OT: I Am Not Feeling Excited For Next Year

[Silky Johnson]

This is the first year in idk how long where there isn't a glaring hole that needs to be filled.

It's not a perfect roster, but all the key roles are filled imo.

We have 6 top 6 players 4 top 4 D (all playing their strong side), we have penalty killers and guys for both PP units, a starting goalie that can be relied on,

It might not have the flashy new addition that we had with Dadonov, DBC, Giroux and Chychrun in years past (unless you count Ullmark) but we have what appears to be a well constructed roster.

Maybe a top goalie was the flashy move we should have made, considering how things worked out.

 

[jbeck5]

We have needed a few things to come together at the right time for a few years and this is the year the stars align.

Solid goaltending? Check
All of Stu / Norris / Pinto in the lineup at the same time? Check
Two, top 4RD in the lineup? Check
A coach who will create a standard of play and accountability? Check
More jam? Check

It is hard to get too excited but when I look back at the last few years, it really doesn't seem that we are that far off. If the boys can get off to a good start, then I am bullish.

Solid goaltending? I hope so. We've seen goalies play well elsewhere only to suck here, but I would agree I'm generally more confident in ullmark than any others we've had since Anderson.

Stu/pinto/Norris? We don't know that. We also don't know if Norris ever plays a solid 2 way game ever again. We also don't know if stutzles career high in points is behind him. We also don't know if pinto improves much over what he is. We assume, but we don't know.

Sure, a decent top 4...but is Chabot getting injured? Does Jensen take another step back at his age and play more like a #5? If Sanderson doesn't develop an elite offensive game to go with his defensive game, who provides offense? Chabot sucks on the powerplay, so hopefully thats Sanderson on pp1.

Coach? We don't know what he'll do. Every coach we've ever hired talked a big game. Means nothing until we get results. He's not a proven or a check mark. He's a question mark.

More jam? Sure...but less skill...and we already were a team that was talked about as not being skilled enough to outscore other teams to win games... So I guess we'll see how it affects an average skilled team to lose some skill. I agree we needed more jam, but I was hoping to get more skill and jam. Not more jam at the expense of skill. We already don't have enough skill to go with the big boy teams.

 

[Silky Johnson]

For some reason there's 0 hype, 0 excitement heading into 24/25. This is probably the bleakest situation since 21/22.At least over the last couple years there were some moves made to create some excitement.

Feels like another typical 78-82 point year, with another playoff miss.

I am eager to see how our goaltending is such Ullmark, but it stops right there.

My suggestion would be to hang up your Sens hat and focus on other things. Particularly if those things have nothing to do with posting on HFB.

I actually feel better than any year since Duchesne.

Recent Vezina winner in nets.

Balanced D corps.

A top 9 that has alot of upside if it can stay healthy.

I'll reserve judgement on the coaching staff but it literally could not be worse.

I am also happy there isn't much hype. Better to be a sleeper.

 

[FunkySeeFunkyDoo]

…

I'll reserve judgement on the coaching staff but it literally could not be worse.

…

While I sort of agree that the coaching cannot be much worse than DJ Smith, it is possible that it’s still not good…. In which case the team really will be bad or mediocre again, especially since I think the DJ crap is now ingrained for some of these guys.

We’ll see.

 

[OD99]

Solid goaltending? I hope so. We've seen goalies play well elsewhere only to suck here, but I would agree I'm generally more confident in ullmark than any others we've had since Anderson.

He is a career .919 sv% with a career low of .905 - if we had .905 level of goaltending last season we may have made the wildcard. He is a good goalie - period. The reality is the last few goalies we have had aren't legit starters.

Stu/pinto/Norris? We don't know that. We also don't know if Norris ever plays a solid 2 way game ever again. We also don't know if stutzles career high in points is behind him. We also don't know if pinto improves much over what he is. We assume, but we don't know.

Norris put up 30 points in 50 games last season while not having any off season training and clearly never feeling comfortable. Neither his skating nor his IQ is affected by his shoulder, so if he feels like the shoulder is stable, I don't see any reason he isn't a valuable contributor. Even if Pinto just maintains his average, he will be valuable - 54 points, a + player, good in the dot and can PK while being a 2nd unit PP guy? I will take him.

