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Post-Game Talk: We’re all smilin with you tonight Stu

oXo Cube said:
Using your Hart caliber center in a Boyd Gordon role is dumb as a general rule Rob Brown is right about that.

That doesn't mean it can't work isolated to a game or two but at the same time our stars underproducing their expectation is something that is going to catch up to the team before the end if it doesn't change.
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A win is all that matter and Boyd Gordon duties at ES and major PP time is fine for Draisaitl.

Also, Podz was Draisaitl's most consistent winger all year. Kapanen has been part of that duo as well
 
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TopShelfGloveSide said:
I wasn’t ecstatic when I heard Kapanen was in. Great move. His bad habits creep in slowly so I wouldn’t play him for long stretches of time though.

Having J skinner and Arviddson as scratches is crazy depth.
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Was just thinking this almost word for word on my drive to work today

Kapanen is good in flashes
 
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jesusbuiltmyhotrod said:
Remember all the arm chair gms bashing bowman for the offseason and deadline? Lol
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Not to mention Klingberg has been super solid.

I am much happier (argued its merits all along) with:

A) Walman (~2M actual cap dollars), Klingberg (~1M actual cap dollars), Kane (0 actual dollars lol), Frederic (~$580 actual cap dollars), both McD and Drai having the luxury (cap space) to have significant time off vs
B) Holloway (IR) ($2.2M), Broberg ($4.6M), Kane traded to make room

That was the calculus last July/Aug and nice to see it working out in our favor so far. No way we'd have absorbed the loss of Ekholm if we'd spent our bundle on the RFAs. (this is not saying we didn't screw up with Skinner/Arvidsson and invite the offer sheets... that's the obvious blunder)
 
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MessierThanThou said:
The Knights and Panthers are to Vegas and Miami what our CFL team is to us: a minor attraction. Sorry Gary, but no amount of Cups will ever change that.
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As evidenced by one of the worst ratings ever for a Cup Final when they played each other.

I find it funny how everyone seems terrified of an all-Canadian final because of US ratings, but historically California and Florida teams are also arsenic for US viewership and no one seemed concerned about those teams going on runs.

I'd suspect that an Edmonton-Toronto cup final would be able to compete with the viewership of the Panthers/Knights especially with the additional star power of some of the players and Toronto is a original 6 team which always draws well, so maybe they'd do so as well. They've just never been in a cup final since this kind of thing was tracked, so its a complete unknown.
 
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bucks_oil said:
Fair enough. I haven't been following the other series at all.

There is a third and fourth possibility too:
3) A goalie, any goalie, can only do so much, and related
4) Over a small sample of time, discrete events skew the data way too much... what is a breakaway worth in GSAA, 0.5ish?? You get a couple more than the other guy, you get one from McD vs hmmm... 2023 Connor Brown.. the GSAA can't tell the difference, but as a goalie you certainly can.

Anyway... I personally feel those big-name goalies ARE worth it, and do generally make a difference... short-term stats be damned (though Helly now has 3 playoffs of hot garbage, so HE may be a true flake in the playoff pressure).

However if you take the "too fickle to trust as your anchor" perspective, then I have trouble squaring that with your anti-Skinner lamentations. If you can't trust an $8M, 10-year, multi-Vezina guy, shouldn't we expect the $2.6M 4-season, never-will-be-Vezina guy to be even more Jekkyl and Hyde on a game to game basis?

Holland by the way... the former goalie who wouldn't invest in goaltending would agree with you by the way... I think he was quoted as such... and you can see it (generally) in who he employed during playoff years in Detroit.... taking the perspective that it was better to invest in superstar forwards and D rather than an upgrade on Osgood or Legacy or whomever. I fear more of the same from Bowman (Crawford also never a big name guy).
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I think there's some nuance there.

I think you don't trust any one Goaltender unless their name is Price. I don't think going with an option like Skinner is bad per say - my main problem is that we more or less anointed him the started without him earning it and haven't pushed him.

To me - I think the ultimate is a 1A/1B tandem of budget/value goaltenders. There's several things there;

1) goaltenders are the most important piece of your team. While they won't win you shit, they will sewer you if they're bad.

2) goaltenders themselves are unreliable - so you can't rely on any one as any given one might fall off a cliff, or get injured. Having two equal goaltenders insulates you from this risk.

3) there is some solid historical evidence that Goaltenders preform the best with less work - to quote Brian Burke - you'll never win in the playoffs if you're Goaltender is starting more than 55 games. They need time to cool off and work on their fundamentals. Having two equal goaltenders keeps both fresh.

4) some combination of "goaltenders are voodoo / separation in goaltenders in today's game is much lower than it used to be" - if you scout well it's easy to find guys that over preform their contracts. This creates a cap advantage.

5) this fosters roster competition in a position that's typically impossible to foster roster competition in.

A large part of my problem with Skinner is that he was basically given the reigns with no backup plan, and then given no rest. Sink or swim. And then he sank - and we had no other options, and we just kept going back to him with no other options.

Pickard became an option, but that was a fluke and him stepping up, not by design. If it was up to it management or our Goaltending staff they'd never let him start playoffs games or earn the net over Skinner regardless, they've said as much.
 
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Last night was such a roller-coaster of emotions. I told my Wife ok Skinner is playing, I can't control it, I'll sit here and watch with no emotion. Whatever happens happens. 10 minutes into the game I'm standing yelling swearing almost inside our TV!

Mission not accomplished but what a wild ride that was 😂
 
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