Who’s been a pleasant surprise this season? (Positivity thread)

[Porter Stoutheart]

I think the most pleasant surprise this season is @Porter Stoutheart even with the team playing historically bad hockey, Porter still manages to post novels pretty much daily for my reading enjoyment. It takes some real grit and stamina to find that much to say about this organization and I find that applause worthy. My hat is off to you!

Dammit, I was trying to cut back to "novellas".

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

I think the most pleasant surprise this season is @Porter Stoutheart even with the team playing historically bad hockey, Porter still manages to post novels pretty much daily for my reading enjoyment. It takes some real grit and stamina to find that much to say about this organization and I find that applause worthy. My hat is off to you!

Eh… I’ll wait till Christmas to evaluate what kind of poster Porter is

 

[nullednumbed]

Eh… I’ll wait till Christmas to evaluate what kind of poster Porter is

Porter doesn't post here to retire

 

[Adz]

I think the GM is fixable. I've been heartened by Marchessault at least at times. Other than that... well it's easier than ever to get snacks and have a bathroom break.

 

[Predsanddead24]

If not for the fact I enjoy posting on this board I'd probably have checked out from the Preds entirely for the season.

 

[beardawg]

I'll be honest, Wilsby was not on my radar as an NHL player at all before this season. Now I think he can be a legitimate, Ekholm-type top 4 guy

 

[PredsV82]

I got nothing.

 

[Kat Predator]

 

[cynicalcitizen]

I think Trotz might still have a glimmer of hope. If we start next season with Bruno as coach, i lose all hope in Trotz though.

Trotz hasn't done one thing right. Where's the optimism come from?

 

[ShagDaddy]

Trotz hasn't done one thing right. Where's the optimism come from?

outside of Fabbro and picking Saros over Askarov (that decision won’t be able to be deemed good or bad for at least three to four years), what has he done that you find so egregious? I’m not trying to say you’re wrong or right in your assessment, I’m just curious.

 

[Armourboy]

outside of Fabbro and picking Saros over Askarov (that decision won’t be able to be deemed good or bad for at least three to four years), what has he done that you find so egregious? I’m not trying to say you’re wrong or right in your assessment, I’m just curious.

Probably the biggest was not firing the coach when it might have done some good, or hiring him to start with for that matter. I also think one of his bigger blunders is the fact he has given Brunette way too much control. A coach earns that level of control, not given it from the start. I think that is one thing with Trotz being a former coach that bit him.

 

[herzausstein]

I think Trotz has been blindly loyal to Bruno and his vision of what the team should be. Im not going to judge the offseason acquisitions until i see them play under a different coach and system. If Trotz remains loyal to Bruno through the offseason, then all hope is lost.

Fabbro, Tomasino, Pärssinen were all lost because coaching decisions cascaded to GM decisions. Coach wouldnt use them so GM moved them and brought in players coach would use.

 

[Scoresberg]

Bridgestone Arena's away team's goal lamp handler?

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

Not firing Bruno (though, now tank-mode is a good move) and the "Fabbro Fumble" were fails. While the order of events in the goalie situation wasn't well thought out, I honestly think it was a fine move to stick with the proven vet goalie. Not the greatest contract, but overall, I don't mind the move at all.

My hope is that he plans on some good trades next week, canning Bruno after the last game, and have a successful draft and offseason.

 

[herzausstein]

Yeah im not thrilled on the entire Saros/Askarov fiasco but i will say... the players on the ice look absolutely lost about 80% of the time which im sure is impacting Saros. Will the contract age like milk? Yes. Might it look slightly less spoiled in a more ordered system and less lost skaters? Also yes. Can Askarov end up better than Saros in a couple seasons? Yes.

 

[wmupreds]

outside of Fabbro and picking Saros over Askarov (that decision won’t be able to be deemed good or bad for at least three to four years), what has he done that you find so egregious? I’m not trying to say you’re wrong or right in your assessment, I’m just curious.

Could add Tomasino as a blunder. He's not lighting the world on fire but his G/60 since joining PIT would be 2nd on the team here.

