quick reax:
1 - Gauthier. Good debut in limited minutes. You can see how his size and speed will create space for his line mates. Needs to be better about staying on the right side of the puck. That one shift with him, kakko and chytil was dynamic offensively but not great D-wise. Also, the tunnel-vision thing was there. He had Kakko wide open for a tap in on his last shift. And instead took a bad angle shot. But can I really complain if someone's willing to shoot? No.
2 - Kreider. He makes Buch and Zib look great. He creates so much space as well. Need to keep him if they're not blown away by the package. I don't get trading him for a #30 pick, a bottom 6 prospect, NHL 3-4th liner. Makes no sense.
3 - If Kreider stays this team makes the playoffs. They are better than half the league at this point. They just are. Look at the standings and find me more than a few teams we legit have trouble with -- Caps, Bruins, Blues, maybe Pens and...? Arguably have one of the 5 best goalies in the league in Shesty. Who is legit better than him after Tukka and Vasy?
Rinne? Binnington? Bob? Murray? Merzlekins? Rittich? He's in that convo.
4 - Team D was baaaaad. Pond hockey. Panarin should have sat out a shift after he didn't get the puck in deep at the very end of a shift, instead went 1-on-4. And he was far from the one guilty of that tonight. And it seems like every time a players fails to get it in deep or get the puck out of his own zone, it almost always leads to one of his teammates getting a welt from having to block a shot. As an example, on that one play where Shesty took the stick in the eye, at that same moment Zibby got hurt blocking a shot. All because we didn't get the puck deep seconds earlier. Tonight was a step back team concept-wise.
5. Lindgren -- he's got that issue Sauer, McDonagh and Hajek have/had -- he puts himself in vulnerable positions and gets himself nicked up all over the place. I get it, he's a warrior. And I love he's on our team. But he's going to have a short career if he's not more careful.