Quote:
Originally Posted by Enoch Root
We're taking away two of your first line players and the most talented player left is going to start the year injured.
We're going to give you a backup and an unknown, unproven goalie to work with.
We're taking away your best defenseman and we're only giving you 4 NHL defensemen to work with.
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Stajan has that lower body injury too so we are out one of our top centers and leaning more on Backlund, Monahan, Street and Colborne instead.
I think Hartley has the team looking very good thus far. He is still sheltering the kids minutes on the ice but I was pleased to keep seeing #23 and #47 out there and Monahan looked good in the faceoff circle (even though the stats do not really support that impression).
All in all, I still think Hartley is a good coach for right now in the rebuild. He seems to be getting positive results from the team as a whole right now and a number of the individuals on the team play a lot better under him. Pending UFAs like Stajan will likely get traded for more than we would have guessed a couple of years ago because they are reacting so well to playing under Hartley.