GDT: Preds vs Stars 10/10 7pm: The "We're excited for the new season!" edition or...the "How many games will Saros miss?" edition.

[TheOriginalJez]

Why did we think Wood was better?

Noone thought he was, Trotz just realised he couldn't hold onto Lanky (wanted a 1b minimum) and Asky wasn't going to stay as well as Saros.
Also Lauzon's proved himself... have I missed a meme in here in the years I've been away?

 

[SouthNash]

Lauzon's not very good

But he had the most hits last year...

 

[bdub24]

Noone thought he was, Trotz just realised he couldn't hold onto Lanky (wanted a 1b minimum) and Asky wasn't going to stay as well as Saros.
Also Lauzon's proved himself... have I missed a meme in here in the years I've been away?

Honestly with how hot/cold Saros is a 1b is a great idea, but we didnt have a bunch of money below the cap at that point so I guess I get it

Oh yeah Duchene? Now you’re physically invested in the game?

 

[Predsanddead24]

Gotta know Duchene loved landing that hit

 

[Soundgarden]

At least we figured out that Wedgewood sucked in the preseason and early in the year instead of later on I guess. We know what we have to fix.

 

[NSH615]

 

[SouthNash]

ROR

 

[bdub24]

At least we figured out that Wedgewood sucked in the preseason and early in the year instead of later on I guess. We know what we have to fix.

Can Korn fix him or will Trotz dig in??

Oh Really!!!

 

[herzausstein]

Wedgewood made sense as an easier competition for askarov to beat out to make the NHL but if he failed even that task then it gave us someone with experience. Now with no askarov.... im just hoping he can be competent enough to cost games.

 

[bdub24]

It has taken this long, but those Winter Classic jerseys finally don’t make me nauseous

 

[NSH615]

What was that 4 or 5 posts now?

 

[SouthNash]

OMG

 

[bdub24]

One too many powdercoats on those posts

 

[101st_fan]

What was that 4 or 5 posts now?

at least.

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

Bummer. We're completely caving these guys.

 

[Armourboy]

Well at least our 6 on 5 might actually do something when we need it too.

 

[Scoresberg]

Just unlucky tonight. We were the better team, quite clearly actually.

Onto the next one. Promising start (save for Wedgewood).

 

[Tysonson3]

Holy can we be unluckier?

 

[ShagDaddy]

Yeah, that was some fun hockey. The outcome wasn’t what we were looking for but there was a LOT to be optimistic about.

 

[Armourboy]

I mean you take out a couple of bad goals by Wedgewood and we probably win that 9/10 times. Some things that need to be worked on, especially on the D core, but there were some good things I think Brunette and the guys are finding.

Honestly I don't know that I don't move Sissons down to the 4th, bump McCarron, and give Parssinen a shot between Stamkos and Marchessault.

 

[Soundgarden]

Well, we scored three. With NHL caliber goaltending it's a different game. Excited hockeys back!

 

[Predsanddead24]

Yeah, that was some fun hockey. The outcome wasn’t what we were looking for but there was a LOT to be optimistic about.

Powerplay looked electric especially. Unfortunately only turned into one goal but keep doing that and it’ll come.

 

[TheOriginalJez]

Is it ideal? No. Did we see some big weaknesses? Yes. Should we be really hopeful about the rest of the season? Also yes.

We knew Wedgewood wasn't Lankinen, he wouldn't have started today if Saros was healthy. We need to see more from him, definitely, but I've seen supposedly better Goalies do much worse. Where I take comfort is the Forsberg misses, the line mismatches, O'Reilly fluffing multiple times - those things are 'beginning of the season' things. Maybe missing a game didn't help, maybe there's a bit of lag but there's a lot of positives too. When we played to the plan we looked in charge, our power play set up well and looked dangerous - which isn't something we've been able to say a lot in our entire franchise history.

Novak is not the C for that second line. Not yet at least. He seemed so much more comfortable with Evangelista and Tomasino - which is fine for now, especially since it has one more goal than that second line. It adds a problem because I don't think Sissons is the C for that line either, so maybe Stamkos comes in and Evangelista goes up but for now I think Novak will be given more time which is probably fair. Maybe give Parssinen a run at it too, he's got the strength to be a bit more authoritative - it's just whether he can find Stamkos and Marchessault when it matters. Novak has the pass he just doesn't have the strength to get through and loses the puck too much.

So long as we look like we did in the first and third periods most of the time, we've got a few more games before we have to get concerned.

I'm pissed about losing to Dallas cos Dallas, but I guess I saw enough to be ok with it for now.

 

[TheOriginalJez]

I mean you take out a couple of bad goals by Wedgewood and we probably win that 9/10 times. Some things that need to be worked on, especially on the D core, but there were some good things I think Brunette and the guys are finding.

Honestly I don't know that I don't move Sissons down to the 4th, bump McCarron, and give Parssinen a shot between Stamkos and Marchessault.

One I blame Wedgewood, one I was tracking Schenn and I hope for his sake he jumped the boards because I think he was supposed to be covering and didn't even cross the blue line before the puck was in the net. So, realistically we could have had OT (we're not ever getting rid of Schenn are we? Somehow he's getting a 7 year extension at the end of this...)

 

[ShagDaddy]

Powerplay looked electric especially. Unfortunately only turned into one goal but keep doing that and it’ll come.

Oddly enough the way they were buzzing around and all the movement on the power play may be a bit of a deterrent for Stamkos to set up in his office and slap those one timers. It will be interesting to see how that settles out over the next few games.