[MisterJoji]

Originally Posted by Da_Chief

Next year we'll be worse. Sophmore jinx in terms of team. Monahan will struggle, more rookies, Ramo will falter more, Giordano will be bit worse.

In the end we're still tied for 3rd worst in the league. I guess in a re-build things like "Monahan being good, Gio potentially Olympian" sound nice but even watching them play most nights is not fun.

Can't wait to get back into playoff talks soon enough in coming years.

Missed the last 5 games did you?

Originally Posted by FBI

I've actually been pretty happy with rebuild year 1 so far.

Positives:
-Hartley has players on board for hard working play, winning culture, and to some extent: accountability
-Backlund becoming the player we were hoping for and showing that he is an important part of the rebuild
-Burke at the helm should hopefully make some good moves (I'm still on the fence about Burke but he generally gets positive feedback)
-Gio showing he was an excellent choice for captain, having career year and potential Olympian
-Brodie and Bouma really coming into their own
-Moneyhands, don't need to say much more
-Our ahl team playing great and some of our future pieces shining (Reinhart, Knight, Granlund, Ortio)
-Our round 1 picks plus gaudreau plus gillies dominating
-Russell being a big surprise
-Goalies slowly coming around, doing not that bad at all for first year rebuild

Negatives:
-Baertschi, probably not handled the greatest despite putting up points and now taking his time in finding his game in the minors. Really hope he bounces back for Rebuild Year 2
-Dead weight vets: Wideman (what happened to this guy), Stempniak, David jones, galiardi, all majorly underperforming, hoping to ditch them for some assets

Going ahead I am inclined to believe that rebuild year 2 we will actually improve in the standings.
Continued improvement for some of our breakout players + shedding of dead weight + hunger of new potential big time players for us = Better than bottom 3 in the league.

What's the problem with Wideman? He's on pace for his best offensive year in 5 years. His D leaves a little to be desired (although I don't think he's inept as others in this regard) but we knew this about him all along. Jones is over paid but I'd still rather have him than Tanguay.