Also the Duchene buyout isn't looking amazing. Sure he wouldn't help at this point if the goal is to get younger but paying millions and getting nothing in return for someone to light up the scoreboard elsewhere isn't exactly inspiring

 

[nullednumbed]

Could add Tomasino as a blunder. He's not lighting the world on fire but his G/60 since joining PIT would be 2nd on the team here.

Also the Duchene buyout isn't looking amazing. Sure he wouldn't help at this point if the goal is to get younger but paying millions and getting nothing in return for someone to light up the scoreboard elsewhere isn't exactly inspiring

Mark Lazerus posted a good article today on The Athletic talking about the physical toll the players go through in the 82-game season. Duchene was featured and had some good insights. I didn't like it then and still think that buyout was a blunder in Trotz's series of blunders as GM. The article also hits home on how tough it gets to rebound the older you get in this league. You have to wonder how all of the old guys on the team will actually bounce back next season new coach or not. Time will tell.

 

[Predsanddead24]

Mark Lazerus posted a good article today on The Athletic talking about the physical toll the players go through in the 82-game season. Duchene was featured and had some good insights. I didn't like it then and still think that buyout was a blunder in Trotz's series of blunders as GM. The article also hits home on how tough it gets to rebound the older you get in this league. You have to wonder how all of the old guys on the team will actually bounce back next season new coach or not. Time will tell.

Which is why I think its extra stupid we were willing to sacrifice this season to give Brunette a chance to rebound when he struggled out the gate. With the age of our team and the guys we brought in our window was going to start closing really rapidly (granted the window seemingly never actually existed) so we really couldn't afford to take a wait and see approach.

 

[ShagDaddy]

Could add Tomasino as a blunder. He's not lighting the world on fire but his G/60 since joining PIT would be 2nd on the team here.

Also the Duchene buyout isn't looking amazing. Sure he wouldn't help at this point if the goal is to get younger but paying millions and getting nothing in return for someone to light up the scoreboard elsewhere isn't exactly inspiring

The positive side of losing Tomasino is that he wouldn’t have made a difference on this roster. He isn’t a difference maker or play driver so it’s not really that big of deal one way or the other. After watching him play in Milwaukee and then seeing him in Nashville, I didn’t think he would ever become a core player in Nashville. Now I’m convinced he won’t become a core player for any roster. The Tomasino deal is in no way a black eye for Trotz in my opinion.

 

[wmupreds]

The positive side of losing Tomasino is that he wouldn’t have made a difference on this roster. He isn’t a difference maker or play driver so it’s not really that big of deal one way or the other. After watching him play in Milwaukee and then seeing him in Nashville, I didn’t think he would ever become a core player in Nashville. Now I’m convinced he won’t become a core player for any roster. The Tomasino deal is in no way a black eye for Trotz in my opinion.

Not everyone can be a core player. He certainly seems to be an NHL player, which at his age should (even if the decision to trade him is the same) net more than a 4th rounder.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Not everyone can be a core player. He certainly seems to be an NHL player, which at his age should (even if the decision to trade him is the same) net more than a 4th rounder.

Tomasino represents more a case just of the overall organizational issues with identifying and developing young talent at the NHL level. I don't think what Trotz got in exchange for him as a mediocre 23-year old is really the issue here. The problem is how we went from having a 1st round pick who scored 100 pts as a junior star, who excelled in the AHL as a 19-year old, then stepped productively into a full-time role in the NHL as a 20-year old, then... went precisely nowhere for the next 3 seasons.

Sometimes prospects stall out. Sometimes it wasn't the organization's fault. But usually that process follows a less abrupt cutoff in the NHL than what happened with Tomasino? (... and Parssinen, and Tolvanen... indicating an organizational trend).

I don't think the end result of the low trade return for Tomasino is purely Trotz's fault. It's more institutional than that. But then at the same time... he doesn't seem to have demonstrated any inclination to fix anything on that front (yet?) either. We're still seeing low icetime and utilization for Svechkov and L'Heureux and Evangelista, for example, in defiance of some of their performance metrics relative to other players. Is Evangelista already stalling out similarly? Is this trend going to continue?