Are we even a bubble team without them though? That would be a team that scraped 95 points suddenly losing its #1 and #2C, its Vezina finalist goaltender, and its #5 point getter. Remove them from our team last year, and I'd be surprised if we break 80. Are we really expecting to be better next year? If so, why?
v good play-maker and passer & is still an adept point producer as a top-6er. he's not as great of a puck-carrier/rush offense guy as he used to be. i think you pair him w/ Chytil and another shooter and you'll have a solid top-9 line.
yeah this is why i have not been sold on this "retool", "restructure", "reconfigure" whatever buzz word posters like to use.
I mean, we are far from f***ed.
Vilardi is still going to get better. We have Nino and Iaffalo for a full season and they are productive. We should be tougher to play against, hopefully more buy in defensively. I think if we replace Helly with a good tandem going forward we’d be okay, but we don’t have anyone to replace Scheif unfortunately and may need to extend him long term on a contract that won’t age well. But as far as next year the current roster we have has more depth.
Agree with this, except for the proviso of it depends what comes back in the forward group and who is in net. (and who coaches after this season)
I don't think we're too off on our expectations - just maybe the tone. The fact that Helly has been one of the busiest goalies is an opportunity to improve with a lesser goalie. Shore up the quantity/quality of the chances and it mitigates some of the impact of losing him.
Chevy usually comes out of tough situations much better than I think he will. I’m expecting (hoping) the same with Helle and to a lesser extent, Scheifele.
Kinda, yeah? The Capitals and Red Wings both finished with 80, and I don't think our team without those players stick out as better than them.
I was thinking last season. This season I see us as being basically the same, replacing PLD and Wheeler's production with that of Nino, Iaffalo and Vilardi. But that's the thing, us being basically the same isn't good. We made the playoffs by three points and got smoked. If the goal for the season is the revenue from 2 playoff home games, we might do that. But where does that get us next?
I dunno. Jets lost their #1C, #1D and #1W in the playoffs last year and many fans and pundits were still mad that they lost to Vegas in Round 1, so...
Don't they get free ones? Thought the team paid for all the gear lol
Hey whats wrong with that! Lake of the woods is not for everyone you know.
The big improvement this year is probably with the two way play. With the forwards helping out a little bit more that probably improves us a bit. Maybe a more balanced lineup.
Could be. Could not be. Similarly though, are we anywhere near as good as the top 10 teams even if we keep all our players? I liked the PLD trade for value (though not really for direction). But Vilardi and Iaffalo were 7th and 9th in points for a team that, while better than us, weren't exactly setting the world on fire. Nino, similarly, is fine. All three should probably be middle 6ers.
We are spinning our tires on that bubble playoff line no doubt. Would be best to suck for a year or two and rebuild but Chevy won’t have it.
Rebuilds don’t take one or two years. They take seven or eight years.
Maybe that’s the wrong word. I remember Tampa and Avs sucking there for a year getting a high pick, drafting a good player then getting on with things. And if I’m not mistaken supplemented their stock pile by trading duchene that became makar? Scheif or Helly could return something similar?
