The Ditch part deux

I definitely agree that it's coaching and culture. Amazing that they haven't figured out that you can't let Dale and lucky sperm club poster boy Travis run the franchise if they expect to accomplish much more than training sonnie how to manage spreadsheets for depreciation and tax purposes instead of gaining some tangible managerial acumen.

Dale cares about buddies and golf and I wonder how much talent the kid has...but I'm skeptical based on the results.

It's a shame.

 

wow-how silly can you get? im sure Don Cherry is losing his mind right now?

 

What has their core accomplished?
Holmgren and Clarke are still running the show.
They can't attract UDFAs and they're going to have to massively overpay (per the norm) for UFAs.

I could say the same thing 3 years ago.

 

besides the Cup Champs-what has any core outside of LA, Pitt, Chicago and maybe Washington has accomplished?? I'm done dwelling in the old past HBOB. Giroux still has gas left in the tank. Front 2 lines are solid. Last 2 lines need work the prospects will fill in. Core is getting younger and hopefully with Hart next year for the majority of games, much better overall. The kid is the real deal. Just needs a top defensemen to hold them together. Get Panarin and maybe 1 other offensive UFA to add the scoring they need.

3 yrs ago - they had no true goalie, less cap space and their prospects weren't as highly rated as they are now. so you're mistaken there.

And all UFA's get overpaid HBOB. That's nothing new to any team and GM with the checkbook. You are mistaken though on one key thing, It has nothing to do with attraction to come to Philly. Hextall didn't want to make a big move outside of signing JVR. JVR came to Philly, so why not others? He didn't want to trade any prospect of draft pick. He was hoarding them like a miser. That was his downfall.

I think and hope Fletcher is aggressive this summer. Philly is a top 5 market and on the up and up. And they have $20+ in cap space this summer. What's not to like ?

 

The popcorn game of the night I'm calling, the Avs vs Knights.

Big game for pushing the avs into a further playoff position.

This gets 3 popcorns.

 

Agreed, best game of the night. At least I have a couple choices leading up to that one. Toronto and the Flyers will do for me.

 

Pretty much every other game is meaningless except a Dallas win should do it for the Stars for a playoff spot.
Original six with the Bs and Rags.

 

Drew Doughty has been trash talking Brent Burns lately. He says he doesn't deserve the Norris, it should go to Gio. He says Burns is so easy to get around and gets points because of the team he's on.

 

Drew is ... he is not earning his paycheck this year.

Drew should be concerning himself with Drew.

 

Drew is ... he is not earning his paycheck this year.

Drew should be concerning himself with Drew.


He Sucks...........7.6 M $ / yr and he has 6 goals......YIKES Million bucks a goal.

 

Any D that's breaks into the 80 point plateau has done something special in todays NHL.
Although I will have to agree and it's no big secret that Burns has always been an offensive D. I had him on my fantasy roster in '12 and he switched to D halfway through the year.

 

Avs and Stars both win.

 

If the Yotes could manage to catch the Avs, they have more wins, they get the tie breaker.

 

This is great that there are still races for the playoffs... one of the several reasons I like this Divisional system.

 

Carolina and the Coyotes are two great stories in this years NHL.

 

The Canes aren't as surprising as it would be if the yotes were to make it.

The Canes went into the year with one of the top rated Ds in the league. It was just up to their young scorers like Aho and Tuevo to come through, which they did. A 7-8th seed was always a realistic goal for them as long as they put in the effort.
The yotes on the other hand just traded away max domi and nobody thought they would be where they are now.

 

Ive never liked Matheson, his risk vs reward barometer is permanently set to stupid.
Bobrovsky and Panarin would go a long way. Gotta get rid of Reimer's deal and/or Loungo to make it happen.

 

This is the damn truth. Matheson would make a good forward, but he sure doesn't make for a good defenseman. Defensively: he's good with his stick, terrible with the body, and even worse with his positioning. Nevermind the absolute back-breaking turnovers. His upside: athleticism for his size, and scoring ability. Doesn't exactly sound like the ideal defenseman...

To sign him to the deal they did was absolute madness. I understand that they saw the raw abilities and thought, "Let's lock him down now, so when he's better, his deal will be favorable for us", but that was assuming he would improve. To bet a 7 year, $4 mil per deal on a young player like that showing leaps and bounds of growth in areas he's phenomenally weak in? Hubris, and likely crippling. I do think that a coach who can simplify defensive responsibilities can make the most out of Matheson, but it'll also take the right roster moves - need to pair him with a stay-at-home guy, and right now, the Panthers have both Matheson and Yandle for whom that needs to be the case...

The goalie situation this offseason will be interesting to watch. Montembeault is the only goalie in the system that has any real chance at an NHL role (which has continued to be terrifying, in itself). His short time, to end this season, has been... rough. But as with our other goalies, I put a lot of that on defense, as well. Lu or Reimer will be gone next year, it'll just be a matter of how that gets done. Lu has said that he'd keep playing as long as he could do so at a high level - we'll see if this season convinces him either way. If the team can acquire a guy like Bobrovsky, I think Monty stays in the minors, and hopefully the team drafts another serious G candidate. If not, it'll likely be Lu / Reimer and Monty in the bigs. But this is going to be... interesting to watch.

 

when they played Philly in Philly and won in OT he was yapping at the fans and then the Flyers bench after the OT shootout winner was scored. He was lucky someone didn't throw their car keys at him. He was acting like a real asshole for some reason.

 

Doughtys high most of the summer.