Drag0nDan

I think he's just there for a net front presence though. Buffalo's issues on PP have beenon the walls and zone entries. Move skinner off, move olofsson up, maybe give JJP some time with one group. Shake it up a bit.

Skinner has played pretty poorly in my eyes. He's getting PP time too, and just doesn't offer much at the moment. He's not getting to the net for rebounds, not forechecking effectively, not backchecking, and not shooting well. I'm not saying send him to the press box, but he needs to figure it out.

He's had some neat set-ups but stuff isn't falling. Skinners shot has been off all year. They tried the line without tuch and they were getting jammed in their own end. I'd kinda like to see someone like quinn on that line, or maybe krebs. They need to get faster and more creative on the power play and i think he's a part of that. Get skinner out of there, get some guys with some jam and stop dancing around and get the puck in on net.

Yeah, Pilut can create space for himself and is a skilled passer. Fitzgerald is not giving me the best vibes. It's always tough to be the swing guy on these type of arrangements though. They pair you with randoms constantly and theres no chemistry, but he was bad in his own end last night.

Poor effort, lots of turnovers by the team, poor zone entries, poor zone exits. They were getting out skated and out worked pretty consistently. Just an all around bad day at the office. It happens... but it can't happen often.

Its early - everyones healthy still. And there are a few differences Last season we ended up having to use scrubs at goalie by mid-season. Dell, Subban, Tokarski, Houser started 42 total. Some bad hockey players played... a LOT. Hayden Played 55 games. Eakin Played 69 games. Butcher played 37 games. Bjork played 58 games Eichel cloud hanging over their heads - they seemed to be a much different team upon adding Tuch and Krebs and dumping the "captain"

They just kept getting caught on long shifts, the zone exits were either when they were gassed so theyd change or iced it.

They run that mcdavid draisaitl combo at the end of the game for long stretches and its just exhausting.

1 - Happy to see Tuch back on line 1. Olofsson with Tage and Skinner wasn't working. They were struggling to zone exit, and didn't feel like they could use the line to match up effectively. 2- Comrie had himself a freakin NIGHT. 3 - Dahlin must've worked on shooting cuz that shot was naaasty. 4 - The reshuffled 2nd line is interesting. We really need Mittelstadt to be a Center it seems. 5 - The only question mark i have on the PP right now is Krebs, he just isn't able to create the same space as Tage on the wall because there is no threat of a shot.

Definitely.

They just struggled all night gaining the zone so they never really got going. Occaisionally they were on top of each other, sloppy, and i felt like they were also quite tentative. Their shifts always seemed to start with the defense waiting for them to get into position, and the corresponding zone entry attempt being sloppy as a result. Couldn't turn puck possession into anything, pucks in skates, just a sloppy bad day. What they didn't do was try and overly force the issue and create bad turnovers in the neutral zone. Silver lining i suppose.

Unfortunately for you... half of our roster was born in the 2000s

All very good points - its not just the goalies. Shot suppression is important, and scoring more goals is important. There were stretches where we just got blown out too. Being consistently in every game is big too.

If the goaltending were to improve they make noise. I just don't see it anywhere near the top of the league. Bjork will clear waivers. He doesn't do anything well. I'd rather carry sheahan as an extra forward since he can at least win draws.

I think thompsons playing wing with bottom line minutes makes it a tough comparison to find. One thing charts have shown me about thompson is that... location of shot matters when determining if a shooting percentage is an outlier. His shots this season were much more located to the slot vs. his previous time. He also became much more reliant upon his line mates - passing, setting up their passes etc. Previously he tried to do it all himself and there wasn't a ton of trust there.

Uhh tell that to Jeff Skinner

Their remaining goaltending options are not good. They'll try and swing a trade once their LTIR stuff is settled with Lehner/Weber. The issue becomes... who is going to trade a goalie to them- and why? Not likely to happen until mid-season.

Depends on the relationship with the European org I would think. Olofsson also had 18 points in his first 50 SHL games fwiw. The SHL has a relegation system as well, which means they couldn't care less about Rosen's development. This isn't the NHL where you're awarded a pick if you finish last. They just joined tier 1 in 2020, and they need to win to get players to sign and stay.

Agreed. Send Bjork... wherever else is not in the realm of NHL playing time. Players get hurt, he'll get some time with the big club as a depth forward who can center a bottom 6 line, kill some penalties, and help keep the puck out of the net.

I like the draft a ton now philosophy though - figure out who's good, cut your losses on the failures and re-stock again.

Bit of an outdated statistic but he was a plus player on the Kraken of all teams. Kills Penalties. Immediately the best available player for d-zone draws. Not to mention - we had over 150 games played by Eakin/Bjork/Hayden because of injuries. This guys better than all 3, and when injuries strike is a decent 4th line center option.

And by the time they need to make that decision - it becomes far more palatable.

As they age out though - it will get pretty crowded in rochester. Plus you may sign or trade for other pieces.

He's a solid skater, good shooter, decent on the walls, draws penalties, and doesn't rely on straight speed. He just seems to know how to get to areas to score goals be it rebounds, one timers, whatever. He's also not PP dependent at all which boosts his value a bit. I don't mind a long contract if I'm buying out RFA years. Usually you get a discount there. But it was a poor decision to give skinner that term, with that salary - while never scoring more than 63 points in his career. 2M more AAV, and 4 more years than Pacioretty (admittedly coming off a poor year there, but), but pacioretty has some additional value at the defensive side of the ice and kills penalties. Kucherov got 9.5M AAV for 8 years - but he had arb eligibility left.

I have an athletic subscription and read the article and im still not sure i understand it 🙂. From what i can tell they put him at a 47 point pace to split the difference between last year at 2.1 wins and the year before at basically 0. They then forecasted some age related deterioration. https://theathletic.com/3435602/2022/07/26/nhl-worst-contracts-2022/ -- Paywall obvi