Speculation: Roster Building Thread LXXXII: Stepping up in a Perfect Storm?

[Shesterkybomb]

I will say one thing, Fast may not have meant it as a poke at the Rangers but over say the past 5 years I can say that effort has held us back a quite a bit over that time. Its not often we play 3 periods of quality hockey, teams like Boston win because they consistently put the effort in every night. Its really too bad we couldn't have gotten Chara for a year, we desperately need someome of that ilk to set the bar here. A guy like Toews without that contract would be perfect.

 

[leetch99]

And one more thing: I know Gauthier plays like a p***y, but how the hell do you not put him on PP2 and stick him in front of the net instead of Lemieux? He's bigger, stronger and has better than Lemieux. Gauthier had the least amount of TOI tonight. Even less than Brodzinski!

Deservedly so....he is a p***y . In the scuffle behind te Ranger net after a whistle there was a few words exchanged between Morin and I can't remember the Ranger Dman....Gauthier just looked the other way not one bit interested in getting into a Flyer's face....the stuff he needs to start doing . Brodzinski has to be the poorest quality player we have had in a few years .....just terrible .

 

[MetalJaws]

I don't get all the love for Eichel. My 2 cents. He's the worst captain in the NHL. Grew up in a losing Franchise and still has the loser bug like Hall. I'd stand pat and not add this loser mentality into the room that already is struggling to find it's own leadership amongst all these kids. Could he be better on a team that has other pieces to help out? Yea probably. I just wouldn't blow up the roster for this guy unless it was for something like spare parts of the rebuild. Which I doubt Buffalo would do.

I'd keep everything as is and go into next year with a clean slate and expectations that we're a playoff team. Maybe some coaching changes but that's it. When healthy and under a regular season this team should be expected to make big strides next year.

 

[Trxjw]

I don't get all the love for Eichel. My 2 cents. He's the worst captain in the NHL. Grew up in a losing Franchise and still has the loser bug like Hall. I'd stand pat and not add this loser mentality into the room that already is struggling to find it's own leadership amongst all these kids. Could he be better on a team that has other pieces to help out? Yea probably. I just wouldn't blow up the roster for this guy unless it was for something like spare parts of the rebuild. Which I doubt Buffalo would do.

I'd keep everything as is and go into next year with a clean slate and expectations that we're a playoff team. Maybe some coaching changes but that's it. When healthy and under a regular season this team should be expected to make big strides next year.

How does he have a loser mentality if the primary reason he's unhappy with the Buffalo situation is because they're always losing?

 

[duhmetreE]

Buchnevich, ADA for Lindholm and Bennett

lets bring it back

 

[Oscar Lindberg]

Keeping everything as is going into next years means they’re not going to be a playoff team

at some point management has to address the holes on the roster. Them bringing back the same roster this year is blowing up in their faces

 

[LiveLongandProspal]

Deservedly so....he is a p***y . In the scuffle behind te Ranger net after a whistle there was a few words exchanged between Morin and I can't remember the Ranger Dman....Gauthier just looked the other way not one bit interested in getting into a Flyer's face....the stuff he needs to start doing . Brodzinski has to be the poorest quality player we have had in a few years .....just terrible .

Gauthier is one of the most frustrating players I can remember. He's so big and so strong and skates so well, but he doesn't produce and he doesn't use his size to his advantage.

 

[Oscar Lindberg]

Gauthier has played like 30 NHL games and I would guess his average ice time is in the single digits during those games

He has to adjust how he plays his game for the NHL and he’s not going to have much success when the opportunity isn’t being given to him to try

 

[duhmetreE]

We have a major problem in this teams makeup. We have A LOT of skill..

BUT

We are dumb
We are soft
We have bad finishers
We have too many followers
We have no leaders

 

[RickChartraw]

Deservedly so....he is a p***y . In the scuffle behind te Ranger net after a whistle there was a few words exchanged between Morin and I can't remember the Ranger Dman....Gauthier just looked the other way not one bit interested in getting into a Flyer's face....the stuff he needs to start doing . Brodzinski has to be the poorest quality player we have had in a few years .....just terrible .

I saw that too, that was disappointing. young but needs to figure his game out or NHL, Not Here Long.

 

[Raspewtin]

We have a major problem in this teams makeup. We have A LOT of skill..

BUT

We are dumb
We are soft
We have bad finishers
We have too many followers
We have no leaders

most importantly (especially compared to this hodgepodge of nonsense), we currently only have 2 NHL level defensemen.

 

[Fitzy]

most importantly (especially compared to this hodgepodge of nonsense), we currently only have 2 NHL level defensemen.

Well, 3. Problem is Smith is our 3rd best defenseman and he's a 3rd pairing guy at best.

 

[Raspewtin]

Well, 3. Problem is Smith is our 3rd best defenseman and he's a 3rd pairing guy at best.

honestly I don't even give him that. he's a 7D at best to me.

 

[duhmetreE]

most importantly (especially compared to this hodgepodge of nonsense), we currently only have 2 NHL level defensemen.

We have a solid top4 when healthy. We have Robertson and Lundkvist possibly filling out the 3rd pair next season..

A lot of those listed problems still remain even at full-strength for the forward group.

 

[duhmetreE]

Well, 3. Problem is Smith is our 3rd best defenseman and he's a 3rd pairing guy at best.

Ideally, next season

Miller Trouba
Lindgren Fox
Robertson Lundkvist
Smith

 

[Fitzy]

honestly I don't even give him that. he's a 7D at best to me.

