GDT: 12/17/13 - 7:00PM EDT - Tampa Bay @ New York Islanders

[The Macho King]

All good guys, Stamkos can come back and average 2GPG for the rest of the season, Johnson is so unclutch wow.

That's a stupid ****ing argument and you know it. Stamkos opens up the ice for everyone else. He produces against the top defensive pairings, and opens the ice for everyone else. Right now TJ has to go up against the top defensive match-ups... he's playing a little over his head right now.

Not to mention how it'll help our PP having a guy that'll actually shoot the ****ing puck.

 

[Tampa Bay Kiwi]

All good guys, Stamkos can come back and average 2GPG for the rest of the season, Johnson is so unclutch wow.

We just need Stammer back so our depth scorers aren't being matched up with teams top defensive units. And he will be good for almost a goal a game

 

[DFC]

Not arguing that, at all. I don't think we'd won those games even with Stammer. But this lack of scoring is a serious concern and I think some of you have massive rose-colored goggles on as far as how we're playing.

Not true. We're not saying it isn't bad. We just don't think we should make a panic move to correct it. Pretty much everyone figured if we could go .500 without Stamkos, we'd be okay. And that's what we're doing. It's tough to watch sometimes, I agree, but patch moves always come back to bite you.

 

[Doctor Drej]

it's gotta be killing steven to see us be this inept at scoring goals and not being able to go out and produce for us.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

Good to see Tavares be able to skate off.

 

[DFC]

That's a stupid ****ing argument and you know it. Stamkos opens up the ice for everyone else. He produces against the top defensive pairings, and opens the ice for everyone else. Right now TJ has to go up against the top defensive match-ups... he's playing a little over his head right now.

Not to mention how it'll help our PP having a guy that'll actually shoot the ****ing puck.

This. Johnson's been so good that we forgot he's played something like 40 career games. And he's up against John Tavares tonight. Not exactly ideal.

 

[Tampa Bay Kiwi]

Tavares will be hurting after that one

 

[The Macho King]

Didn't look like anything dirty...

 

[LTIR Trickery]

I know you want to bump him in that situation, kinda lock him up and keep him away from any rebounds... hope he isn't seriously hurt. Tavares is a good kid.

 

[chasespace]

I'm starting to wonder if there's something wrong with the franchise as a whole, they haven't been able to play 60 minutes consistently for more than a few years now.

 

[The Macho King]

Barbs needs to stop that stretch pass to no one from the blue line.

 

[Tampa Bay Kiwi]

Flips been average lately, he needs to be split up from Teddy

 

[2MinutesforGiraffing]

Not true. We're not saying it isn't bad. We just don't think we should make a panic move to correct it...but patch moves always come back to bite you.

Problem is, as I see it, we're getting worse. I don't see improvement from our rookies or, ****, even our vets. Same old mistakes. Game after game. Is it coaching? Is it the roster? You can argue all that, but you can't argue that we're not doing what we need to do.

To be fair, I believed we needed to upgrade our defense before the season even began. Our vets (Carle, Brewer, Salo) can't be counted on and don't get me started on the call-ups like Taormina and (intermittently) Barbs.

 

[LTIR Trickery]

I'm starting to wonder if there's something wrong with the franchise as a whole, they haven't been able to play 60 minutes consistently for more than a few years now.

Cooper is almost halfway through his first pro season, lets not dig too deep here.

Some of these kids are still learning how to win.

 

[The Macho King]

I'm starting to wonder if there's something wrong with the franchise as a whole, they haven't been able to play 60 minutes consistently for more than a few years now.

You go to every team's board, and ask them what their biggest problem is, you'll find all of them say "We never put together a full 60 minutes" and **** like that. That's hockey.

 

[Felonious Python]

if it's any consolation, Potvin sucks.

 

[The Macho King]

if it's any consolation, Potvin sucks.

Concur.

 

[bov]

Who is softer for their size than Andrej Sustr?

 

[Bolts265]

5 mins....time to pull Bishop.

 

[The Macho King]

Problem is, as I see it, we're getting worse. I don't see improvement from our rookies or, ****, even our vets. Same old mistakes. Game after game. Is it coaching? Is it the roster? You can argue all that, but you can't argue that we're not doing what we need to do.

To be fair, I believed we needed to upgrade our defense before the season even began. Our vets (Carle, Brewer, Salo) can't be counted on and don't get me started on the call-ups like Taormina and (intermittently) Barbs.

