I thought we looked like a playoff team tonight.
We were "hanging on with them" defensively and our goalies made several key stops. But outside of a few sequences, we were not capable of creating much and struggled to connect several passes in a row. To their defense, they were maybe very tired from the traveling, etc.
We only had 3 HDCF at 5 on 5 (Oilers only 7). Including PPs, HDC were 15-7 for the Oilers. I think we got most of our chances in 2-3 shifts, nothing much outside of that
Missed the boat on Carrier.
Can't have too much "sleeping cap"
Zub 4.6 AAV : injuries
Perron 4.0 AAV : injuries and personal issues
Amadio 2.6 AAV : way too much for that kind of player, I prefer Gregor who only makes 0.85 AAV
Norris 7.95 AAV : he's worth more like 5.5 AAV now with all the injuries
Forsberg 2.75 AAV : another guy diminished by injuries, worth more like 1.5 AAV these days
Hamonic 1.1 AAV : not a huge amount but actually hurts the team
Pinto has been playing better recently but his start to the season wasn't worth 3.75 AAV. Giroux is getting there in age and isn't worth 6.5 AAV anymore. Sanderson is the opposite, too young and needs more experience to be worth 8.05 AAV, pairing him with Hamonic has messed him up to be fair.
I'd say there is about 18-19 M$ not being very productive/efficient actually. It's the same for most teams but good teams are not affected by this too much. Look at Tampa Bay for example, all their money spent is being put to good use except Moser who is injured. There's a factor luck of course.
IMO before defense we need an infusion of speed and skill in the forward group. Our scoring is very modest after our top-3 forwards and they're "off" at times. And yeah, we'd need to do anything to stop playing Hamonic.