- Mar 9, 2002
- 7,204
- 4,942
I think Kempe would be the type of guy those teams would want but I would rather keep him.
This team basically needs to have half its players jettison and work around the few positive things we have. I believe Kopitar and Doughty will rebound and give us part of a great core.
Core - Kopitar, Doughty
Strengths
I love how our bottom 6 is taking shape. Speed, skill and youth starting to push out the Lombardi players who 6 years ago were effective but now not so much. I think Kempe is a perfect 3rd line winger who could be pulled into the top 6 if needed. Not all our players have to be home run top 6 guys. We need solid depth to compete.
Bottom 6 - Kempe, Grundstrum, Wagner, Clifford are a wicked start. I would almost like to see Kovalchuk put with the two Swedes to keep his 5v5 ice time lower. He would bring skill and more energy to an already tenacious line and he should be a fixture on our first power play unit. Kempe plays like a wrecking ball and commands space with his speed which would open up Kovy to be that lines shooter. Grundstrom would play the mini Dustin Brown role causing havoc, screening goalies, getting garbage goals, hitting people.
Goalies - Campbell is here and ready, Pederson is close. I love Quick and can see him rebounding but possible for another team. He is to proud to let his play this year dictate his future.
Pipeline - Barring a colossal screwup we should be able to add a minimum of three top prospects in this draft. Right now our pipeline has depth and we need a few top 10 guys to pull us in the upper echelon of prospects. With a good draft and hopefully a healthy Vilardi our pipeline will be among the best.
Weakness - top6 and Defence.
Top 6 - Kopitar and Brown. There is nothing else. I miss used Kovalchuk would be the closest thing to top six talent that we have. I do think Carter comes back and has a better season but think that he should take to fully support on the wing as he still has skill, size and can shoot.
I know many on here still love Toffoli but I would jettison him in the same T-shirt cannon as our coach. I would try and trade him at the draft just to Use his salary elsewhere.
Defence. - well we have Drew and that’s about it. Marty is starting to show signs of wear but can still be a 4th. Some of the kids showed positive signs that they are at least bottom pair ready.
The problem is when you have a Dion and Forbort on the backend Dad either cannot get to the parks or cannot get the parks to their teammates it causes us to be penned into our own zone and puts to much pressure on all our guys to play Defence. For those of us that play hockey we know it takes twice as much energy trying to get the park then it does playing with the puck in the offensive zone.It just wears down the team and the goalies.
Lombardi had many things right But his most important thing was building from the backend out. I hope Blake Texas wrote and solidifies our defense. A better defense equals better goaltending but it also initiates breakouts and first passes where this team struggled mightily.
Power play- Not even going to comment on it because it’s too broken to fix the way it is. Part of the solution is to acquire a true left-hand shot power-play quarterback. If dowdy is good enough to tow Forbort around he is good enough to cover an offensive Dman that can lead the power play but maybe lacks on the defensive end a la Karlsson, Burns, Yandle, Barrie etc
And finally
I love Brown and I love Kopitar But Brown needs to be given the C back. Leads by example, doesn’t take nights off, still plays hard, plays in front of the net and has led this team to two cups.
This team basically needs to have half its players jettison and work around the few positive things we have. I believe Kopitar and Doughty will rebound and give us part of a great core.
Core - Kopitar, Doughty
Strengths
I love how our bottom 6 is taking shape. Speed, skill and youth starting to push out the Lombardi players who 6 years ago were effective but now not so much. I think Kempe is a perfect 3rd line winger who could be pulled into the top 6 if needed. Not all our players have to be home run top 6 guys. We need solid depth to compete.
Bottom 6 - Kempe, Grundstrum, Wagner, Clifford are a wicked start. I would almost like to see Kovalchuk put with the two Swedes to keep his 5v5 ice time lower. He would bring skill and more energy to an already tenacious line and he should be a fixture on our first power play unit. Kempe plays like a wrecking ball and commands space with his speed which would open up Kovy to be that lines shooter. Grundstrom would play the mini Dustin Brown role causing havoc, screening goalies, getting garbage goals, hitting people.
Goalies - Campbell is here and ready, Pederson is close. I love Quick and can see him rebounding but possible for another team. He is to proud to let his play this year dictate his future.
Pipeline - Barring a colossal screwup we should be able to add a minimum of three top prospects in this draft. Right now our pipeline has depth and we need a few top 10 guys to pull us in the upper echelon of prospects. With a good draft and hopefully a healthy Vilardi our pipeline will be among the best.
Weakness - top6 and Defence.
Top 6 - Kopitar and Brown. There is nothing else. I miss used Kovalchuk would be the closest thing to top six talent that we have. I do think Carter comes back and has a better season but think that he should take to fully support on the wing as he still has skill, size and can shoot.
I know many on here still love Toffoli but I would jettison him in the same T-shirt cannon as our coach. I would try and trade him at the draft just to Use his salary elsewhere.
Defence. - well we have Drew and that’s about it. Marty is starting to show signs of wear but can still be a 4th. Some of the kids showed positive signs that they are at least bottom pair ready.
The problem is when you have a Dion and Forbort on the backend Dad either cannot get to the parks or cannot get the parks to their teammates it causes us to be penned into our own zone and puts to much pressure on all our guys to play Defence. For those of us that play hockey we know it takes twice as much energy trying to get the park then it does playing with the puck in the offensive zone.It just wears down the team and the goalies.
Lombardi had many things right But his most important thing was building from the backend out. I hope Blake Texas wrote and solidifies our defense. A better defense equals better goaltending but it also initiates breakouts and first passes where this team struggled mightily.
Power play- Not even going to comment on it because it’s too broken to fix the way it is. Part of the solution is to acquire a true left-hand shot power-play quarterback. If dowdy is good enough to tow Forbort around he is good enough to cover an offensive Dman that can lead the power play but maybe lacks on the defensive end a la Karlsson, Burns, Yandle, Barrie etc
And finally
I love Brown and I love Kopitar But Brown needs to be given the C back. Leads by example, doesn’t take nights off, still plays hard, plays in front of the net and has led this team to two cups.