I'd honestly be open to trading for a stopgap defenseman like Eminger or Holden (That kind of player) to help stem the bleeding until Trouba returns.

 

[Raspewtin]

gonna let u guys in on a little secret

every fanbase thinks their team soft when they're losing, even teams with multiple cups in the last 10 years. are all 31 teams soft or does playing poorly just manifest in different ways?

 

[Fitzy]

Ideally, next season

Miller Trouba
Lindgren Fox
Robertson Lundkvist
Smith

I'd be surprised if Robertson is NHL ready next fall. But let he, Reunanen, and Hajek fight for that spot, sure.

 

[Raspewtin]

I'd actually argue our depth (at F at least) is better than we give it credit for. They scored basically all of our goals for the month of February + Panarin.

Problem is that Chytil was the last player we could afford to lose when we did because we just wound up pumping Zibanejad's corpse, Strome and his 3 braincells (he even named each of them), and Brett Howden who has the hockey grace and talent of a broken block of cement with minutes in a futile effort to replace his impact.

 

[kovazub94]

Yeah but if you just ignore that fact then it's a great opportunity to push a narrative. That's what's most important.

Honestly surprised Fast didn’t explicitly said Fire Quinn. I’m sure this is what he was thinking

 

[Trxjw]

Keeping everything as is going into next years means they’re not going to be a playoff team

at some point management has to address the holes on the roster. Them bringing back the same roster this year is blowing up in their faces

I think they put together a roster that was largely geared around letting their kids develop after their plan A and plan B fell through. We know they tried to make additional moves to put a better product out there but sometimes the moves just don't make it over the finish line. How much better is this team if they did one of the rumored Calgary swaps? What if they had been able to pick up one of the depth scorers they made offers to as UFAs? We know they've kicked tires on Eichel as well.

They're getting quite a bit of bad luck this season. Chytil looked like he was taking a massive step forward and he got hurt. Kakko was consistently the best player on the ice and covid got him. Zib and Kreider both had awful starts. They lost a few games to goalies standing on their head. Reverse even half of those things and the team is probably in a much better position.

The team has to walk a fine line between adding depth and not creating roadblocks for their kids. Say the Rangers exchanged DeAngelo and Buch for Lindholm and Hanafin. The Rangers would've avoided the TDA drama, had a more versatile top-six option in Lindholm, and a guy who has been very solid this year in Hanafin on an affordable contract. On the flip side, K'Andre probably doesn't get the same opportunity he got with Trouba because Hanafin would've been in that spot. So which of those situations are better for the long term? You can make an argument for both but only time will truly tell.

The time is rapidly approaching where I think the team will start to cash in on it's prospect pool. I'm hopeful we see some proven talent come in if we move top prospects but I also expect to see some cuts to the NHL group to bring in a more diverse set of skills. It's going to be a rollercoaster.

 

[Shesterkybomb]

How does he have a loser mentality if the primary reason he's unhappy with the Buffalo situation is because they're always losing?

Because he's getting paid big money to be part of the solution. Imo he isn't a captain, he's bailing on a team that has tried to surround him with players since he got there. I mean they added Hall and Staal this season, signed Skinner to that dumb deal to make him happy and now he wants to bail....honestly i love his skill set but i don't know if he is worth the price it will take to aquire him. If we were trading for Matthews, McDavid or Mackinnon id do it every day, but to me there's something about a captain getting paid 10 mill as the face of the franchise complaining about losing so much. Do something about it.

 

[Ola]

They have Rod the Bod Brind'Amour's leadership. No doubt they're a very hard working team despite being so talented. This team has needed some of those blue collar mentality ever since Torts left. That's without going into the deep end of a Torts philosophy but the leadership we have now is just meh.

The players in STL really liked Beurube too (at least at first). Like even the more experienced guys were like watching YTs of when he played and was pretty impressed by it. I just think that someone like these two can have a really calming effect on a team. There are different challenges today, but guys like Beurube and RBA wont be thrown of by many things.

 

[Fitzy]

Because he's getting paid big money to be part of the solution. Imo he isn't a captain, he's bailing on a team that has tried to surround him with players since he got there. I mean they added Hall and Staal this season, signed Skinner to that dumb deal to make him happy and now he wants to bail....honestly i love his skill set but i don't know if he is worth the price it will take to aquire him. If we were trading for Matthews, McDavid or Mackinnon id do it every day, but to me there's something about a captain getting paid 10 mill as the face of the franchise complaining about losing so much. Do something about it.

I think the performance of Strome, Zibanejad, and Chytil in the final 2/3rds of the season is going to have a lot of sway in management's decisions this offseason.

Filip looked like he was just starting to figure it out before his injury. He has the potential to be the kind of puck-lugging center up the middle of the ice that this team hasn't had in a long time. Great for the transition game.

 

[Shesterkybomb]

Keeping everything as is going into next years means they’re not going to be a playoff team

at some point management has to address the holes on the roster. Them bringing back the same roster this year is blowing up in their faces

The roster isn't the same....staal gone, Fast gone, Lundqvist gone... Miller in, Lafrieniere in, Johnson in, Hajek in, Rooney in, Blackwell in, Bitteto in. The problem this year has been Zib getting covid and an injury before the 4th game, Kreider slow start, Lafreniere not quite ready, injuries to Chytil, Trouba, covid protocol to Kakko and Miller and a slow start to our goaltending early on.
Add it up.....it adds up to losses.