What is your excitement level for 24/25 season ?

[ViD]

So far I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the way the team plays. Injuries aside, my excitement level definitely went up.

Monahan is a great addition, Werenski plays like a superstar and the young players are performing well.

 

[Viqsi]

Steve Mears is actually helping. Watching the guys actually go all in each night is definitely helping. Feeling a lot better right now about the team than I would ever have guessed but a few weeks ago.

 

[MoeBartoli]

I remain excited about this season and am encouraged by their play under Evason. The team and young players are making progress which was what I wanted to see. But damn, I admit that KJ’s injury is deflating.

 

[thebus88]

How will people handle this team being a “wildcard team” again??

 

[koteka]

How will people handle this team being a “wildcard team” again??

We won’t. We’ll trade Provorov at the deadline. Elvis and Tarasov are sure to be injured. We finally have leadership that might understand winning in March and April is not the goal if you are out of the playoffs.

 

[ViD]

We won’t. We’ll trade Provorov at the deadline. Elvis and Tarasov are sure to be injured. We finally have leadership that might understand winning in March and April is not the goal if you are out of the playoffs.

The way JD spoke about Provorov today I hope they will try to re-sign

 

[majormajor]

We won’t. We’ll trade Provorov at the deadline. Elvis and Tarasov are sure to be injured. We finally have leadership that might understand winning in March and April is not the goal if you are out of the playoffs.

A playoff hunt in March and April would be a huge thing for our young players to be a part of.

You shouldn't trade that for like, moving up from the 15th pick to the 12th. This is a Dean Evason team, they'd probably win out after selling off. Not really the right coach for your tanking dreams.

 

[VT]

I like our play, effort, improving young guys, Danforth line with Olivier and ZAR. Plus Provorov and Werenski. If they will be continue I will be glad.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

The only real positive I feel is that the season is potentially all upside.

The expectation is they will be one of, if not the worst, teams in the league. And that is entirely fair.

Anything exceeding that is going to feel like a win.

obvious caveat of "it's still early" BUT ...

**taps post**

 

[Jovavic]

The way JD spoke about Provorov today I hope they will try to re-sign

8+ million is alot for a third pair player, which is what he'll be once Mateychuk emerges

 

[ViD]

8+ million is alot for a third pair player, which is what he'll be once Mateychuk emerges

He’s successfully playing on both sides so I highly doubt he will ever drop to the third pair

 

[stevo61]

Yeah not sure what Mateychuk has to do with Provorov for a few years atleast. Can easily have both in the lineup, especially while Mateychuk is on an ELC. If Mateychuk and Jiricek both pop soonish it could be a real thing but even then it's easy to move good defensemen. People get mad at the team for making room for young players and then want exactly that for mateychuk, it's great he looked good in the preseason where plenty of rookies do but I'd be in no hurry to move a guy giving you 20+ minutes of good hockey every single night just to make room for him and add some meh piece/pick back. Harris and JJ should be the ones worried about jobs not Provorov

 

[koteka]

A playoff hunt in March and April would be a huge thing for our young players to be a part of.

Yes, and I highly doubt we’ll be in the playoff hunt in March and April. We are running a new system and nobody has tape on it yet. Once we get to January people will understand what we are doing and scheme against it. We will be below Bettman .500 and there were will be several teams ahead of us and not in the playoffs.

This start has been great and it is fun to see what we can do with competent coaching, but if you think the current defensive players and goalies will have us in the playoff hunt, well, we’ll have to disagree on that.

 

[koteka]

The way JD spoke about Provorov today I hope they will try to re-sign

I am still waiting for them to fire JD. That is long overdue.

 

[stevo61]

Yes, and I highly doubt we’ll be in the playoff hunt in March and April. We are running a new system and nobody has tape on it yet. Once we get to January people will understand what we are doing and scheme against it. We will be below Bettman .500 and there were will be several teams ahead of us and not in the playoffs.

This start has been great and it is fun to see what we can do with competent coaching, but if you think the current defensive players and goalies will have us in the playoff hunt, well, we’ll have to disagree on that.

New to us system, it's not like Evason is out there reinventing the wheel.

I also assume we will fall off the pace as things move along but more so due to some of our forwards inevitably cooling off.

 

[koteka]

New to us system, it's not like Evason is out there reinventing the wheel.

Yes, but you need enough games to know, for example, Provorov’s tendencies playing on the right in Evason’s system to scheme against him. After 25 or so games you know if Provorov gets the puck in a certain area, there is a 65% chance he’ll do X, a 25% chance he’ll do Y, and a 10% chance he’ll do Z. Then you can start taking some risks and overplaying X.

 

[GoJackets1]

Guess I’m the first or second to vote very excited. Im excited for the young guys to continue to improve but mainly excited to see what improvement is made with an actually experienced, quality coach. Vincent did an okay job that could’ve looked a lot better if not for the collapses. The roster is better on paper than the results showed last year IMO.

If Evason can create strategic improvement, on top of the younger guys improving, I believe we could see 35-40 wins if not more. Obviously I’ve fallen into this trap before, but in this moment that’s how I feel.

It's nice having optimism that actually is correct for once. Maybe they don't get to the 35-40 number (although I see no reason they couldn't at the moment) but I am just happy that the young guys are growing and the team is having fun and I don't have to watch shitty hockey anymore.

