You have to wonder what's going on behind the scenes to keep doing this year after year.....
Because they both call the shots. I can think of nothing else.
You have to wonder what's going on behind the scenes to keep doing this year after year.....
Plus they probably want to play together."They score a lot" is the extent of it I assume.
You have to wonder what's going on behind the scenes to keep doing this year after year.....
Never too early to jump to a conclusion!
But seriously, assuming Perfetti signs and no one is injured, seems tough to see Lambert getting a shot at all if they won't carry 14 forwards.
My hunch is they'd be willing to lose Anderson-Dolan, Shaw, or AJF to waivers, but probably not Gus or Kupari. Doesn't leave much room if that assumption is correct.
Yeah, it is hard to get a read on the situation. I get the point of view that Perfetti hasn't shown enough for a long term, but the getting him at a discount long term is more persuasive to me. He was a top 10 pick, who could have gone in the 5-7 range. He has had injury problems and some less than ideal usage, but he still has shown he has top 6 skill. IMO you take a chance on him now to avoid having to pay a couple million more per season AAV a couple years from now.
Except there is some limit to it. You break in Heinola and Lambert this year. The following year Chibirkov and Salo, the following year Yager and who is ready next (maybe Fonzie). My main point is you start injecting young talent in over safe bottom of the roster options.
Plus they probably want to play together.
I believe the vet players have a LOT of pull.
Any coach who keeps Kupari on a roster over someone like Lambert (or pretty much any other person on Earth) doesn't deserve the job and should start wearing T-shirts saying "As A Coach I Stink Mightily." Kupari is a complete and utter bust and shouldn't be anywhere near an NHL roster. If Chevyldayoff pressures Arniel to keep Kupari on the roster, then Chevyldayoff needs his head examined. And Arniel should tell him to f*** off and mind his own business, part of which should involve trading Kupari to some sucker or assigning him to the minors forever, the sooner the better.
So your plan is to get rid of some players who have proven to be NHL calibre to give young players a chance to show if they are NHL calibre or not? What happens if they’re not ready?
Good teams don’t really insert young talent into their team, except for players who really assert themselves. How many players 25 and younger were on the Panthers and the Oilers last year?
Wait, so Perfetti slips down to line 4?? Or 3?Came here after hearing on Skates and Plates that our top 2 lines to start camp were:
Connor-Scheif-Vilardi
Ehlers-Names-Iafallo
In view of all metrics last season, how are we not playing Ehlers with Connor and Scheif? One of the best in the league instead of one of the worst defensively responsible lines in the league.
Also… Iafallo on line 2? I get he may be a placeholder for Perfetti, but at least give Lambert some reps with some actual players. Puts more pressure on Perfetti to sign too if he sees some early chemistry brewing.
Overall, looks like Arniel is prepared to start with just more of the same.
I think there is balance here. There are vets we have brought in like Dillon, Nino, and Name that are good players and fill key roles on the team. You want to keep these guys.
But was it really necessary to bring in Schmidt at nearly $6 million. Would it not have been better to give those reps the Ville or even Stanley.
Same thing with Iafallo. Did we need to bring in a $4 million player to play on line 4. Could we not have deployed Appelton there and opened up another top 9 spot for a younger player.
Maybe as later-season callups. My uneducated guess is that we see most of the same team as last season, deployed in a similar way:
- 55 and whoever he prefers to play with as a scoring line
- Lowry and whoever he prefers to play with as a shutdown/ pressure line playing 2nd line minutes
- Names, Ehlers, Perfetti/ Iafallo /Whoever to hopefully score a few and defend decently playing 3rd line minutes
- Leftover Line to give lines 1-3 a short break, likely Kupari, Barron and friends
The org has stuck with similar setups every season but the banner years when there was too much talent to run a pure grinder line -- and even then. Not sure any coach who wants to roll 4 balanced lines that can score and also defend gets a look-in as Jets coach.
Kupari seems to be preferred on the 4th. Stan will start on the 3rd pairing with Miller and any other changes upfront or on D will likely happen via injury or the team going on a skid.
We can hope for a youth movement, but if it happens it ain't by design, IMO. Though maybe Arniel along with some of the young uns will surprise us.
Agree that getting Perfetti back into the fold is key.
In case you were wondering, after years of having a worse performance paired together than apart, last season was great evidence that Scheifele and Connor actually can work together. The pairing was one of the most dominant in the league, and apart both Connor's and Scheifele's games suffered.
...
No, of course it f***ing wasn't. Once again, for the nth year in a row, both of them had considerably better xGF% numbers away from each other than they did apart (delta of about 6-8% for both of them), and while Connor "only" had a 5v5 +/- of 0 both with and away from Scheifele, Scheifele had a 5v5 +/- of +14 away from Connor. Just f***ing stop it. IT. DOESN'T. WORK!
Seriously, the GF vs Against is jarring. And that's with Connor Hellebuyck behind them, and it's been that way for years.In case you were wondering, after years of having a worse performance paired together than apart, last season was great evidence that Scheifele and Connor actually can work together. The pairing was one of the most dominant in the league, and apart both Connor's and Scheifele's games suffered.
...
No, of course it f***ing wasn't. Once again, for the nth year in a row, both of them had considerably better xGF% numbers away from each other than they did apart (delta of about 6-8% for both of them), and while Connor "only" had a 5v5 +/- of 0 both with and away from Scheifele, Scheifele had a 5v5 +/- of +14 away from Connor. Just f***ing stop it. IT. DOESN'T. WORK!
"Ok kid. They're gonna tell you all about this thing called defense, but don't listen to them. You don't have to try once the puck crosses our blue line!"