Sure, a decent top 4...but is Chabot getting injured? Does Jensen take another step back at his age and play more like a #5? If Sanderson doesn't develop an elite offensive game to go with his defensive game, who provides offense? Chabot sucks on the powerplay, so hopefully thats Sanderson on pp1.

Injuries are part of the game and I think Chabot may benefit physically from more reasonable deployment.

The worry over a 33 year old falling off a cliff is so overblown, it isn't funny. He is a defensive Dman and while being quicker always helps, we don't need any flash from him so I believe he will be fine.

Sanderson still has loads of room for improvement but he isn't going to be an offensive star, and we don't need him to be. You say Chabot sucks on the PP but in general, he is our best offensive D, currently by a fair margin.

Coach? We don't know what he'll do. Every coach we've ever hired talked a big game. Means nothing until we get results. He's not a proven or a check mark. He's a question mark.

He has structure and holds players accountable - that is something we have missed since Guy Boucher. It is better than what we have had in a while.

More jam? Sure...but less skill...and we already were a team that was talked about as not being skilled enough to outscore other teams to win games... So I guess we'll see how it affects an average skilled team to lose some skill. I agree we needed more jam, but I was hoping to get more skill and jam. Not more jam at the expense of skill. We already don't have enough skill to go with the big boy teams.

Where is the drain on skill? Perron is about as skilled as Tarasenko but adds more jam and a different way to create offence. Amadio and Joseph are a wash, other than speed.

Greig is another skill guy with jam, that is flying under the radar IMO. I expect a big jump from him this year as well. A full season of Norris and Pinto is a big jump in skill. The only place we see a drop is from JC to Jensen but I think that is more than made up for with solid D and contributions from our core.

Like I said, the stars are aligned! Only good things.

 

[Silky Johnson]

While I sort of agree that the coaching cannot be much worse than DJ Smith, it is possible that it’s still not good…. In which case the team really will be bad or mediocre again, especially since I think the DJ crap is now ingrained for some of these guys.

We’ll see.

JM is one of the best teachers of hockey on the planet. Let's hope half a season with him can wash off some of that stink.

 

[Cosmix]

I'm not feeling overly excited about having to work today.

0 hype, 0 excitement. Looking forward to getting home but that's it.

Me too. But I don't have to work today cause I am retired. Well, not normal work; my wife has some items in her "honey do" list.

 

[Dionysus]

I absolutely love the lack of hype. No flashy bs, external expectations are low. Internal expectations are playoffs, no doubt about it. These guys are sick of losing, have a fresh slate this season, and no excuses.

The roster feels like it fits together better. Depth pieces will play a nice support role. Young stars are a year older, and got smacked in the mouth last season. Not to mention adding a former Vezina winner.

If the roster can play to or above the sum of its parts, this team can make the playoffs. If they once again struggle to develop an identity or find consistency, major pieces will be moved.

Let's see what they are made of. So far when the stakes have raised, this core group hasn't been able to consistently rise to the challenge.

Will have to play hard all year. No more of the win 4, think they are amazing and stop playing hard. Then lose 5, feel sorry for themselves before finally breaking the streak and thinking they are great again.

The internal standards will have to be high, and I think they will be.

 

[DueDiligence]

For some reason there's 0 hype, 0 excitement heading into 24/25. This is probably the bleakest situation since 21/22.At least over the last couple years there were some moves made to create some excitement.

Feels like another typical 78-82 point year, with another playoff miss.

I am eager to see how our goaltending is such Ullmark, but it stops right there.

Of course you aren't.

 

[Wallet Inspector]

This is the first year in idk how long where there isn't a glaring hole that needs to be filled.

It's not a perfect roster, but all the key roles are filled imo.

We have 6 top 6 players 4 top 4 D (all playing their strong side), we have penalty killers and guys for both PP units, a starting goalie that can be relied on,

It might not have the flashy new addition that we had with Dadonov, DBC, Giroux and Chychrun in years past (unless you count Ullmark) but we have what appears to be a well constructed roster.

How many guys do we have that can PK?

Giroux, Greig, maybe Pinto. I know Norris and Stutzle have done it in the past as well, but we need another PKer in the bottom 6 IMO.

