Quote:
Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts
We haven't even played a full NHL roster yet, we played bits and pieces and the games we played our top 4 D minus Tanev we have scored and out chanced the other team.
Last night Milano played with two AHL player. Huberdeau and Toffoli played with a player playing way out of his league on the top line. Dube was playing with a PTO and a 4th liner.
With that being said the biggest issue last night wasn't the forwards not scoring, it was how bad our defence can look if Stone, Valimaki and Mackey will see any significant time. They just are not good at killing plays at the blueline, they can't check to get the puck back, they can't make good solid tape to tape outlet passes to start the rush, and they can't skate the puck out of the defensive zone to exit danger. So if your defence can't get the puck back, or make a pass the offence will struggle big time doesn't matter who you have at forward.
So all the talk about trading Hanifin for another top 6 winger, take a look at what happens that top 6 winger will be useless if he doesn't have the puck. Also we will need a significant upgrade, not a Connor Garland who is just another Tyler Toffoli.
Lets wait to see what the team does with Weegar, Tanev, Zadorov in the line up. Lets see how they fare with Lindholm, Kadri, Backlund in the lineup.
The lineup looked far worse going into the season last year and we managed to score 293 goals. Also don't forget the top line wasn't even a thing, it was Tkachuck-Lindholm-Coleman to start camp.
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You clearly watched a different player than I did. Mackey played McDavid as well, or even more effectively than anyone I've seen that's not named Tanev (Gio included). He has the ability to see where McDavid is going to end up and meets him there with an excellent stick. Gio always tried to out-position McDavid, but he got burned many times because he didn't play him properly. Mackey looked calm facing McDavid and that's a great quality to have in a defenseman. Is Mackey better than Gio was? No, but he plays McDavid in a more efficient and intelligent way and could be the perfect 3rd pairing D-man to get "caught" out against a guy like Connor.
Personally, I would have Mackey over Kylington for a more defensive minded group and Kylington over Mackey for a more offensive team. I think he will see some solid time in the NHL this year.