Panarin is too elite at too many other things. You take the very, very, very good with the little bit of bad.
Would be nice if a guy like Zibanejad could step up but even Sidney Crosby doesn’t have multi point games every night (McDavid might…. But he’s not McDavid and no one else is).
Kreider pulling a disappearing act. He will still get hot and get his but this is why the guy should be moved at some point soon. His raw stats will trick a team into overpaying yet other than last year when he was hot the entire season, he goes through too many stretches where you can’t rely on him.
Trocheck is ok, but he’s another guy that if the elite scorers around him aren’t doing the heavy lifting he isn’t gonna drive any line himself. Which is kinda what I’ve been pining for.
Kakko is right there but the poor kid just can’t score. He had a perfect assist pass to Lindgren who couldn’t finish and then he missed a tap-in goal himself. I’m still not trading him or moving him for anything less than a massive overpayment but the guy has to figure out how to take the final step.
Lafreniere, where are you dude? You had that nice two assist game but other than that, what is going on? One goal in 6 games. Gotta pick up the pace.
Kravtsov was fine. He had a good game. His future may not be superstar. Oh well. He wasn’t a net negative, let’s continue to see where this ride goes.
Fox is still Fox. A point machine. Lindgren needs to be paid and then deployed in a manner where he doesn’t have to be stapled to Fox. Key is still growing. You live with the off night. Trouba is his usual non impact self except for two games where he KO’d two opponents. I love that $8m dead weight. Seriously I don’t know how people continue to justify his paycheck. Schneider and Jones are gonna have growing pains but we should have enough big guns to get through those pains. If a Jones turnover means you lost then someone else didn’t do their job.
Reaves and Carpenter need to be gone. Rydahl and Vesey need those spots. Today. That line is garbage like any sane person knew it would be. Othmann can’t claim a spot in that top 9 fast enough so we can actually have a decent fourth line featuring Goodrow, Blais and Vesey/Rydahl.
Chytil come back soon please. You were just heating up.
Seems like a bit of overkill to have our backup goalie playing 33% of the games so far.
Finally, we need more forward talent. Don’t trade away asset hauls for rentals. More long term core forwards are needed as we continue to see again and again re: our depth.