GDT: 2024-2025 Training Camp

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

He's like the 15th-20th best left winger in the NHL until he shows he's not. I only went that low because his defense is bad too.

1st line - probably deserving on a per team basis
2nd line - 100% deserving, at minimum
3rd line - What are you doing?
4th line - Quit coaching permanently

Again it's a situational thing and team dependent. Phil Kessel played third line here... he's not a third liner. Ruslan Fedotenko played 2LW here... he's not a 2LW etc etc.

This is boring and largely couched in semantics and hair-splitting. I don't even have one single thing against Bunting and think that he's been excellent here so far.

 

[Ryder71]

Except they don't, really. We like to keep an oral tradition of the meme "Malkin gets Crosby's leftovers" and "they've never had good wings" and really, neither of them are true in reality.

I would say up until 2015, they were largely handcuffed by cap space. After that, they've always had adequate top 6 wings. Problem is, people might look to a team like Tampa and be like "well they have Kucherov! We don't have one of those!" and they proceed to say our guys suck. In reality, if you look at ALL 30-32 teams and their predominant top 6 wings, we're no better or worse than anyone. Especially considering we live in a cap world and our two top 6 centers are generational talents making $8.7 or $9.5mil for the most part. Something not many teams had so of course there has to be some give and take.

I will reply to that - I believe they CAN make the playoffs. They are CAPABLE of it. Now the probability of "WILL THEY?" is completely different.

When you're best players are 37 and 38 despite being all time greats with a mediocre at best supporting cast, that's not a recipe for success. I'd be very surprised if they're even .500 this year. And keep in mind that their big two were healthy each of the last two years. That's not likely to continue.

 

[SEALBound]

When you're best players are 37 and 38 despite being all time greats with a mediocre at best supporting cast, that's not a recipe for success. I'd be very surprised if they're even .500 this year. And keep in mind that their big two were healthy each of the last two years. That's not likely to continue.

I don't disagree but it's still a very capable roster. Honestly, a handful of powerplay goals and average goaltending gets them the WC2 last year.

 

[Ryder71]

I don't disagree but it's still a very capable roster. Honestly, a handful of powerplay goals and average goaltending gets them the WC2 last year.

But their best players are a year older and their supporting cast is as well. Rookies or young guys look to be blocked for the most part. In addition their team speed is bottom five in the league. How many points do you expect this season? Not how many they could get, how many realistically do you think they will get?

 

[WickedWrister]

Yeah the over/under on regular season points is 90.5.

+120 to make the playoffs, -150 to miss it.

OTT, DET, NYI, WAS, BUF are probably our competition for the WC2 spot.

 

[Ryder71]

Yeah the over/under on regular season points is 90.5.

+120 to make the playoffs, -150 to miss it.

OTT, DET, NYI, WAS, BUF are probably our competition for the WC2 spot.

Honestly, I looked at their schedule, they have a 7 game road trip. Never happened before that I can remember. They also have a couple long homestands. When you have long road trips or homestands you tend to get a bit stale. We'll see how it all plays out but I came up with 34-38-10.

 

[GilbertSeinfeld]

Yeah the over/under on regular season points is 90.5.

+120 to make the playoffs, -150 to miss it.

OTT, DET, NYI, WAS, BUF are probably our competition for the WC2 spot.

Will this be the year Buffalo finally puts it together, or will they have another "wait until next year" kind of season?

 

[AuroraBorealis]

Again it's a situational thing and team dependent. Phil Kessel played third line here... he's not a third liner. Ruslan Fedotenko played 2LW here... he's not a 2LW etc etc.

This is boring and largely couched in semantics and hair-splitting. I don't even have one single thing against Bunting and think that he's been excellent here so far.

And because it's team-dependant, I'm giving you the averages of what would happen with him on a team.
It's not me making it boring. It's you guys pushing back against reality.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

And because it's team-dependant, I'm giving you the averages of what would happen with him on a team.
It's not me making it boring. It's you guys pushing back against reality.

Yes yes we know... "reality." We get to hear about how clueless, delusional and ignorant of the sport we all are from you quite a bit. I'm sure your track record is unimpeachable and you've never been wrong in your assessment so who am I to talk? You ARE Canadian, after all. That gives you special insight. Just like being American gives me special insight into bald eagles, obesity and firearms.

 

[SEALBound]

But their best players are a year older and their supporting cast is as well. Rookies or young guys look to be blocked for the most part. In addition their team speed is bottom five in the league. How many points do you expect this season? Not how many they could get, how many realistically do you think they will get?

WC2 - 5pts +/- 2

 

[AuroraBorealis]

Yes yes we know... "reality." We get to hear about how clueless, delusional and ignorant of the sport we all are from you quite a bit. I'm sure your track record is unimpeachable and you've never been wrong in your assessment so who am I to talk? You ARE Canadian, after all. That gives you special insight. Just like being American gives me special insight into bald eagles, obesity and firearms.

It's not that you guys are ignorant.
It's that your primary focus in convos with me is contradicting me, instead of looking at what's actually happening.
There's so much stupid pushback for no reason on this board.
The guy's crushing it so far in the NHL. Better than the vast majority of left wingers. That's a fact. This should not be debatable for veteran fans.
This convo should have been over a long time ago.

 

[Gurglesons]

It's not that you guys are ignorant.
It's that your primary focus in convos with me is contradicting me, instead of looking at what's actually happening.
There's so much stupid pushback for no reason on this board.
The guy's crushing it so far in the NHL. Better than the vast majority of left wingers. That's a fact. This should not be debatable for veteran fans.
This convo should have been over a long time ago.

Saying Michael Buntintg and Jake Guentzel are comparable producers if given the same usage would receive contradictory responses on any platform.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

This convo should have been over a long time ago.

Terrific we agree on something for once.

 

[GilbertSeinfeld]

Remember, no matter what happens tonight, the Pens already won the Cup last night.

 

[Ryder71]

WC2 - 5pts +/- 2

Since no one will give a specific number of points I'll give mine. 78 points.

Their goaltending is suspect, they're old and they're too damn slow!