Big whoop. Like I said I'm not impressed with the many forwards on this club that did barely anything the majority of the season thus letting the stars on the club do all the production and work.
I think we really settle and accept less here in our expectations of support forwards, even topsix forwards.
All I heard in GDT last night was F-off Foegele, people talking as if he did nothing here, is a creampuff etc. Well He has as many goals almost as Skinner and Arvid put together and neither of the latter are physical in the slightest, either.
A player like Arvid scores once in awhile, is easy to play against, and will lose pucks, make misplays, pass puck anywhere etc. Arvid is a high event player meaning when he's not cashing a lot or producing much at all he's a huge liability. At contract cost he's ridiculous. We could have had Holloway AND Foegele for around the price.
Yup.
Fact of the matter is I wanted guys like McLeod and Foegele gone. They didn't bring enough in the playoffs. I can't imagine Skinner and Arvi bringing anything either. Two soft puff players for another two -- only difference is the guys we sent away ended up outperforming what they did with us -- McLeod in quite a dramatic fashion.
We're at the point in this era's lifespan where I don't care how we do in the regular season, or how our individual players perform, as long as we make the playoffs. We're there now, and it doesn't matter if Arvidsson put up 100 or 0 points this season. If he can bring it in the playoffs, I'll be happy.
I would shocked to see Jeff Skinner and Arvidsson perform any better than McLeod + Foegele did here in playoffs, which is a very mediocre, underperforming let down. Adding them was a mistake. We should have replaced the guys we let go with more players like Coyle, Frederic, etc.
Coyle is going to pop off in the playoffs. Same way Bennett does. Guys we could've got for barely anything with the proper pro scouting. I have been on these guys for many years and we missed out on both. I love Frederic as a player and if he's healthy he will be a big boon for us...but so many missed opportunities to add quality players who play the way you need in the playoffs.
The fact we brought Henrique back and signed Jeff Skinner as well is insane to me. It took a couple deep playoff runs for our power forward style players to be completely ruined. Long term injuries, hindered, careers slowing down. Hyman will be a shell of his former self for example. Only a select few can bring it like that for a bunch of playoff pushes in a row. Most break down.
It's another year of praying McDrai can carry the game for 28 minutes a night while the others don't bleed out too bad. IF you think RNH is going to come alive and start making plays in the playoffs for the first time in his life you're lost. Him and Hymno were the definition of PP merchants in the historic run last year with the best playoff performance ever from Davo giving them tap ins on the PP. They do nothing at evens in high intensity hockey.
Most of our club had 5-8 points each, playing 25 games mind you. Nobody stepped up to the plate and rose above their station for us. Anyone think Skinner, Henrique, or Arvi will? No. They don't have the wheels.
Brought in a bunch of old broken down slow players. Oldest team in the league. I put Philp and Savoie in and hope they can rise to the occasion a la Broberg, Bouchard, Holloway in their coming out parties. Watching LA trot out Kempe who dominates us, plays hard, hits -- and their entire roster is built like this. Every line. They're no joke this year.
Let's keep in mind, all of us can agree Foegele would be an absolute force if he started driving the net more often. If we see that from him in this first round, I am terrified. They have that guy buying in to their gritty style whereas he was trying to play like McDavid here. Just following in the footsteps.
Go through their lines. Their group is like Montreal's. No McDavid but damn deep. Way deeper than us full of psychotically tenacious skilled grinder players. Playoff players. We beat them the last few years off PP opportunities and McDrai carrying. If they falter in any way shape or form, we're done. They are way better this year, and we are way worse.
I'd be shocked if we win this series. McDrai going nuclear is the only way it's close.
Foegele-Danault-Moore is a genuinely incredible line. We have nothing like that.
Kuzmenko-Kopitar-Kempe as well oozes skill.
Fiala-Byfield-Laferriere is going to give us nightmares. Byfield coming out party, Fiala elite skill, Laferriere out of nowhere putting up more points while playing a hard nosed game none of our guys can match.
We took Arvidsson from them and they found three replacements for him instantly. We got the shell of him. What a disaster. Apologies for the ramble.