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

It's nice having optimism that actually is correct for once. Maybe they don't get to the 35-40 number (although I see no reason they couldn't at the moment) but I am just happy that the young guys are growing and the team is having fun and I don't have to watch shitty hockey anymore.

As someone whose only in-person game so far this season was Minnesota, I'm going to suggest a change to "routinely shitty".

 

[Waterbuf]

Neutral fan popping in. Longtime fantasy league player with my close friends so I end up keeping tabs on all the teams and players and not really rooting for any one team.
I tend to favor underdogs so I've wanted CBJ to become a thing for the last 3-5 years or so. Finally being able to roster some of their players is super fun.
Awesome to see what looks to be the long-awaited success as the rebuild comes to fruition.

 

[majormajor]

Yeah not sure what Mateychuk has to do with Provorov for a few years atleast. Can easily have both in the lineup, especially while Mateychuk is on an ELC. If Mateychuk and Jiricek both pop soonish it could be a real thing but even then it's easy to move good defensemen. People get mad at the team for making room for young players and then want exactly that for mateychuk, it's great he looked good in the preseason where plenty of rookies do but I'd be in no hurry to move a guy giving you 20+ minutes of good hockey every single night just to make room for him and add some meh piece/pick back. Harris and JJ should be the ones worried about jobs not Provorov

In general I agree that we are far from a situation of having too many good D, and in general good D are very moveable, but I have to say that that gets considerably harder when they have 6-8 year contracts. And Provorov can be a very moody guy. Every thing is going great now but is he going to help us get out of a funk or is he going to be a part of the funk?

Yes, and I highly doubt we’ll be in the playoff hunt in March and April. We are running a new system and nobody has tape on it yet. Once we get to January people will understand what we are doing and scheme against it. We will be below Bettman .500 and there were will be several teams ahead of us and not in the playoffs.

This start has been great and it is fun to see what we can do with competent coaching, but if you think the current defensive players and goalies will have us in the playoff hunt, well, we’ll have to disagree on that.

I don't think we'll be a playoff club and I'd be somewhat surprised if we were at 90 pts or above. We could still easily end up under 80. But I think it would be better for our young lineup and development as a team if we did do better. You think worse would be better and that is completely wrong. This isn't the 2015 draft we're talking about. We need players to learn how to win. There's much more potential wasted talent on this roster than there is in the talent gap between the 5th and 15th picks in this draft.

Neutral fan popping in. Longtime fantasy league player with my close friends so I end up keeping tabs on all the teams and players and not really rooting for any one team.
I tend to favor underdogs so I've wanted CBJ to become a thing for the last 3-5 years or so. Finally being able to roster some of their players is super fun.
Awesome to see what looks to be the long-awaited success as the rebuild comes to fruition.

Not sure how injuries are handled in your league but get ready for a few missing players.

 

[spintheblackcircle]

I want to believe that the fact they are 4th in goals per game and 5th in the league in goal difference is the team we will see all year. They are in the top half of shots allowed per game, so much better defensively. The goalies have not had to stand on their heads once this year.

But they are dead last in expected goals 5-on-5, that's a lot of bad goals allowed by the other team so far. Only Vegas has scored more "bad goals" so far this year. (per Moneypuck)

I think it will take 15 games or so for me to say the quiet part out loud about the team.

 

[EspenK]

 

[majormajor]

I want to believe that the fact they are 4th in goals per game and 5th in the league in goal difference is the team we will see all year. They are in the top half of shots allowed per game, so much better defensively. The goalies have not had to stand on their heads once this year.

But they are dead last in expected goals 5-on-5, that's a lot of bad goals allowed by the other team so far. Only Vegas has scored more "bad goals" so far this year. (per Moneypuck)

I think it will take 15 games or so for me to say the quiet part out loud about the team.

I'm not sure what data you're looking at. Keep in mind that we've played fewer games than most clubs at this point, so being last in total xG isn't quite as surprising. Per game we're not far off the middle.

 

[koteka]

I don't think we'll be a playoff club and I'd be somewhat surprised if we were at 90 pts or above. We could still easily end up under 80. But I think it would be better for our young lineup and development as a team if we did do better. You think worse would be better and that is completely wrong. This isn't the 2015 draft we're talking about. We need players to learn how to win. There's much more potential wasted talent on this roster than there is in the talent gap between the 5th and 15th picks in this draft.

I don’t think worse is better. I think we will be worse because our defense is bad, our goalies are bad, we are currently scoring at an unsustainable pace, and people will start to figure out our tendencies. Thinking we will be a playoff contender is foolish. People are acting like a decent start to the season and playing within an actual system means all the problems are solved. That is ridiculous. I think by January we will be at or below Bettman .500 and it will be time to sell anyone with value. This is not my wish. This is what I truly believe. I’d love to be wrong and have Olivier somehow be the Hart winner, Marchenko win the Rocket Richard, and have the team make the playoffs. But that isn’t happening. A realistic wish is contract-year Provorov will have a decently productive season and bring back a first at the deadline before he goes on to underperform his next contract.

 

[majormajor]

I think by January we will be at or below Bettman .500 and it will be time to sell anyone with value.

Anyone? Care to list who you are talking about so we don't talk past each other on this.