News & Notes XLV: Simply Having A Wonderful Canesmastime

Random thoughts:

I feel like I've seen a few people say this season feels like the 22-23 season to them. I agree in some sense: I think we have a very reasonable path to the ECFs. (Not a guarantee, just a good likelihood of being able to make it there). And beyond that, I wonder if I will be thinking the same thing I thought after that FL sweep: The players gave it all they had and management just didn't assemble a good enough team. I see two differences:

1) Future should be bright--I hate how the Rantanen saga went down and I still wonder what this team would like if he hadn't pulled a James Harden on us-- but the return for him, and our prospects are great.

2) Our players have a couple of more years under their belt. Maybe if Aho, Jarvy, Svech, Koko, Kooch etc., and a couple of the new guys really step up we could try to pull off a miracle run.

Just using this board as my sports diary, don't mind me.
 
Random thoughts:

I feel like I've seen a few people say this season feels like the 22-23 season to them. I agree in some sense: I think we have a very reasonable path to the ECFs. (Not a guarantee, just a good likelihood of being able to make it there). And beyond that, I wonder if I will be thinking the same thing I thought after that FL sweep: The players gave it all they had and management just didn't assemble a good enough team. I see two differences:

1) Future should be bright--I hate how the Rantanen saga went down and I still wonder what this team would like if he hadn't pulled a James Harden on us-- but the return for him, and our prospects are great.

2) Our players have a couple of more years under their belt. Maybe if Aho, Jarvy, Svech, Koko, Kooch etc., and a couple of the new guys really step up we could try to pull off a miracle run.

Just using this board as my sports diary, don't mind me.
Moving forward please start any journal entry on these boards with "Dear Diary,".
 
Random thoughts:

I feel like I've seen a few people say this season feels like the 22-23 season to them. I agree in some sense: I think we have a very reasonable path to the ECFs. (Not a guarantee, just a good likelihood of being able to make it there). And beyond that, I wonder if I will be thinking the same thing I thought after that FL sweep: The players gave it all they had and management just didn't assemble a good enough team. I see two differences:

1) Future should be bright--I hate how the Rantanen saga went down and I still wonder what this team would like if he hadn't pulled a James Harden on us-- but the return for him, and our prospects are great.

2) Our players have a couple of more years under their belt. Maybe if Aho, Jarvy, Svech, Koko, Kooch etc., and a couple of the new guys really step up we could try to pull off a miracle run.

Just using this board as my sports diary, don't mind me.
deep-thoughts-by-jack-handey-screen-grab_thumb2.png
 
Random thoughts:

I feel like I've seen a few people say this season feels like the 22-23 season to them. I agree in some sense: I think we have a very reasonable path to the ECFs. (Not a guarantee, just a good likelihood of being able to make it there). And beyond that, I wonder if I will be thinking the same thing I thought after that FL sweep: The players gave it all they had and management just didn't assemble a good enough team. I see two differences:

1) Future should be bright--I hate how the Rantanen saga went down and I still wonder what this team would like if he hadn't pulled a James Harden on us-- but the return for him, and our prospects are great.

2) Our players have a couple of more years under their belt. Maybe if Aho, Jarvy, Svech, Koko, Kooch etc., and a couple of the new guys really step up we could try to pull off a miracle run.

Just using this board as my sports diary, don't mind me.
Every year is the same pretty much, as soon as we face a team that's physically imposing we struggle immensely. We're a great regular season team that simply doesn't have the build for long playoffs IMO. We can dominate other skill teams (NJD), and sometimes physical teams because THEY don't have another dimension (i.e. NYI trap and physical style). But if a team can counter us by stopping our skill guys by being physical to back them off, protecting the net, keeping us to the outside, we hit a brick wall because we don't have that extra dimension to change up our game plan. What works all year in the regular season against different teams every night doesn't work the same in the playoffs because the same teams are playing enough they can change up their normal game-plan to counter it. That's probably RBAs biggest drawback at not being an Xs & Os guy, we just stick to our game in playoffs even when it's failing us...and part of that is personnel too (we have NO physical punch on the roster)
 
Every year is the same pretty much, as soon as we face a team that's physically imposing we struggle immensely. We're a great regular season team that simply doesn't have the build for long playoffs IMO. We can dominate other skill teams (NJD), and sometimes physical teams because THEY don't have another dimension (i.e. NYI trap and physical style). But if a team can counter us by stopping our skill guys by being physical to back them off, protecting the net, keeping us to the outside, we hit a brick wall because we don't have that extra dimension to change up our game plan. What works all year in the regular season against different teams every night doesn't work the same in the playoffs because the same teams are playing enough they can change up their normal game-plan to counter it. That's probably RBAs biggest drawback at not being an Xs & Os guy, we just stick to our game in playoffs even when it's failing us...and part of that is personnel too (we have NO physical punch on the roster)
Great points.

I believe our forwards this year (particularly if Carrier makes it back) are much more suited to playoff style.

Beyond the janky-Robinson-Carrier adds we still have Staal, Martinook & KK and I believe that Blake (can maneuver in very tight spaces) and Stanky (not afraid of being up front) could be productive despite their size issues.

Our biggest weakness will be our D with both bottom pairs arguably too small to offset the big rosters. This is where the add and emergence of Nikishin could help enormously (and why despite Morrow’s perceived defensive warts his size in the zone is beneficial).
 
Every year is the same pretty much, as soon as we face a team that's physically imposing we struggle immensely. We're a great regular season team that simply doesn't have the build for long playoffs IMO. We can dominate other skill teams (NJD), and sometimes physical teams because THEY don't have another dimension (i.e. NYI trap and physical style). But if a team can counter us by stopping our skill guys by being physical to back them off, protecting the net, keeping us to the outside, we hit a brick wall because we don't have that extra dimension to change up our game plan. What works all year in the regular season against different teams every night doesn't work the same in the playoffs because the same teams are playing enough they can change up their normal game-plan to counter it. That's probably RBAs biggest drawback at not being an Xs & Os guy, we just stick to our game in playoffs even when it's failing us...and part of that is personnel too (we have NO physical punch on the roster)
Honestly, this is part of why I love bringing in Jankowski. He's a big body that isn't afraid to use it, and Stankoven has repeatedly shown an ability to stir some shit up around the crease and help put opponents on edge. These are the kind of players and the kind of play I want us to have. A team that isn't afraid to play over the line a bit knowing the refs aren't going to call everything, especially if you're playing over the edge with the body and not the stick.
 
When fully healthy, who sits after Carrier and Svechnikov get added back into lineup?

Roslovic? Robinson? Jankowski?

Can’t see them taking Stankoven or Hall out.
Jank has had a hot start but I think he's an obvious choice here. Along with Jost. Jank can rotate in with Roslovic or if there are other guys out/we decide to rest. Robinson has been too good to take out of the lineup.
 
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