Last year it was not as bad because you had Zegras racking in points, Terry looked good, McTavish was showing a lot of promise. This year you have Frank Vatrano leading the team in production, that is just not right, Love Frankie but he is supposed to be our depth producer not leading producer. lol. It was also a time to suck, since the Top 3 in the draft were all at least franchise players, and were getting a very good player. This year, it's not even close in the draft, and it's been disappointing we could not at least be around .500, never expected playoffs, but just more wins here and there, that is all.
Here is why I am upset, and it starts with our Trio of Zegras, Leo, and McTavish. This trio keeps me watching, even when things are going so bad.
Leo is out, and F'ing Bedard and Fantilli are racking in points as he sits out. Leo was looking very good before that a-hole fell on his knee, made our top line look so much better, even with two struggling players on his wings. Yeah not all his games were great, Most 18 yo rookies are not going to have 100% great games, not even close to it. But you saw that 1C franchise potential and even with struggling wingers, he still made things happen, and it made the games more watchable and it made you feel hopeful for the future. No shocker the PP has fallen off, since he got hurt. That Mac and Leo chemistry with Minty was real, then boom, Mac gets hurt, then later Leo gets hurt. It's unreal.
Then there is Zegras another ray of hope for the future, also another player that keeps me into these games. He already has been moved to wing, according to the practice report.....so much for trying to develop him at C. Not sure how I feel about that. Looking at the timeline for when Leo may return, gives Z maybe another 2-3 weeks at C. Guess Cronin sees it differently.... unless this is just a placeholder due to lacking scoring wingers with Terry hurt. That horrible game against Edmonton. I woke up the next day not as upset, because Zegras had a nice assist from a nice play, not just a boring assist, but a great play. So yeah the little things help me cope at this point.
Finally, McTavish. McTavish after that strong start, was looking like he could be our 1C, and even if our record was around .500 at the time which is not bad for a rebuilding team you started to feel really hopeful for the future. But since he has been back, has looked like dog poo, and I think he is really taking the Terry injury personal. I would be. I believe it was
@The Midnight Burrito said, that he has 3 points in 9 games, and all 3 came in one game...ouch.
I know we have had injuries, and it's a legit excuse. You miss one guy here and there like most teams do, or they lose some depth players it's fine. But we were missing half our Top 6 at one point, and are still missing key players, who I feel even that are back are not 100 percent.
It's funny. have not even talked about the D, that's is another whole problem in itself. lol.
As per Toronto, let them destroy us tonight, they are 1st round exit fodder. You know what's crazy? They have a slightly higher GA/P than us. Yeah. But They can outscore their goaltending and defense problems unlike us. That doesn't work as much in the playoffs. This is why we need to be patient so we don't half-ass this rebuild and end up like Buffalo, or even Toronto, who live and die by the production of Matthews and their top line.
I want to see this thing through, and will give Verbeek those 2 more years like he said he feels they will be playoff contention bound. I'm not going anywhere. Going to be rough but we are in this together.
