Sorry, I am just not sold on Ellis. I don't think his Offense out weighs his Defense. He is easily played against by bigger Offensive players from other teams. He can't move anyone off the puck or out of the crease (Coyle goal). And I do agree that what we do with Franson will determine what happens with either Ellis and/or Jones. Many questions about the D corps over the off season.
I'm not sold on Franson.
Frankly I'd rather have Bartley out there with Jones...
it's almost a sure thing we don't make a strong attempt to re-sign franson like many think we will. his demands on the UFA market won't be matched by us, as it would tie up too large a percentage of our money on the backend. you just don't tie up that much money on a number 4 or 6 d-man. and besides not 1 in 20 UFA players re-sign with the team that picked them up at the trade deadline anyway. no he was just a rental miscalculation somehow thinking he would magically fit in with our strangely perceived need we needed a redundant d-man. don't expect either him or santo to be here next year. (or more likely below)
my gut tells me tells me we brought him in thinking we could/would swing a deal of either Ellis or Jones with either EDM for a center or to TOR for Kessel and the price either were demanding just got too high or Ellis's injury at the time kept a deal from going thru. it's really the only thing that made this deal make any kind of good hockey sense to me.
A bit discouraging if Lavy is already at the "throw **** against the wall and see what sticks" phase.Cheese and rice! Have you seen these lines from today's practice?
Thursday’s trios and pairings were as follows:
Forwards:
Wilson – Ribeiro – Bourque
Cullen – Fisher – Smith
Forsberg – Jarnkrok – Stalberg
Beck – Gaustad – Santorelli
Cheese and rice! Have you seen these lines from today's practice?
Thursday’s trios and pairings were as follows:
Forwards:
Wilson – Ribeiro – Bourque
Cullen – Fisher – Smith
Forsberg – Jarnkrok – Stalberg
Beck – Gaustad – Santorelli
I actually love these lines and here is why. They look really screwed up due to Bourque being on the 1st line, but he is really just a placeholder for Neal. Once Neal returns, Bourque goes back to his 4th line spot.
Cullen-Fisher-Smith was a really good line and should have never been broken up. For whatever reason, Cullen makes Smith much better. Having Cullen on one of the top two lines frees up one of our true top-6 wings to play on the 3rd line, hopefully spreading the scoring around.
I like Forsberg on the 3rd line because he plays so well just making things happen on his own. Jarnkrok is defensively responsible which allows Forsberg to just do his thing. Stalberg has played well enough to stick in the line-up.
Santorelli has been bad. His play has earned him a spot in the pressbox. With Neal out, he can play on the 4th line.
When Neal returns the lines look like this:
Wilson – Ribeiro – Neal
Cullen – Fisher – Smith
Forsberg – Jarnkrok/Santorelli – Stalberg
Beck – Gaustad – Bourque
Feel better now?
Is it at all possible for us to drop to a wildcard spot? Because I'll take it if it means us not having to face Chicago.
Hated to include Fisher, but he does have an A on his sweater.
So who's under the bus?