This is the same point I made the other night with the complaints about our performance where we won a game where we were out-Corsi'ed. We have a bunch of hungry young players that are stepping up. We have our core players like Zibs and Kreider and Skjei et al, who want to win, and definitely don't want to tank. Then we have our impending rentals, who all want to do their best because a) they're professionals and b) they want to go to a contender. And then of course, Hank. We're clearly lacking in overall team talent, but not so much that we're going to be horrible, and we have enough (particularly with Hank) that we should be competitive most nights.ok, ive changed my mind. I've decided.
as long as we have henrik in net, and as long as he's able to play at this level, we will not tank. won't happen.
we will be good enough to beat teams and good enough to finish just out of a playoff spot. as we decide to sell off players, we will drop some but again, with hank, there can be no tank.
forget the fact that i honestly believe the players and the coaches have zero interest in tanking. they all want to win. with this team and hank in net, there won't be any tank.
now what ?
If, If, IF....If Gorton stays the course and peddles Zucc and maybe Hayes to obtain more assets and this team still manages to make the playoffs and winds up in that mid range and that first pick turns out to be a Boldy/Turcotte/Newhook, I wold be completely fine with that. And don't forget the other assets brought in by the would be trades. The upside is that the kids would have had a season to grow together and play meaningful minutes. And the veteran new leaders (ZBad, Kreider) will have taken steps forward. That does not net you Hughes, but it does lay down a pretty darn good foundation.Before the season when people were saying we were bottom three for sure, I said we're more like 20-25 than 25-31. I still firmly believe that to be the case. And who knows, if the kids like DeAngelo, Pionk, Chtyil, Howden, and Andersson all continue to improve, we could be flirting with a wild card spot, and be in the 16-20 range. I don't expect that, but I don't view it as impossible. We're "only" 18 games in, but that's almost a quarter of the season and not an insignificant amount.
I say that they need to take much more drastic measures. If you score a goal, you are benched for the rest of the period. If you do not give the puck away to the opposition, you are scratched from the next game. Oh, and let's send the Lundqvist family on a much needed vacation for a few months.They’ve been so absurdly lucky over the last few weeks.
Things will normalize.
I say that they need to take much more drastic measures. If you score a goal, you are benched for the rest of the period. If you do not give the puck away to the opposition, you are scratched from the next game. Oh, and let's send the Lundqvist family on a much needed vacation for a few months.
Remember when he benched Kreider and forgot he benched Kreider?Lol if AV didn’t like you he would basically do these things.
The same man who "lost" his best defensive pairing on the bench in the closing minutes of a playoff game?Remember when he benched Kreider and forgot he benched Kreider?
"I wasn't aware he missed a shift"
I think that Gorton will execute his plan no matter what. Which means trading Zuccarello no matter what. Probably/Possibly trading Hayes (unless he views him as now being a legit #2 center) no matter what.
That's him.The same man who "lost" his best defensive pairing on the bench in the closing minutes of a playoff game?
I know many here want an U20 hockey team, but as I`ve mention many times it don`t work like that in NHL, because u need some veteran players. So if we like it or not one of Kevin Shattenkirk or Marc Staal will play next season as well if they are healthy.
And more likely Zucc will be moved for a future pick similar to the Nash deal, and I can see Brendan Smith being moved with his modified-NTC, and with Spooner and Hayes since they are developing and drafting centers recently in 2017 and possible in 2019 when we hopefully bottom out at least ideal this season.
I don`t look at the 20 game mark as a magical number that would change the Franchise direction at all so what if we just had 5 games that we were fortunate and won. And this is a full rebuild and it started last season with the Letter and moving our 2nd captain in Ryan Mc. We can get good return in both ZiB and Kreider as well since many of you are talking about moving Brady Skjei who is only 24.
Anyway if we fail to bottom out it looks really bad since Gorton moved Ryan Mc. we need top draft picks and elite players to win cups in NHL. LA management hired one of the worst coach in NHL and they started to tank.
And if we end up as a playoffs or a wild card team and some talking about buyers at TDL.. ..I don`t know what to say we just wasted another draft year I guess. We are not one Panarin away from the cup - we need a new core and young elite prospects/talents among the forwad group.
And if we end up as a playoffs or a wild card team and some talking about buyers at TDL.. ..I don`t know what to say we just wasted another draft year I guess. We are not one Panarin away from the cup - we need a new core and young elite prospects/talents among the forwad group.
Remember when he benched Kreider and forgot he benched Kreider?
"I wasn't aware he missed a shift"
jack hughes is a ridiculous talent.
were this team to actually add him to this roster next year- rather than say, LA which is likely where hes heading, its would transform this organization from pretender to contender over night.
hes that good.
or we can keep adding mid 1st round talent and continue as we have been.
adding an elite 1C like JH isnt like adding the 7th pick in this years draft.
jack hughes is a ridiculous talent.
were this team to actually add him to this roster next year- rather than say, LA which is likely where hes heading, its would transform this organization from pretender to contender over night.
hes that good.
or we can keep adding mid 1st round talent and continue as we have been.
adding an elite 1C like JH isnt like adding the 7th pick in this years draft.
Give him a top-5 pick and let’s see
His awkward skating is a slight issue, as well as his good (but not crazy good) shot. His playmaking is really good, though.Any particular reason you see that as Kravtsov's ceiling? Not that it's a bad one.