Lol I've already stated that Lemieux has taken a big step forward this year. He has certainly put himself on the radar as a potential depth player, IF he can stay smart in the penalty department. But he looked horrendous last night. Unlike his earlier call-up where he was ok most of the time.
Dano is one thing. Damn productive in his icetime. He was all over the net in the past few games. He did not look great last night for sure, but really no one did. And if you watched the details it was honestly Armia that struggled mightily to get the puck out (he had several bad turnovers trying to clear the puck last night). Dano did nothing of note at all, and should not be praised at all, which is why I only mentioned him in my original post to say he, Copp, and Armia had their worst games in the past month. Yet no matter what I say you and several others will just try to read into it make up narratives about what I say. It gets super frustrating for me.
Why are you so hooked on conspiracy?
We are conspiring against you. The Jets are conspiring against a player that you like.
Maybe people just see things differently from you? *shrugs*
I will agree - everyone looked like ass last night. Singling anyone out would be silly.
I want Dano to be good. I was so pumped to get him from the Hawks - and thought we stole one. It's starting to become evident why they were so willing to part with him. However, I am not quite ready to give up on him yet.
The problem is (as it is with Petan) that we are talking about a smallish, skilled, forward who isn't especially fast. Skill, sure, but if what you are going to be is a skilled scorer, you are going to have to do it better than the players we have available for that role on this team. These guys need to be better than:
Scheifele
Ehlers
Laine
Wheeler
Little
Connor
I know people say there is no top 6 bottom 6, but there is. Top 2 lines provide the lions share of your scoring. The 3rd line checks the other teams top line, and if you are lucky provides good secondary scoring. The 4th line, some suggest should be a scoring line as well which is great IF those players don't bleed goals when they are on the ice. Our 4th lines job is to provide energy, establish the forecheck and wear the other team out.
We have good players in all of our roles. Can we upgrade on Hendricks and Tanev? Sure, there's always an upgrade available. But I don't think it's within the org for the role they are playing.
If Dano was smart he would get a hell of a lot better at being physical and hard on pucks. He could easily take the job from Tanev if he played... more like Tanev. Better yet, he could take Hendricks job and we could have Tanev and Dano playing like that.
There is hope for Dano that he will get it here - but more likely he'll move on. I know Petan is done here because he cannot play that style, and he will never be better than the players in our top 6 unless we have a terrible run of injuries