 

[Dionysus]

How many guys do we have that can PK?

Giroux, Greig, maybe Pinto. I know Norris and Stutzle have done it in the past as well, but we need another PKer in the bottom 6 IMO.

Gregor is a PK guy.

 

[dumbdick]

This thread is right up there with your "Why are we so lame?" thread you made like a week ago.

Lay off the sauce or lay off the "create post" button.

 

[Gil Gunderson]

I don’t care.

 

[Micklebot]

How many guys do we have that can PK?

Giroux, Greig, maybe Pinto. I know Norris and Stutzle have done it in the past as well, but we need another PKer in the bottom 6 IMO.

Pinto, Norris, Gregor, Giroux, Stützle and Greig have all killed, plus Ostapchuk will likely be a PK guy as he's done it at ever level so far.

Then on D you have Zub, Jensen, Sanderson, JBD and I expect Kleven to kill.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

He is a career .919 sv% with a career low of .905 - if we had .905 level of goaltending last season we may have made the wildcard. He is a good goalie - period. The reality is the last few goalies we have had aren't legit starters.

Exactly. The actual starter quality guys either played well, were traded away out of necessity (Bishop/Lehner) or were too injured (Murray/Leclaire).

While some guys played well in spurts, it's obvious that much of what didn't work out over the last 15-20 years was mostly backup caliber tenders. Guys like Korpisalo, Condon, Hammond, Nilsson, Forsberg, Emery, Gerber, etc. just does not at all shock me that they mostly all fell flat. Korpisalo was one of the easiest contract failures to predict the moment it came down. Mostly bad seasons prior, then an outlier UFA season, then a big contract, then failure... wow, what a shock!

 

[Sensatauro]

Oh look, another Adrian post, and another negative toned post. You ok man? I think you need some real life help. Not one thing you feel ever is positive from you. You literally complain about everything. You aren't a fan, you're a closet masochist.

This team has so much to look forward to and be positive about but instead we here crying again.

Yeah nothing I look forward to, just got a vezina caliber tender. First clean slate for the new ownership. I could go on, but making Adrian look at anything positively just is not possible.

 

[LiseL]

Gregor is a PK guy.

I think Jensen too.

 

[Ralph Malfredsson]

yo did someone say there was an Adrianopolous post?

 

[Sun God Nika]

I can feel it, this will be the meme thread that will get bumped regularly as the sens are going to be fighting for the division throughout the year.

 

[Golden_Jet]

While some guys played well in spurts, it's obvious that much of what didn't work out over the last 15-20 years was mostly backup caliber tenders. Guys like Korpisalo, Condon, Hammond, Nilsson, Forsberg, Emery, Gerber, etc. just does not at all shock me that they mostly all fell flat.

Uhh Andy, you know the starter for a decade.

 

[thammias]

Yeah...I'm the same. Last year I came to the realization that this rebuild that we had the last 5-7 years isn't a future cup winner, and that we should probably tear down and rebuild. This time with guys like stutzle and Sanderson as cornerstones.

When we've pissed away so many first round picks and need to forfeit another, this core won't get the improvements it needs to become a true contender. Year down. Collect a bunch of prospect. But this time, DO IT RIGHT and don't piss away all these assets at the halfway part of the build.

I don't understand. Stutzle and Sanderson ARE the cornerstones of our rebuild. They just got drafted 4 years ago.

The Florida Panthers just won the Stanley Cup with the only notable players they've drafted for that Cup winning team being Barkov, (drafted 2013)Ekblad (drafted 2014) and Lundell(same draft as our guys)

 

[Erik Alfredsson]

Maybe you'll be more excited come September.

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

I figure this year is the "put up or shut up" year. No more excuses. We have our owner. We have a new GM. We have a new coach. We have a new #1 goalie. Our core guys should be healthy at the start of the year.

No more excuses.

If we don't make a significant improvement and at least be in the running for a playoff spot by the last game of the season, I expect big changes next summer.

 

[2CHAINZ]

Adrianopolous when it comes to making useless emo threads

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

Uhh Andy, you know the starter for a decade.

That goes without saying. I didn't think I needed to mention him. I even had a sentence about him and took it out because I figured it was a given that he was the 1 exception.