Quote:
Originally Posted by Monahammer
It's not the direction I would have taken the team, but I have to agree and summarize some of the disparate comments in here:
- We have been clamouring for team identity for years.
- We have loudly complained that our team is too soft and weak, especially for playoffs.
- Many of us were shouting for blood and for heads to roll regarding the rumors of Tkachuk being told to tone it down.
Taking all of this, Treliving has now given us:
- Sutter, a coach known for having teams with a hard working, meritocratic, hard hitting identity.
- Acquired a set of players known for 2 way play to make us more difficult to play against and strong in the defensive sense (also with playoff resumes): Coleman, Lewis, Richardson, Pitlick
- Acquired a couple of players known to be ultra goons (back up for Tkachuk so he never has to take it easy): Zadorov, Gudbranson
So yeah, I too am disappointed that dreams of Eichel never came to fruition, but arguably Treliving has addressed the three biggest gripes we had with the team for the last two years.
|
It's definitely a direction, which is good. I think they over invested in that direction this off season. Luckily most of those deals are for 1 year. If a player doesn't work out then we won't be stuck with an anchor of a contract.
I have a hard time seeing where goals would come from. I believe the offense would have a lot of a harder time scoring because they would be attacking 3 or 4 on 5. Where at least one guy on the ice would contribute next to zero offense. You will have one of Tanev/Zadorov/Gudbranson on the ice at all times. Also, as was mentioned we clearly lack a PP QB. Are we going to run 5 forwards? or is one of Andersson/Hanifin/Valimaki ready to step up?
I think this year every defensive mistake might be magnified. Moreover, I am also worried that it might snowball and the team would start gripping their sticks too tight in the defensive end.