Quote:
Originally Posted by Samonadreau
Ya it's so weird how we have
- better Goaltending
- a better Gaudreau
- have added Hamonic
- Tkachuk no sophomore slump
- a coach that has had a year to deploy and teach his system
- basically zero injuries on defense.
.....and we are literally no better then we were last season.
Can anyone else explain that for me? Because it is mind boggling.
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I think Frolik and Backlund taking a step back this yr and not having Versteeg for essentially all season has hurt the team.
Backs and Fro are our top 2-way guys and outside of the PK they haven't looked the same as last year in regards to offensive contributions. When you shut down a line its good but when you shut down a line and score on them it's great!
A healthy Versteeg would probably have went along way in helping solidify our top 9 while also strengthening our 4th line with Hathaway being bumped down. To be fair to your argument our top nine had holes in it last year as well since Jankowski wasn't here so maybe this aspect would be a wash even though Versteeg had a strong season for us last yr.
Whatever the reason is it seems the team isn't improving as a whole.
I feel a team with Gaudreau, Monahan, Tkachuk, Backlund, Ferland, Frolik, Bennett and Jankowski up front, with Hamilton, Gio, Brodie and Hamonic on D and Smith in net should be better than this.
But when you take everything in to account it somewhat makes sense. Bennett and Jankowski are struggling to maintain consistency as young guys, Ferland has been hot and cold, we need more depth upfront and most importantly is there really is only 2 top end teams in the West.
Nashville and Winnipeg look legit while Vegas is having a Cinderella season but outside that the rest of the teams are all bunched up and it will be a battle to the end.