Carle has been terrific this year, as has Gudas. Brewer is fine on the third pairing, but he's playing too many minutes right now. Salo has been rather... unimpressive, but the one thing we "need" is a #2. Guess what, #2s aren't for sale.

 

[LTIR Trickery]

Problem is, as I see it, we're getting worse. I don't see improvement from our rookies or, ****, even our vets. Same old mistakes. Game after game. Is it coaching? Is it the roster? You can argue all that, but you can't argue that we're not doing what we need to do.

To be fair, I believed we needed to upgrade our defense before the season even began. Our vets (Carle, Brewer, Salo) can't be counted on and don't get me started on the call-ups like Taormina and (intermittently) Barbs.

If you believe that, i'm not sure the games you're watching. When you're leaning on sub-23 year olds to provide a bulk of offense like we're doing, this is what happens. We're down a significant offensive and defensive possession player, and outside of one line, have had no continuity since 91 left the lineup. They haven't regressed, this is just the true talent level of the team without 91 or 77. We're not as deep as everyone thinks, at least not yet. Depends how good 9/18/23/71/56 become.

 

[Sky04]

That's a stupid ****ing argument and you know it. Stamkos opens up the ice for everyone else. He produces against the top defensive pairings, and opens the ice for everyone else. Right now TJ has to go up against the top defensive match-ups... he's playing a little over his head right now.

Not to mention how it'll help our PP having a guy that'll actually shoot the ****ing puck.

Johnson has missed chances 3rd liners can bury regardless of the opposition, he missed a bunch of chances early on the season when paired against 3rd liners, excuse then was that he was snakebitten, now it's because he's playing over his head? No, he has really bad coordination and it's showing.

Ever thought that our secondary scoring was the one playing over their heads to start the season as well? Everyone's scoring is slowly reverting to the mean.

If you believe that, i'm not sure the games you're watching. When you're leaning on sub-23 year olds to provide a bulk of offense like we're doing, this is what happens. We're down a significant offensive and defensive possession player, and outside of one line, have had no continuity since 91 left the lineup. They haven't regressed, this is just the true talent level of the team without 91 or 77. We're not as deep as everyone thinks, at least not yet. Depends how good 9/18/23/71/56 become.

This.

 

[The Macho King]

If you believe that, i'm not sure the games you're watching. When you're leaning on sub-23 year olds to provide a bulk of offense like we're doing, this is what happens. We're down a significant offensive and defensive possession player, and outside of one line, have had no continuity since 91 left the lineup. They haven't regressed, this is just the true talent level of the team without 91 or 77. We're not as deep as everyone thinks, at least not yet. Depends how good 9/18/23/71/56 become.

TBF, there's only maybe... two teams that are "deep" after their two best players go down. Like I said, all things considered, can't complain with how this team is playing on the whole. There's a bit of a disconnect with them wanting to play a skill game when they should be playing a grinding game, and that shows with our offense, but for the most part we're in close games with a chance to win, and we've won quite a few. Really, there's not much to complain about.

Now if this **** continues when Stammer gets back? Absolutely. But I don't think it's a coincidence we go from a 3+ gpg team with him and a sub 2 gpg team without him.

 

[The Macho King]

Clutterbuck is a little piece of ****.

 

[DFC]

Problem is, as I see it, we're getting worse. I don't see improvement from our rookies or, ****, even our vets. Same old mistakes. Game after game. Is it coaching? Is it the roster? You can argue all that, but you can't argue that we're not doing what we need to do.

To be fair, I believed we needed to upgrade our defense before the season even began. Our vets (Carle, Brewer, Salo) can't be counted on and don't get me started on the call-ups like Taormina and (intermittently) Barbs.

Not sure what you're watching then, concerning young players. Gudas is dominant. Johnson and Palat are far better than the first of the year. Barbs is much, much better than his first few games. Are there still hiccups? Of course. We're talking about guys who haven't played a full NHL season, all playing together because there's no other option.

When Stamkos gets back, instantly players get slotted back into their correct spot. Right now you've got Tyler Johnson facing teams' #1 defenseman every night.

If we make a move, it can't be to correct the current situation, because the current situation didn't arise until the injuries started piling up. If Stamkos returns and we're still not scoring? Then it's time to get drastic.

We're short a power forward, I believe. But a textbook sniper would probably be a bad acquisition, since we have arguably the best one in the world on his way back, and within a year or two we'll have another couple.