, Östlund, wahlberg, savoie, whomever else you want to throw in there. Top 6 needs a shake-up badly, and the bottom 6 probably feels like a better home for someone like cozens until he can prove otherwise. They also need... considerably more toughness. And not people to hit and fight, but a coaching staff that makes these guys fight through checks, skate back on defense, backcheck effectively, etc. Not to mention... playing faster. This team is fast, but they play slow.

They need to care. They need to be able to play physically. Whats the point of making the playoffs if when we get there we get absolutely smashed in actual playoff hockey. And its not just... "hitting". Its fighting through checks, fighting through sticks, playing with jam, getting pucks to the net, backskating hard, backchecking more effectively.

Before the first period. Me and my 3 buddies were yelling and cheering and they came out and just side eyed us. Dahlin gave me a nod at least? Like I get wanting to have some level of focus but it felt like there was nobody who remotely cared.

I was in the tunnel as they came out - and wow. There is like 0 enthusiasm. The lady told us to be loud so we were going nuts and they came out just stunned that anyone at all seemed to care. Rob ray was actually very sweet with a couple little girls before the game in that same line 😄

Yeah - the problem is a lot of the STH's are already brokers. They hold on to them to potentially make money when the team is better.

At least Washington plays a bunch of games on the road where they haven't been very good. Both teams have 5 game road trips out west, and lets be honest. Both teams are probably going to be out of it after that.

My friend is a ticket broker, he moves the vast majority of his (I've used his tickets a few times this season). But he also probably already has this license, so i doubt it would change anything. Without the brokers they do have? I'm not really sure how many STH's they would have. It's a pretty bad scene, and its worse because the team is so bad.

The team is bad! They NEED to a shake-up across most of the roster.

I mean... Mittelstadt has never scored even 16 goals in a season, Cozens and tage have both put up 30+. Been a rough year with injuries, shooting % down, and just a lack of an identity.

He's played 55 games in his age 22 season. And even with his injuries - he has already scored more points than mittelstadt did through his age 22 season... as a puck-moving defenseman.

I mean... to make a brutally bad call. Then to DOUBLE DOWN and throw a bench minor on top of it? Just awful.

Considering we're probably a no-go on literally every NMC/M-NTC etc. These are the types of players you have to take a long hard look at. It's going to probably take a Center, a top prospect, and a 1st round pick. They may ask for more, but i don't see anyone dealing much more than that. Great player but you have to pay him. Considering we're likely in the lottery i'd wait until the offseason to deal a 1st round pick.

I think quinn will be a good piece for next year, and you likely expect benson to improve. I'd be willing to buy-out skinner if it is reasonable. Tuch has trade value if you don't go that route. Skinner-Thompson-Tuch - Needs a shakeup somewhere. Skinner buy out only makes sense if you trade for someone or sign someone. A superstar forward is what is really needed. Quinn-Cozens-JJP - Cozens needs to play better but they never got much time together either. Benson-Mitts-??? - I don't know that you want to graduate a minors player here but if not, someone with some jam who can score. ???-???-Greenway - Need shut down players who can contribute offensively. See no reason to look at players like ZG, Krebs, Okposo. These are the types of players who don't have NTCs or they're more limited. D Dahlin Power Johnson Muel Jokiharju Open to trading a jokiharju, and i don't see anyone else in the pipeline who's going to contribute so figuring out how to improve, and add righties will be big. G UPL and Levi I don't see a reason to keep levi in the minors, but i see the side wanting a backup. I think levi getting games in rochester will help, and ideally he's ready to rock for like 30 next year. He was handled very poorly this year.

I've yet to see krebs really bring anything to the table. He isn't fast enough, the skills he had don't really pop, loses the puck on the walls pretty consistently, doesn't forecheck or backcheck that well, hes just a dude. I'm fine lumping him in with Z, KO, EJ, etc. I'd probably buy out skinner, clifton probably too. I'd contemplate moving tuch or Greenway. Roster needs a serious shakeup, and they will most likely need to make a splash in FA as well as make a couple of trades. Can't keep just rolling in new rookies and hoping they'll pop off, when they're consistently too small and slow to make an impact as rookies.

I'm pretty much done with him. Getting Tage to a 40 goal scorer, and unlocking dahlin are great. But the team is maddeningly inconsistent with their effort night to night. They also seem to sulk quite a bit when things don't go right. And this guy doesn't get them rallied, seemingly ever. They start poor, and they'll probably lose. I don't think they need someone to like... discipline them. I just think someone who can get them going to start every game, and has answers when the effort isn't there.

Contract has to be taken into consideration 🙂 Theoretically the compensation for candidate 1 would likely be the largest as well by looking at this. Though i think tage would probably get you the most based solely off averaging 40 goals over 2 seasons before this bust year.

I tend to agree. Just feels too early to lock him in. 75 games, and probably more bad than good games. Lately watching him i feel like he has turned a corner in some regards. He's confidently using his large frame to take away a lot of net. He's redirecting rebounds to the walls much more than in the past. His glove has become a bit of an asset. He's also seeming to read the play faster to take away the net. I could see why you would extend him - but I'm with you. Just need to see it more to fully buy in.

Yup - Swayman and Ullmark are a really nice tandem. Able to keep both rested and ready, and let the chips fall how they may. You tend to want to ride one goalie in the playoffs, but having two options is nice. I hope Buffalo is able to get some level of consistency with UPL and Levi in the next year.

There are aspects of his game that he needs to work on - 1 - being a bigger presence in front of the net. Already a big dude, but do a better job tying people up and moving people. 2 - Adding into that, he needs to be more physical period. 3 - He thinks too much. Which just seems like an issue all around as no one seems to know where anyone is. 4 - Shooting. He passes up a lot of shots looking for something better. Sometimes this is fine on a PP, but at ES it tends to lead to turnovers. Maybe he's not the one turning it over, but it keeps our offense too far away from the net.

The entire team came out absurdly flat, which felt right considering we jumbled lines the entire camp and then just plugged and play with last years. Then he took that puck off his wrist and missed like 2 weeks, and seems like he likely has another UBI and LBI that he's been playing with. His shooting has been off all year, and i'd assume a right wrist injury to a RH shot is probably not great. Skating, dangling still there, just not seeing his linemates and trying to do too much. Love Tuch - but he probably is more middle-six than top six. And skinner is skinner. Not worth 9M, and not sure he's a good fit for a playoff hockey team TBH.